Do Dentists work on their own teeth?

[beowulff]

@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.

What’s a taurus? Surely you don’t have a bull in your mouth.

[Balthisar]

@beowulff

What’s a taurus? Surely you don’t have a bull in your mouth.

Oops… “torus” should be how that’s spelt.

[gigi]

@Ludovic

Thus, Russell’s Pair-o-docs.

And, it got me looking this up so now I know something I didn’t before.

[cher3]

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.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@beowulff

Do surgeons operate on themselves?

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.

[Savannah]

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.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Savannah

I asked if he ever worked on his own teeth, and he said ‘yep’

Well, I assume he brushes and flosses them himself…

[elelle]

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?

[Measure_for_Measure]

@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.

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