For American dentists, times have never been better. The same cannot be said for Americans’ teeth.

With dentists fees rising far faster than inflation and more than 100 million people lacking dental insurance, the percentage of Americans with untreated cavities began rising this decade, reversing a half-century trend of improvement in dental health.

The dental profession’s critics who include public health experts, some physicians and even some dental school professors say that too many dentists are focused more on money than medicine.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/business/11decay.html?ex=1350187200&en=c8b0e68ae7b60140&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss “Read the Story”) (New York Times)