• doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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    2 days ago

    I’m in both of these pictures. But my house was the cheapest 1br I could find in a bad part of St. Louis around 1998. I’m in a different house now, still too small for my family, and neither my wife or I have been able to afford to go to the dentist in about 20 years.

  • Carjacklavinder@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    For real. I lived most of my adulthood (from 24 to 39) with bad teeth and in pain from infections. The only option I had until I landed a good job with good benefits was to have the teeth above the infections pulled to prevent further infections.

  • AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    my parents were born in 1953 & 1954.

    i was born in 1984. single income household, father is blue collar worker, mother is housewife.

    when i was born, we lived in a big, two-story, full-size single family home in a high cost of living area.

    when i was 3 years old (1987), my parents decided they wanted another house, so they bought one and we moved to an even higher cost of living area. they didnt sell the first house to afford a new one, they just bought another one and we had two houses.

    what the fuck happened.

    • riodoro1@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Nobody thought that we will need someplace to live too. They bought up every plot for themselves and now that there are people who need it they want to get rich.

      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        It brings me joy when I hear of a location charging significantly higher tax for houses that are left empty

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Assuming you’re American, your parents basically won the birth jackpot. The united states implemented a mixed economy shortly before the rest of the industrialized world was destroyed in a massive war, while we rapidly increased industrial capacity to aid the war effort.

      Then right as that all slowed down shortly before you were born we began the process of neoliberalization. A process by which we received short term gains in exchange for giving up long term capacity and security. This kept the gravy train going for a while longer but it dropped the floor hard. And so we’re paying the price, as the rich refuse to accept any less. Additionally the main fast cash we can squeeze out at this point is through ecological devastation that will cost us multiple times what we get fairly quickly.

      • turnip@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        People speculate with cheap mortgage debt, nobody is spending their own money.

        They could also just as easily be speculating that the currency will inflate and it will debase their debt, as the Fed does QE.

        • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          what? people speculate with real estate. theres more vacant homes than homeless people in quite a lot of major cities around the globe.

          they are bought up to appreciate and/or serve as permanent captive rent money.

    • GluWu@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      People born in the 50s bought properties they didn’t need or use and didn’t sell them.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    To be fair, teeth are fucking expensive. Like almost as bad as buying a house.

    My grandma had to spend 100K on her teeth over the last few years of her life, and she had insurance. Insurance companies just don’t really cover teeth because it is expensive and our bodies guarantee that they will start going bad after young adulthood and then really shit the bed towards the last few decades of life.

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It’s because the dental industry convinced us that teeth are “purely cosmetic”, and only exist to look pretty in your mouth whie smiling, and you’re responsible for it by buying expensive dental care products, some of which are either hard to get if you live far away from cities (dental floss mainly), or are ultra-minty because they needed to fool chain smokers of the twenties, and if you can’t have your breakfast before you brushing your teeth due to various factors, your breakfast tasting ass is just the “suffering” you have to do for beauty, and at worst some gymbro-brained person will tell you how breakfast was invented by cereal companies (I need breakfast for my meds, or else I’ll develop a stomach ulcer on the long run, sentencing me for eating unseasoned food).

      I hope the dental company execs will get their limbs reclassified as something “purely cosmetic” the moment they lose their wealth, and if they either need to sewn back or replacement limbs will be available in the future, they only can get them on massively overinflated prices for their relative costs of treatment/manufacturing, and have to pay the doctor yet another fortune for photoshops of them shaking hands with people, flipping the bird while being angry, kicking the ball into the goalpost in a heated football (“soccer” in imperial units) match, etc.

      ADDENDUM: Sometimes you’re also forced to pay an extra on “homeopathic treatments for the potential side effects of getting implants”, so they also should be forced to get those.

        • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          “But you can just get them pulled for much cheaper, and then only eat pulpy food. It’s all just cosmetics, never mind the stigma surrounding missing teeth, or having to eat pulpy food since you can no longer chew. If your workplace has a kitchen, just ask your boss for pulpy foods, I guess he’s kindhearted enough.”

          This kind of toxic positivity towards capitalism in the name of “ideological neutrality” permuates the modern health industry, anti-seizure and anti-depressant medication causing the recipient to need more sleep often being sold as “becoming even healthier through more sleep” and similarly just told to ask their boss for a “part-time position” if they need, weight gain is being sold as “a good motivator for healthier lifestyles”, and so on. This causes the general masses to be disillusioned with modern health care, and puts them into the hands of healthcare swindlers like RFK Jr., or even churches. Scientology is just the more openly anti-psychiatry example, but even the catholic church is profitting off of defunded health care and many people, including the politicians, selling priests as an alternative to mental health services.

      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        So glad I don’t live in the US. Although I fear it’s moving in that direction here too.

    • Meron35@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Sike! Many developed nations such as Canada, Australia, the UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore all provide little to no support for dental. Although the UK does have dental ln the NHS, finding an NHS dentist is very difficult.

