I used to trust my dentist. He ran his own practice, and did the cleaning work himself, not just the final inspection. He was easy to talk to, so I often asked him technical questions about my teeth and about dentistry in general. I once asked him if dental health was dictated in part by inherited traits, and he said yes, some people are genetically blessed with strong teeth and gentle mouth chemistry, while other people were condemned by the genetic lottery to a lifetime of frequent and expensive dental work. He agreed that I was one of the lucky ones, and that my teeth would be just fine if I came to him once a year instead of every six months.
And then one day he retired, and a couple of young women bought his practice. I visited them once for cleaning and they were all aflutter with concern about the state of my teeth, insisting that I needed to start coming in every six months. It was such a stark change that I switched to a different dentist, who agreed with the retired one, saying once a year was adequate for me.
For me, scheduling a cleaning every six months is a must. For one thing, I’m prone to gum problems so once-a-year isn’t quite a enough.
Invariably, I schedule six months out, forget about it, get a reminder from the dentist, realized I haven’t requested that day off work, have to reschedule, then re-reschedule for the end result of a cleaning about every 8 months. Which so far has been working out for me.
I trust the one I have now. A previous dentist may have recommended some procedures that I didn’t need like replacing certain fillings. Nothing harmful but he might’ve cost me some money.
I’m OK with my current dentist. His office sends out a lot of emails for cosmetic procedures, but he generally doesn’t push anything in person. I really liked the couple whose practice he bought, but they moved out of state, dammit.
I quit the dentist before them because he and his associates were pushy and one in particular caused my husband a lot of pain. When we lived in FL, I quit a dentist who was always pushing unnecessary nonsense on me. I’m fortunate to have good teeth, if a little crooked, so I can usually tell when someone’s trying to make a few extra bucks.
I recall reading an article some years ago by a reporter who was checking out dentists. He started out with a clean bill of health - I think from a dental school professor - so he knew his mouth was in good shape. Then he made appointments with a variety of dentists all over the country. He said the majority were less than honest, one even saying he needed a mouth full of crowns to the tune of many thousands of dollars. There were very few who said everything looked good and he didn’t need anything. I wish I could remember where I saw that article.
I trust my dentist, but I certainly don’t trust all dentists.
There was a time when I went for the better part of a decade between dental visits, partly because I didn’t have a dentist and was wary about going to one I didn’t know and trust.* I was particularly wary of the ones who advertised cosmetic dentistry; my goal in life is to spend as little time in the dentist’s chair as possible and still stay healthy.
When a filling fell out, and then part of that tooth broke off, I was motivated to find a dentist. Fortunately, the one I found was able to fix the broken tooth more easily than I had feared, and since then I haven’t needed any work beyond checkups and cleanings.
*(That’s a big part of the reason I still haven’t seen a doctor in many years, but that’s another story.)
When I was little, my mother took me to dentists a lot. We’re now fairly certain that a lot of the work at least one of them did was unnecessary. Unfortunately a decent amount of it was after I’d gotten my permanent teeth.
Since then, I avoided dentists like the plague, not just because of that, but because none of them ever managed to make things not painful for me. One of them kept injecting me with stuff (I don’t know what it was) but it would STILL HURT after like three times, and she would say she can’t inject any more, and then I’d just have to sit there in pain while I got drilled.
Finally, when I moved to California, when one of my teeth broke and I had no choice but to find a dentist to fix it, I found Dr. Urban; he did extremely well in my opinion, and he’s never suggested things I didn’t need. In fact, as far as I can recall, he only suggested a cleaning once a year, not twice.
Sadly, I’ve moved out of California since then. There is a dentist around here that I’m not TOO skeptical about, but I still don’t trust anyone but Dr. Urban really well. I’ve seriously considered making the trip all the way back to California whenever I really need more work done. Doubt I will be able to, but it’s what I would do if I had the money.
Completely. After about 3 yrs. of crap dentists, including a guy who double billed me and the insurance, a filling that fell out as I walked to my car after the appt., I happened upon a new hire at a clinic (he’s since opened his own practice) and I trust him completely. I went in the first time with a horrible painful jaw, that I would have paid anything to fix. He diagnosed a little gum infection, gave me some ointment and sent me on with only the cost of the office visit. He’s my guy for about 18 years now.
I always did until someone on this board started a thread about dentists and their scammy ways and both my wife and mother got screwed by shoddy dentists. We’ve been on our guard ever since.
The one we have now is great though (in our estimation at least). The upselling he does is no pressure (wants me to get a mouthguard for grinding at $300 bucks) and the advanced diagnosis he gave to Mrs. Cups seemed to make sense at the time and follow up appointments showed improvement. This, to me, says that he’s trustworthy enough not to keep re-upping prescriptions.
I trust my current dentist. Other than teeth cleaning, the only thing he’s had to do was a root canal for an old filling. The tooth was bothering me and the work cleared things up.
