It has been a few years since Mr. beckwall went for a dental check-up. With much encouragement from me, he went today for x-rays and an exam. He has never had problems with his gums and is always flosses. Today he saw a new dentist and I am wondering if this guy is a scam artist. He wouldn’t even do a simple cleaning today, because “you have early gum disease and it wouldn’t do any good”. His deepest pocket was a 4. Amazingly, the amount of the insurance coverage is the EXACT AMOUNT that the dentist would charge for a deep cleaning and debridement. On the flip side, I have all kinds of gum disease due to chronic dry mouth from some medications that I take. And no dentist has ever refused to clean my teeth, then move on to more advanced treatment.
This leaves a bad taste in my mouth :smack:. Anyone want to agree, disagree or just chime in with similar experiences???
To me, every time I have ever in my life gone to a dentist I have sat down, gotten a thorough cleaning, chided for not flossing every 5 minutes of my life, then my teeth checked out. Then they decided if they need xrays and other stuff done.
You can not really get a good idea of the condition of your teeth if they are not cleaned.
Yes, I’d look for somebody else. The routine I’ve always had is cleaning, then X-rays, then exam. (I suppose that can vary if there’s some major gum disease, but Zyada says she’s had much worse than a 4 pocket and the cleaning still came first. IIRC, I’ve had deep pockets too*, with the same routine.)
My sister-in-law is a dentist. I’ve worked her front desk for her off and on when she needs someone to fill in. When I was working there for an extended period a few years ago, a couple came in. The husband had been very ill for several years and both of them had neglected dental visits during that time. His teeth were basically fine; a good cleaning was all he needed. Her teeth were a terrible mess - the plaque had built up really badly in her mouth, especially in the back. Basically, a regular cleaning wouldn’t have done her any good; they would have been cleaning the surface of the plaque. She really did need full debridement. She had it done in four separate sessions, and then had a regular cleaning to polish the teeth. The process was not super-pleasant, but when everything had settled down, she felt a whole lot better and told us so repeatedly.
I’m sure there are dentists out there that recommend this procedure (and others!) when it’s not needed. But it is sometimes a legitimate recommendation. If you’re unsure, by all means, get a second opinion.
I had to have a 4 quadrant deep cleaning done at the orthodontist in my 20’s. I was sent from my dentist and although it was unpleasant it really helped. He may have to go for a scaling if the problems are below the gum line. I have not needed another one since then but it was in my case necessary.
I’ve had a deep cleaning done. It made a great improvement, but I’m not eager to have it done again. The OP’s dentist might be a scammer, might not be, but yeah, I’d get a second opinion.
Whoops, didn’t see this part. I retract my previous statement; it may not be a scam. When you’re not getting regular dental care, things can happen. In most other people’s cases from the previous thread, people HAD been getting regular care, and had just switched dentists because they retired/moved/whatever.
With the exception of x-rays being standard (or permission to get x-rays from an old dentist if they were taken recently), that’s my experience, too.
I did have a second opinion when the “other stuff” was ridiculous (according to the dentist, pretty much all of my teeth needed extensive work and wasn’t it convenient that they had a credit card that I could sign up for right there in the office? And wasn’t it also convenient that I could get cosmetic dentistry at the same time and put it on the same card?). The second opinion was very different.
My experience is exactly the same as aruvqan . That’s said, since I’m living in France, usual procedures might be different.
Regarding the OP : might be, might be not. I had both kind of experiences
-dentist telling me that a tooth had to be pulled using a special expensive procedure because my sinuses were threatened, while it turned out that they weren’t and the tooth didn’t need to be pulled anyway (along with several other issues with said dentist (apparent lack of hygiene, trying to treat a tooth decay without anesthesia because anesthesia would have taken some of his precious time, and more of it. The worst MD I’ve seen in my life, by far)
-dentists giving me an advice, backed by a second opinion, but not followed through because both were unavailable quickly and a third one, available quickly, thought it wasn’t really needed. Turned out that it was and the first dentist was right.
So my opinion would be to ask for a second opinion from another dentist. It served me well.
Second opinion seems like a really smart way to go. This first dentist was going to charge Mr. beckwall $1000 for the whole package, including a “6 week check-up” to see how things looked. ???
I once had the first appointment of the day at a dentist’s office and I sat quietly in the waiting room while the staff sat in the back of the office, and I could literally hear stuff like “Mr. Smith will be here today, he has $800 left on his insurance so when you clean his teeth be sure to tell him he has several problems for the dentist to treat”. I’m just so wary of dentists, having been through a lot of procedures myself.
Thanks for the replies. I’m going to try to talk him into a second opinion, definitely.
I have been to many different dentists in my life, and that has *never *happened to me.