Russians are increasingly turning to do-it-yourself dentistry as clinics raise prices due to Western sanctions, while mobile internet outages and transport problems have become routine across the country nearly three and a half years after the war in Ukraine.
The number of advertisements for “dental filling kits” has tripled this year, with just one online retailer selling more than 100 a day, according to Russian newspaper Izvestia.
“Of [a] real solution,” wrote one customer in an online review of dental cement for temporary fillings. “I don’t have money for regular treatment and/or tooth extraction right now.” However, another was much less satisfied. “This is bad stuff,” he wrote. “I tore out a piece of tooth with it.”
The Russian dental industry imported up to 90 percent of fillings, implants, prosthetics, crowns and dental cement before the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine begins in 2022. Although many dental clinics had built up large stocks, they are now scrambling to secure fresh supplies. Prices for dental treatment have doubled in some areas as clinics are forced to pay on the off chance that supplies or supplies are imported through third countries.
Russians are struggling to cope with the rising costs of professional dentistry
ALAMY
Russian dentists have expressed concern about the trend for home dentistry. “This is not a cure, it is a masking of symptoms, which often leads to even more serious consequences,” said a dental surgeon in Moscow.
Although Russia had weathered the wave of Western sanctions far better than expected, even the country’s economy minister warned last month that the country was “on the brink of recession” after massive military spending that analysts said was unsustainable.
Following Russia’s latest drone and missile attack in Ukraine, President Zelensky on Wednesday called for new “biting” Western sanctions against Moscow. President Trump said he is “looking” for ways to increase economic pressure on the Putin regime.
The war is felt in other ways as well. Internet blackouts have become common even in major cities like Moscow, as the Kremlin limits or shuts down cellphone coverage for security reasons.
The shutdown escalated last month after Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web, which used remote-controlled drones hooked into local Internet services to destroy or destroy Russian warplanes as far away as Siberia.
Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airports in June
A man in Moscow said: “I can’t rely on the internet at all these days. Even use taxi apps when I’m out. It’s like we’ve gone years backwards, technologically.”
Ukraine’s drone strikes have crippled Russia’s commercial aviation industry. Last weekend around 2,500 flights were canceled or delayed across the country, forcing thousands of stranded passengers to sleep on airport floors. Such scenes are common in recent months. Ukraine has said it is trying to disrupt as many Russian commercial flights as possible in a bid to increase opposition to the war.
Although polls show a majority of Russians support Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, more than 60 percent also said they want the Kremlin to talk with Kiev about ending the conflict, according to the Levada Center polling organization in Moscow.
But many analysts said the Kremlin’s crackdown on even the smallest signs of dissent meant it was impossible to accurately gauge public opinion. Last month, Natalya Taranushenko, a teacher from near Moscow, was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison for telling her students she was against the war.
Not all Western sanctions have been bad news for ordinary Russians. The Kremlin’s refusal to respect intellectual property copyright laws for companies based in “unfriendly” Western countries means Hollywood blockbusters are now freely available online.
A pro-Kremlin website has a section called “[War] Trophy Films” which includes new releases such as e.g heads of state starring Idris Elba.
“I can watch any Hollywood movie I want now, for free, whenever I want,” said a woman in St. Petersburg. Unless the internet goes down, of course.