      Many of the residents in these nations end up engaging in dental tourism to nations such as Poland and Thailand, where a dental travel package that includes round trip international air fare + 5 star hotel + dental work is still cheaper than getting dental work done in their home country.

      • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        That’s what you get from at least a century of dental industry propaganda. The “things you eat with” got reclassified as “things you smile with”.

        • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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          2 days ago

          Every time I go there are posters up about getting the perfect smile. Nah, I just want them to work for eating and not hurting. I am fine with them looking natural instead of being as white as snow.

          • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Think of the Dental CEOs, how else could they afford a private island for doing awful things to children in secrecy, faraway from law enforcement to relax after all the 12 hour work days with no weekends according to them?

  • ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    I do own a house (finally got one in my late 30s) but part of what got me here is ignoring dental care (missing 2 teeth)

    I would be missing three but I went to Costa Rica once for unrelated reasons and got an implant while I was there. Ruined my trip a little bit because getting an implant sucks but it was $750 vs $5100 in America (with pretty good insurance)

    If you’re missing teeth for a long time (I’m pushing 8 years now) the rest of your teeth start moving around. It’s a real problem. Additionally once this happens missing teeth can exacerbate hip and back problems! Your jaw misaligns and then your posture gets fucked up

    best country in the world

    • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      I have teeth and a house! I went with never owning a car and just walk/cycle to get around.

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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      3 days ago

      Ouuuh I didn’t know Costa Rica had cheap dental, might be a good excuse to visit again, I really loved that place.

      I’m European but still in a similar situation, I have the house but getting my teeth fixed here would cost me like 10k€+, fuck that… The usual recommended destinations are Romania, Turkey, some other ones, but since I’m not only too cheap to get them fixed but also really scared of dental work due to the extreme pain I’ve experienced in the past both in and out of the chair, the idea of going on a trip to a foreign country for it is fucking terrifying. I’m also missing way more than 2 and what’s left isn’t exactly pristine either…

    • hedge_lord@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The greeks couldn’t see blue because they didn’t have eyes. For most of human history we didn’t have eyes.The human eye is a parasite created by a dark wizard in the year 1796. It just happened to be so useful that everyone went along with it. But now the wizard is long dead and the oculi are evolving. They have no master to keep them in check, they just ride us around and have realized that they can only show us what they want us to see. Oh you read a book that says otherwise, did you read it with your eyes??!?

  • TheKaul@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    Saw this meme a year or 2 ago and it gave me a chuckle.

    Fast forward to now and I realize it’s not actually a joke… 😭

  • turnip@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    The further you get from the gold standard the worse it gets. Because debt needs to grow to pay past debt, and mortgage debt is what we use to boost GDP.

  • CherryBullets
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    3 days ago

    Ok, to everyone here actually struggling with teeth care, buy yourself a 50$ or less ultrasonic tartare remover on Amazon or something and thank me later. That thing removed 4 years of tartare from my teeth and now my teeth are clean. If you want to do below the gums, buy a regular dental kit and watch a bunch of tutorials on YT by professionals. It’s not as hard as they make it out to be, just take your time and go easy on yourself. Go see a dentist when you feel like your cleaning wasn’t enough or if you have an emergency, it’ll save you money (and teeth health) to take better care of them at home in the long run.

      • DeathbringerThoctar@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I don’t know why you’ve been downvoted because this is a legit question. It sounds like something Dr Who would use to remove unwanted tartar sauce from a fish fillet. I know it’s obviously not, but still.

      • CherryBullets
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        3 days ago

        It uses ultrasonic waves to melt the tartare off your teeth and is safe to use. It’s not strong enough to melt enamel, only to melt tartare (even hard plaque melts with some patience). Just follow instructions or watch a YT video explaining how to use it. It’s really not hard. People also use these for pets, as pets are notorious for not being able to stand still very long, but they still need dental care. Just check on Amazon, there’s plenty with thousands of reviews. I got mine on Amazon a year ago or so.

          • CherryBullets
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            2 days ago

            It’s relatively new (for consumers I mean) from what I see, but it’s the same technology some dentists use for teeth cleaning. Works pretty well, but like I said, it doesn’t go under the gums (the thing stops vibrating when it contacts the gums, for safety), so you need an actual dentist or dentist kit to do that, which is why dentists probably don’t want to recommend it; they don’t want people to think that this is all you need and get issues. They are right, but if you are smart, it’s a good thing to use to supplement teeth care between visits and saves you money, because you don’t have to go to the dentist as often (granted, you still need to brush your teeth, I don’t want anyone reading this thinking you don’t have to lol).

            Edit: If anyone is going to use this, use a tissue to wipe the tartare on it as you clean each tooth and for the love of hygiene, clean the metal tips with soap after you’re done with your cleaning session!!!

  • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I’m very lucky that my grandma passed a house on to me in her will, skipping her children. Not lucky enough to be able to renovate it to make it livable though, and install a legal heating system, so I continue to live in a 12m^2 and with four flatmates.