A recent court challenge before the British Columbia Supreme Court threatened to change the rules of the game for the Canadian healthcare system -- should the challenge have made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada and found success there. How our health system should be reformed, and in what measures, is nothing short of a national pastime in Canada. Too bad many get the facts wrong. Here are a few basics everyone should know.

It's strange that we have to have teeth cleanings every six months, isn't it? Humankind is certainly older than dentistry, so before the modern of age technology, how did humans prevent their teeth from falling out? Assuming that we consider early man to be between two- and four-million years old, cavities have only become an epidemic in the last half of one percent of our existence. So what changed?

Going to the dentist is financially out of reach for many people. This dilemma is well-known to physicians -- many of us regularly care for patients who have terrible dental problems that we are powerless to address. We see people who have delayed seeking care until they are in terrible pain or their health is at risk.