This diary really should be on a health reform blog, but since any reform will be a political act by necessity, I suppose it fits here.  At least it will help inform folks about how complex health care system reform can really be. I hope folks will concentrate on this diary, as I believe it gives some important, often overlooked perspective to the health care crisis and system in America!  Anyway, I have worked as a dental public health professional at the Federal and state levels for over 25 years, so I have some expertise in public health in general and dental public health specifically.  In my experience, dentistry in America provides a nice window into the effects of unfair, supposed market forces, as well as organized dentistry's control (what I will call the fox guarding the henhouse), over access and cost in healthcare.  This is so because less people care about dental care access for the poor, so dentistry can get away with more social negatives than the perceived more important medical field.  However, with the growing crisis in our health care system and the big push by conservatives for market solutions, I think I have a story to tell for those who care to look at this from a somewhat different perspective.