Wish fulfilling medicine and wish fulfilling dentistry: what does this mean?

Wish fulfilling medicine refers to medical procedures applied without a direct medical need. In wish fulfilling medicine, the wish of the patient is dominant, but wish fulfilling medicine is also promoted indirectly by healthcare providers, (pharmaceutical) companies and healthcare insurers. Wish fulfilling medicine often concerns the enhancement of appearance or performance; therefore, wish fulfilling medicine is also referred to as (human) enhancement (therapy). The line between traditional and wish fulfilling medicine is vague: the border between illness and health, normal and abnormal functioning is not sharply defined and is relative to time and place. In the Netherlands, wish fulfilling medicine is not covered in the basic package provided by healthcare insurers and is paid for by the patients themselves. However, ‘pay yourself’ is not a decisive criterion for wish fulfilling medicine. With new biotechnological developments the domain of wish fulfilling medicine is expanding. Some dental treatments can be considered as wish fulfilling dentistry, for example in the context of cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, or dental implantology. Although wish fulfilling medical treatments do not cure disease, they can promote health.