# Do Dentists work on their own teeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787 "2008-07-17T02:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/21 "2008-07-18T15:53:23Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] I’ve sat next to a dentist in a dentist office waiting room. I get to sleep with her, too! Here in Michigan where she doesn’t know any other dentists, we just to go the dentist like civilians and let our insurance pick up the tab, and I pay the co-pay if there’s one. Back home, she goes to any of her friends and colleagues who are dentists, and they may come to her. Once we went to an endodontist friend out of the blue because she suddenly needed a root canal. He fit her in at the end of the day, and we shook hands afterwards, and that was it. An oral surgeon/reconstruction friend looked at a taurus I have, and said he’d be willing to take care of it as a courtesy (he also said recovery would suck, so I opted not to have it done). So, yeah, dentists go to other dentists, and they often have networks such that they can get things taken care of quickly and inexpensively. [/QUOTE] What’s a taurus? Surely you don’t have a bull in your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/22 "2008-07-18T19:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] What’s a taurus? Surely you don’t have a bull in your mouth. [/QUOTE] Oops… “torus” should be how that’s spelt. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/23 "2008-07-18T20:08:31Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Thus, Russell’s Pair-o-docs. [/QUOTE] 🙂 And, it got me looking this up so now I know something I didn’t before. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/24 "2008-07-18T21:12:24Z")
Medicine seems to be a pretty close network. Whenever I’ve need to see a new specialist about something my doctors or my friends who are doctors have never hesitated to recommend someone in the proper field. I’d say the simple answer is that they go to another dentist they know is good enough. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/25 "2008-07-18T22:41:42Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Do surgeons operate on themselves? [/QUOTE] My dad was a military field surgeon before becoming an orthopaedic surgeon. He _did_ operate on himself in combat, once, after surviving a helicopter crash. It’s a rather grisly story, I might add. Nowadays he’s got back problems - disc degeneration, and so on - and of course, he has his own orthopaedic surgeon. He does self-medicate with whisky, though. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/26 "2008-07-18T22:59:14Z")
My dentist had his own dental appointment yesterday afternoon. He mentioned it when I was there for an emergency visit. I asked if he ever worked on his own teeth, and he said ‘yep’, but he needed a back one looked at. So, for one dentist, it’s a semi-yes. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/27 "2008-07-19T01:15:25Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] I asked if he ever worked on his own teeth, and he said ‘yep’ [/QUOTE] Well, I assume he brushes and flosses them himself… ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/28 "2008-07-19T18:52:27Z")
I’d suppose that back in the day, a dentist would have to have another colleague do all the work. But (having had a bunch of dental work recently), the new digital cameras would allow a dentist to have their techs do the exploratory camera work, and then be able to diagnose the problem well, and have assistants do the work under guidance , if a simple problem. I was amazed at the new cameras’s ability to show to minute detail, immediately. It made me much more comfortable as a patient, see what they were talking about, and make a decision of treatment. I’d suppose this is the same for so many medical procedures now, the MD, DDS, can look at their own problems via new hi-tech means, and do their own diagnosis. Are there professional ethical guidlines for that? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787/29 "2008-07-20T08:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] Well, he paid his fifteen bucks, guess he’s entitled. Perhaps he’s trying to acquire the entire sum of human knowledge on a limited budget. Perfectly understandable these days. [/QUOTE] Actually, I understand that another poster paid his membership fee for him. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=473384&page=4&pp=50&highlight=scrambledeggs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=473384&page=4&pp=50&highlight=scrambledeggs) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dentists-work-on-their-own-teeth/456787.md?page=1)