In Canada the public health cover doesn’t cover dental so you’ll have little luck in that category. You might get a free cleaning and scan but little else. It’s like one of the few things they’ve been dragging their feet on still.

A lot of people live on Advil until the tooth falls out on its own. Or if they can afford the cheap option: have it pulled.

You still need to get private coverage for anything more.

The UK's dental care is also not really covered by the NHS beyond a few emergency procedures, and even when it is (assuming you can get onto an NHS dentist's register) it costs a significant amount of money (70+ for checkup and dental work) once you turn 18, so I can imagine that most people just don't bother.

I've already resigned myself to getting most of my teeth removed or replaced, as painful as that is, because I spent years without dentist cover thanks to COVID and generally refusing to spend the costs on checkups (as bad an idea that was)

I've got to be like that after being almost killed by doctors in my first years. Unless it's something urgent or cosmetic, I struggle to trust them. I feel like it'd be the same even if I move to a better country.