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

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

#71

Post by cudgy »

unshavedyak wrote: post #30
freitzkriesler2 wrote: post #11

Man I had a really serious overbite as a kid and had a lot of orthodontia work done. I'm obsessive with my teeth now because of it. I'm also the child of doctors and coincidentally, when you're the child of medical professionals, other medical professionals treat you very very well. I had stellar dentists up until I moved to a new city and had my first experience with a bad dentist. Never again. Now I'm old enough to…

> I had stellar dentists up until I moved to a new city and had my first experience with a bad dentist. Never again. Is the only way to determine a bad dentist by going to many? I am in need of lots of work, but the thought of going to a ton of car-salesman-esque "medical professionals" to pick the correct one .. is terrifying.

The above advice seems sound. Find out who your doctor(s) use as their dentist. Ask other people too like neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Google Reviews can be helpful in some cases like when there are a reasonable number of reviews from legitimate looking reviewers.

Be wary of pushy dentists that are unwilling to treat you unless you agree to their “plan”. I once was told by a dentist as a new patient that they would not perform a standard cleaning until they could do a more extensive, more expensive, not covered by insurance cleaning. Immediately left that office and found another dentist. Turns out I did not need that cleaning.

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

#72

Post by EGreg »

Waterluvian wrote: post #47

My son when 3 had a fall and a few teeth were bent. Went to our local dentist who mostly had a wait and see opinion. But then calls a day later and says they’ve decided they should just come out. Two top front teeth. Would have no top front teeth for years. I went into engineer mode and while I acknowledged I didn’t have domain expertise, I asked questions and probed the whole situation. Very unsatisfactory, meanderi…

[flagged]

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

#73

Post by microtonal »

prepend wrote: post #15

This is the one place I like insurance because it at least gives some cost conscious perspective to proposed procedures. My insurance sucks but at least it’s useful that insurance considers optional what my dentist says is essential. For example, my dentist only does tooth colored fillings and my insurance doesn’t cover them. My dentist says the covered ones are unsafe. It’s a weird situation. My last dentist said I…

Hmpf, this is probably in the US? I always got the composite filling and it cost me almost nothing. The insurance pays most of it and the cost is not that high anyway.

We all go to the dentist every 6 months, let them do whatever they need to do (a good cleaning every visit, X-Ray every two years), etc. And it doesn't cost a lot.

(Western Europe)

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

#74

Post by constantly »

rossdavidh wrote: post #12

At the very end of the article: "This article originally ran in the February 1997 issue of Reader’s Digest." Surely this should be noted in the HN title?

Oh wow thanks for posting this. I read this and was thinking “I feel like deja vu from an article I was reading in a physical copy of RD from like 20 years ago” but the bottom seemed to indicate it was originally posted in 2020.

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

#75

Post by chpatrick »

EGreg wrote: post #72
Waterluvian wrote: post #47

My son when 3 had a fall and a few teeth were bent. Went to our local dentist who mostly had a wait and see opinion. But then calls a day later and says they’ve decided they should just come out. Two top front teeth. Would have no top front teeth for years. I went into engineer mode and while I acknowledged I didn’t have domain expertise, I asked questions and probed the whole situation. Very unsatisfactory, meanderi…

[flagged]

What's the right level of diagnosis for these?

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

#76

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Waterluvian wrote: post #47

My son when 3 had a fall and a few teeth were bent. Went to our local dentist who mostly had a wait and see opinion. But then calls a day later and says they’ve decided they should just come out. Two top front teeth. Would have no top front teeth for years. I went into engineer mode and while I acknowledged I didn’t have domain expertise, I asked questions and probed the whole situation. Very unsatisfactory, meanderi…

Did you consider seeing a doctor? Dentists are sort of doctors, but MDs with teeth specialties could be better, I’m sure your GP could have given you a rec.

(Edit: it turns out orthodontist is not like ophthalmologist).

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

#77

Post by [deleted] »

EGreg wrote: post #72
Waterluvian wrote: post #47

My son when 3 had a fall and a few teeth were bent. Went to our local dentist who mostly had a wait and see opinion. But then calls a day later and says they’ve decided they should just come out. Two top front teeth. Would have no top front teeth for years. I went into engineer mode and while I acknowledged I didn’t have domain expertise, I asked questions and probed the whole situation. Very unsatisfactory, meanderi…

[flagged]

[deleted]

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

#79

Post by fferen »

My tentative advice would be to find the one with the best reviews. Only pay attention to the lowest reviews, even a few 1-stars are informative.

My story: I brush and floss every single day. At my regular checkup, the dentist measured 2-5mm gum depths, and insisted on doing a deep cleaning, which involves anesthesia and multiple visits. I argued that the 5mm depths were borderline, and could very well be 4mm with measurement error. (They did seem to be pushing rather hard.) They also pointed out some tiny supposed "pockets" on the X-ray that looked like just imaging blur or something. Feeling very suspicious, I left, and found another dentist with, surprisingly, zero bad reviews on Yelp. They measured 2-4mm gum depths, and did a much less aggressive cleaning.

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

#80

Post by akakakak677 »

I spent 25 years with face pain. Saw more than 50 doctors in my lifetime. Finally, by chance, I was referred to a dentist that diagnosed me with TMJ. I'm wearing a plaque (or whatever it's called) and have zero pain now.

I'm done all kinds of exams you can think of and it was just me pushing my teeth all the time.

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