Considering pretty high educated professionals immigration numbers, it is surprising dental costs staying so high (which is not the case with other professions).
(I had a bodgy root canal reworked over 3 visits for $3k and a tooth extracted and bone abcess cleaned out under general for ~$1500 all up, including initial consultations. I didn't hunt around for a cheaper option, since that was how I got the bad root canal in the first place...)
1) at the time you need treatment, you may not have any choice (or you may be in pain, or ...). So expect to see free root canals with $10k pain relief "option". Or have "normal" medicine (e.g. mild ear pain) priced into the ground and get gouged on emergency procedures (e.g. acute inner ear pain).
2) it is somewhere between very hard and impossible for normal people to see the quality of medical treatment. Given what can happen with bad quality medical treatment ... I find this a very scary prospect.