I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)

Doctors are just people. I personally don’t trust a single one and why I always get multiple opinions.

The sooner they’re replaced by automation that’s far superior in terms of accuracy and diagnosis, the better.

Just a hundred years ago doctors were doing wack shit like chopping off limbs and giving people toxins or cocaine. Maybe the cocaine isn’t so bad.

Today they give us SSRIs and opioids.

They are given far too much credit imo when they’re just mechanics. Just like you can get into an accident because brakes failed or something and you’re left with pain and suffering or you die.

I’ve had a misdiagnosis before. It has left me with continued pain and I do thank the second doctor who realized the former doctors mistake and did his best to make me as whole as possible.

I don’t trust doctors. And I don’t think that highly of them either.

A couple years ago my dentist sold her practice to a new dentist.

Before I had an appointment with the new dentist, my wife had an appointment, and he told her she had gum disease with bone loss and needed a deep cleaning and to go on a "periodontal schedule" where she would have to come in every three months instead of six. (Note: My wife and I have different last names and separate insurance, so he wouldn't have known we're related.)

When I went in, the hygenist measured my pocket depths, and I noticed she seemed to be adding 1-3mm to what I remembered the measurements being every time I had that done in the past. The dentist then came in and gave me what sounded like a rehearsed speech concluding in the same diagnosis he had given my wife.

I told him I'd like to think about it and could he please send me the records they based this on. They proceeded to rush me out of the office, outright refusing to do the regular cleaning.

I went to another dentist and only told her I left my previous dentist because he gave me bad vibes. She started off with the pocket measurements which were magically back to normal! She said my teeth looked great. Then she asked about my previous dentist and I told her what happened. She said: "I suspected it was something like that."

So... yeah... what an industry...

ETA: Although now in my paranoia I wonder if the new dentist somehow knew the previous dentist's diagnosis and realized the way to keep me as a customer would be to tell me they were wrong. But they shouldn't be able to get my past records unless I authorize it, right?

Have you tried a waterpik? Considering an investment there myself.

I eventually found a great dentist. The first time I went to his office, it was extremely obvious that he was a Christian. Did that make me trust him more? Yes it sure did, but only because he was young. I would also trust an Orthodox Jewish dentist, but there aren't any here in Seattle that I can find. If I needed a lot of really expensive work, I would probably just go to a high end place in Mexico.

I can't speak to historically, but my understanding is currently, in the US, dental coverage was excluded from a lot of "this is insane, not allowed" provisions in the ACA as a compromise, so all the fun things you loved seeing go away in health insurance like lifetime maximums on coverage are still around.