But my previous dentist was very shady. I never had a cavity before I started going to him when I was in college. He found one every visit I went to him and put in a filling (without novocaine, BTW). On his last visit, he said he saw another cavity, but he’d fix it on my next visit. But I moved away after that.
I’ve never had a cavity since I stopped going to him. And no dentist ever mentioned the cavity he supposedly saw.
It’s clear to me now that he was drilling perfectly good teeth.
When I lived in Philadelphia I had dental insurance. I went to a dentist for something that wasn’t covered and he explained to me that he could submit it to insurance as something completely different that was covered. He’d make a few extra bucks and kick back a bit of that to me.
I never scheduled the procedure and never went back there. He/his office called me repeatedly but I never answered the phone.
I have heard that there are discolorations that are sometimes known as pre cavities. Sometimes these can take years or decades to develop into a real cavity but the shady dentists are all over them for drilling.
Some years back we switched dentists when ours retired. The new dentist had a fancy camera they shoved in your mouth to show you a bunch of stuff, except you’re not a dentist so you don’t really know what you’re seeing. They then developed a multiyear plan based on maximizing your yearly insurance. We never went back and our new dentist doesn’t need a multiyear plan and just recommended a few things.
Gum grafting seems to be a money maker.
I put dentists in the same category as used car salesmen and sketchy chiropractors. My wife’s dentist is always recommending some procedure or another. The latest was “deep scale cleaning” or something. That turns a $30 co-pay into a $400 visit. I mentioned it to a couple of co-workers and both of them had the same exact experience. Their dentist was recommending the same procedure just out of the blue.
Turns out there was a dentist convention in town a few months prior. I’m guessing the title of one of the seminars was “Kid going to college? Easy tricks and tips to get your patients to pay for it.”
Look. Clean my teeth. Check for cavities. If something hurts, I’ll let you know and you can fix it. Anything else, keep your bill-padding bullshit to yourself, or try in on your next [del]sucker [/del] patient.
I trust MY dentist very much, but I do believe that dentistry as a whole has an awful lot of shady characters. My guy may not be the absolute cheapest around, but he’s treated most of my family, and has a proven history of recommending NOT having unnecessary work done.
I feel like anything extra I might be paying him, compared to going to one of the dentists whose flyers litter my mailbox, is like insurance against being ripped off. His office is modern and full of high tech stuff, but he doesn’t upsell anything. My hygienist has been with him for years, as has other staff, and like River Hippie points out, that’s a very good sign.
Current dentist told me the exact same thing the last two did about a spot that could use some repair but it wasn’t necessary unless it got worse (although he’d be happy to take my money to fuss with it now.)
He also told me “you don’t really need me.” And (after I did get that spot fixed), “regular rads are probably a waste for you if you’d like to skip them.”
I don’t trust my dentist for diagnoses, for which I get second opinions. She pushes what should be elective procedures as things requiring urgent action. It’s a for-profit business after all. She continues every year or two to push urgent oral surgery follow-up on me for a small x-ray curiosity that hasn’t changed for 20 years. Specialist referrals just shrug at it and tell me to only worry if anything changes.
I do trust her to do good work on procedures though, so I continue to go because I know that a filling or crown is going to be done well without any pain or problems.
I had a hairline crack in one filling that my dentist kept an eye on for probably five years at least, maybe longer. Every check-up he’d look at it, poke it a little, and say “Nothing to worry about! If it becomes a problem then we can go in there and fix it.”
Also I have heard my hygienist remark that she has never worked for a dentist who had so many patients with all their wisdom teeth.
So my dentist definitely doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to be performing unnecessary procedures.
On the other hand I have to wonder about the dentist I had growing up. Seems like at every check-up I had another cavity or two that needed filling. As an adult, I don’t think I’ve ever had a single cavity, although I have had to have some old fillings replaced (see first paragraph). So did my teeth just miraculously get better as an adult, or was the dentist from my teen years just looking to make a buck?
I trust my current dentist, but I had to cycle through 4 others to find one I did trust. The others were either patient mills )turning over patients as quickly as possible and requiring a new visit for each step of the process to maximize office visit revenue - mostly seen at large, corporate owned, multi-office practices), would only recommend and consent to the most expensive option when I knew other options existed (implant vs. crown, for instance) or would pressure for unnecessary, cosmetic procedures. My current dentist is thorough, outlines all options with pros and cons before making his recommendation then letting the patient make the final decision and his primary concern is the health of his patients’ teeth moreso than how “pretty” they are. He also plays classic rock over the PA instead of elevator muzak, so he must be wonderful!
Ironically, a shit hook is exactly what many anglers use to catch a catfish.
I haven’t been to a dentist in thirty years. I know, I know, that’s not good, that’s my own personal neurotic fault, but then I haven’t had any trouble, either.
So about 18 months ago I decided it was time to bite the bullet (ha!) and see a dentist. I went to one recommended by a friend. Even before examining me, before even opening my mouth, he started talking about all the work I was going to need, telling me about the cost, and that insurance wouldn’t cover much of it, but that his office would be happy to work out a payment plan.
