Your parents almost certainly voted to restrict the supply of housing so they could artificially inflate their houses value and retire off of their house.
The causes of the housing shortage are known. We can change it.
I had to get a root canal the other day. The dentist had to wait to see if my insurance would cover it because I had recently had a different root canal and "they sometimes don't pay for more than one."
I keep on having this debate with my dad. He's 73 and I'm 37. One night he was like "people from your generation want to buy a 'starter home' and a vacation home, and then a few years later buy a bigger home!" and I was like "no one in my generation is even thinking about buying a vacation home when they can barely make a livable wage in a lot of fields." Teachers make about $25/hour (about 35-40k/year) and they deal with tons of shit from the faculty, state, and students themselves. I was making $112k/year working in IT and could barely afford to live by myself in or close to Manhattan.
Edit: just for context, my rent was $2500/month for a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment about 30-45 minutes from Manhattan. The sales tax rate in NYC is 10%. A burger and a beer can easily cost you $20.
I mean it could be worse. In an alternate timeline, you could be living in world where the nazis built nukes first and America becomes a fascist puppet state.
What at-home stuff can you do to maintain your teeth? Brushing and flossing twice a day just doesn't cut it. Brown stuff still eventually builds up around the edges and right above the gum line (although it does take quite a few years). Being obsessive about dental hygiene only delays the buildup and is not sustainable on its own. I may be able to afford dentist appointments now but by the way society is headed, that may not be the case 10 years from now or even next month.