It was so jarring coming from France in the late 80s to the US and going to the dentist. In France, the dentist's office was one woman, was the dentist and ran her office (Scheduling, seeing patients, etc...) She had modified her house so she ran her practice from a wing of her house. It was modern at the time, sanitary and she was a very nice dentist, but no assistants or anything. It was very much 1 patient at a time, you waited in the waiting room. At the time, though I was a child, I don't remember cleanings being a thing, just an occasional visit (maybe every 2 years for adults) or you went if something hurt. My family had means but we would still pay partially with mutuelle coupons everyone was given by the government. (Not sure how this works, I was young)
Moved to the US in the early 90s, the dental practice in the US, holy moly! TVs with cartoons mounted to the ceiling, a bunch of staff from office workers dealing with insurance and scheduling to dental assistants. Then 1 or 2 dentist moving from patient to patient sequentially. It was a business first.
I don't know what it's like in France now, this was in the north, in a traditionally not affluent area (though my family was by all standards affluent). Has it become more like the US now? I don't which one is best, I do know all my grandparents (who were not affluent) had full dentures by the time they were 60.