THE EDITOR'S CORNER

There has been a marked growth of dental health insurance in this country. It is the latest fringe benefit in union contracts and increasingly it is including orthodontic care benefits. At the same time, Medicaid and Medicare have extended the concept of government health care programs, including dental health care, beyond the indigent group in the population.

A reasonable view of these developing programs and the enthusiasm with which they have been received points to the probability that they will be expanded to larger and larger population groupings. It is likely that we will eventually see some form of universal health care on a national scale in this country. If so, it will include orthodontics.

If this prediction is accurate, then it makes a great deal of difference both to the public and to the profession what direction these programs take. As they develop, it makes a great deal of difference what the arrangements are that the profession agrees to cooperate with. Because, the precedents that are set when the programs are young are the forerunners of the programs of the future.

Since national health care programs have been in force in other countries it may be wise to study them and learn from their experience. This issue of JPO includes a question and answer article on "Orthodontics Under the British National Health Service". It is an attempt to tell the story of this program as it is. JPO will report in the future on programs in other countries and those in this country as they are developing.