Yes, you read that right. They drill teeth here without novocaine or any type of anesthetic...and it's fine. I was skeptical the first time I went in to get dental work done here, and got novocaine just to be on the safe side because I was scared. The second time I got a little braver and said they could try it without anesthetic and if it hurt they'd stop and give me novocaine. They got started and I kept waiting for the nasty feeling of them contacting a nerve. It never happened. Once or twice a brief twinge, but nothing like the pain I'd had going to American dentists with anesthetic. It turns out that here in the Netherlands they train them to avoid coming into contact with the nerves. They are so careful, and it doesn't even hurt.
I have to say, it was an epiphany. I walked out of my dentist's appointment without the numb lip and inability to drink without dribbling all over myself. I didn't have to recover from the anesthetic on top of whatever they'd done on my teeth. I hadn't realized it until I got here that I always felt like crap when I had to have anesthetic at the dentist. It was nice to just be able to go out and get on with my life afterward without worrying that I was going to accidentally chew off my tongue because I couldn't feel it or something. And probably none of it would have been necessary except that it was the only way to get Americans to go to the dentist at all, knowing that they'd be given something to block the pain. You know what always hurt about going to the dentist? The needle in my gums. I also think that American dentists are less careful because of their reliance on local anesthetic. They figure you won't feel it even if they grind away right on top of a nerve, so they go to town. It gives them a false sense of room for error. Here they just train them better.
I'm glad I was brave enough to take a chance that they knew what they were doing. I would have never believed it otherwise.
As for cost, it's a mixed bag. Health insurance here covers basic, necessary dental work. Anything cosmetic or not strictly necessary isn't covered and comes out of your own pocket. I believe you can purchase supplementary insurance to cover more, but the basic package isn't bad. At least the routine cleaning and dental work is covered, which is a much better deal than dental coverage in America. In America it's nearly nonexistent and very expensive even if you have insurance. If poor Americans have terrible teeth, at least part of that is thanks to the fact that they can't afford dental coverage or treatment. The other part of it is that no amount of dental hygiene, dentistry or fluoride could possibly even make a dent against the amount of sugar in our diets.
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