# Fingerprinting at the orthodontist - WTF??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 2, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512 "2009-06-02T22:07:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/41 "2009-06-03T18:16:38Z")
> [@](#): > > It would do you people well to understand how the technology actually works instead of worry about some imaginary Big Brother conspiracy. Your one of _them_ ain’tcha? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/42 "2009-06-03T20:32:14Z")
Perhaps it’s just an extention. Mabye the dentist bought new software where the time clock uses a fingerprint to punch in. Then it came with a free module allowing the patients to do the same. So he just put it in not thinking about it. As a former system admin, I can say the fingerprint punch in and out works pretty well, but there is always one or two people in a company that it just don’t work for. Their fingers (or should I say fingerprints) are such that you can’t get a good scan of them. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/43 "2009-06-03T20:59:49Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Dude, my dentist is known as The Butcher of Budapest. Og help you if you fall into his hands. I think many of his orthodontic techniques are prohibited by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and are recommended by the Dick Cheney Advisory Council on Interrogation and Oral Hygiene. He’s the one in five dentists that doesn’t recommend Trident, isn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/44 "2009-06-03T22:10:14Z")
> [@LunarPlexus](#): > > He’s the one in five dentists that doesn’t recommend Trident, isn’t he? I think he favors the [Bulava](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulava_missile). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/45 "2009-06-03T22:14:59Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I think he favors the [Bulava](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulava_missile). > > Stranger That almost went over my head. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/46 "2009-06-04T00:48:23Z")
He’s part of a criminal orthodontic fingerprinting ring!!! ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/47 "2009-06-04T01:06:08Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > If you already _had_ a copy of your fingerprint, couldn’t you just feed it through the same analysis to find the same points of reference? Just generate the “barcode” from each sample (one from the criminal database and one from your reader) and see if they match? These systems are also generally proprietary and or storing information within its own database as no more than a line item. Name: John address: 1234 main phone: 123-4567 login: 876^_%&56e$_&^5RIUYTFI6\*&54%\*^R (fingerprint hash) This data doesent mean anything to another fingerprint scanner or to another database. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/48 "2009-06-04T01:07:44Z")
My office has recently begun requiring photo IDs, due to new fraud-prevention laws that were going to take effect on May 1 but were pushed back to August. I imagine that this orthodontist’s office looked at all of the options available to them to comply with the new laws, and the fingerprint system was, to them, the most viable. The photo ID option definitely has it’s drawbacks. Our office has a large elderly population- including many, many that live in nursing homes or otherwise have quit driving. Most of these people don’t \*have \* photo IDs anymore, and anyone that claims to not have it with them will still be seen at least just the one time, anyway. So the office I work in may have to start thinking of alternatives, too, and you can bet your ass that patients’ emotional problems with fingerprinting will not stop them from installing it if it ends up it’s the cheapest way for them to comply with the law. Business is business. It occurred to me several years ago how easy it would be to borrow or steal someone else’s insurance card and get an appointment, be seen, and receive services based only on their word that they are that person. Seems pretty ridiculous, really, that someone can use your insurance so easily. ---
**Author:** ![daygecko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/91b2a8/32.png) [@daygecko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daygecko)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/49 "2009-06-04T02:01:32Z")
Ah, fingerprint readers. The orthodontic-aged me would’ve thought that was sooo cool- perhaps as cool as the dual-player Mrs. Pac-Man in the center of the waiting room that distracted the insecure, newly pubescent, snaggletoothed children from the tortures awaiting them. Though the reader and software for a laptop (Dell) is indeed $25, my current-aged cool intellect and bargain-hunting prowess knew I didn’t need it. The businesses I know of (including my bank-for safe deposits) which had implemented scanners have removed them due to glitchiness and upkeep cost, as well as unneeded redundancy- in case of computer malfunction, the customer would need to present their ID anyway! If the options are ‘use your fingerprint OR just type your name as usual’, the covert, all-knowing authorities aren’t getting their money’s worth from the orthodontic division. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/50 "2009-06-04T02:18:01Z")
If we’re talking about security and fraud wouldn’t it be easier to insert chips into everybody and use a common system to keep track of things? I remember a time when they said social security numbers would never be used for identification. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/51 "2009-06-04T02:38:33Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If we’re talking about security and fraud wouldn’t it be easier to insert chips into everybody and use a common system to keep track of things? [fundie]Oh, no! That’s the mark of the beast! It’s the end times! Aaaaahhhh![/fundie] ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512/52 "2009-06-04T04:10:37Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > [fundie]Oh, no! That’s the mark of the beast! It’s the end times! Aaaaahhhh![/fundie] Mr Bill goes to the dentist and they tell him they don’t share private information with anyone. It eventually becomes standardized for universal health care. Oooohhh. Splat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fingerprinting-at-the-orthodontist-wtf/498512.md?page=2)