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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)

#211

Post by davedx »

kentonv wrote: post #53

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 kn…

Yeah, our dentist sold the practice and the new one gave me a (unnecessary?) filling that is so painful I can't eat properly on one side of my mouth anymore.

Of course, I now don't want to go back to the new dentist, I want to find a new one that isn't going to screw up the first time they touch me, but that's a minefield too (finding a new dentist). So I've dealt with the pain for like 4 months already.

Sigh.

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

#212

Post by maeil »

chrismarlow9 wrote: post #186
basisword wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I’m not a conspiracy nut. I believe in listening to experts (but ultimately making an informed decision). I believe in modern medicine. But that experience shook me and forever changed my trust in the dental industry. Ask anybody who’s experienced a “chronic” illness about the “experts” and they’ll tell you a tale or two. The experts are great until they have a case that is unusual. The don’t have the time or know…

Same experience here. My analysis is it's a money milking scheme between groups of doctors. Pass you around so everyone gets a cut and they cross refer people to scratch each other's backs. Surgeon refers you to pain management and pain management refers you to surgeon. Add in a physical therapist, testing facility, and chiropractor and you got a pretty lucrative meshnet of referrals going.

While this might happen, it's certainly a tiny minority of cases. In most cases it's just too big of an ego to admit that they really don't know, and not willing (private practice) or unable to (employed by a big hospital) spend the large amount of time needed to raise the chance of finding the cause from 0% to maybe 2%.

Truth is that modern medicine still knows much less than is often assumed, let alone individual doctors. There's an absurd amount of potential for LLMs here.

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

#214

Post by electrondood »

I've never had cavities. No problems. Went to a new dentist and they told me I had two, and needed fillings. Went back to my usual dentist and they said there was some slight enamel erosion, but that I didn't need fillings.

This article is right on the money.

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

#215

Post by yikes_42069 »

smallerfish wrote: post #106
gitfan86 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90% of dentistry revenue is a scam. But at the same time it is very important to brush you teeth twice a day and floss weekly. You should also avoid sugary food as much as possible. Dentistry is much like Realtors, they like to take credit for very little actual work. "If I'm not here to confirm people are brushing regularly everyone would lose all their teeth" "I'm so glad I could sell your house for 500k. Without m…

> floss weekly For me daily makes a big difference. If I leave it until weekly my gums will start to suffer for it. I use the little floss picks, as they're much easier to manage for me than floss, and - here's something - they're reusable. Rinse them off like you would your toothbrush and you can keep those suckers going for a long time. You can also get them made from bio-plastic, so that they'll degrade once they…

Do you get those ones that are thinner than normal floss? Because it won't be as effective if so. Tried the Listerine ones but I'm curious which brand you get that has bioplastic

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

#216

Post by Izkata »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #201

It was so jarring coming from France in the late 80s to the US and going to the dentist. In France, the dentist's office was one woman, was the dentist and ran her office (Scheduling, seeing patients, etc...) She had modified her house so she ran her practice from a wing of her house. It was modern at the time, sanitary and she was a very nice dentist, but no assistants or anything. It was very much 1 patient at a ti…

> At the time, though I was a child, I don't remember cleanings being a thing

Dentist cleanings are to remove tartar buildup, which even if it was a thing you may not have needed (depends on diet and how good you are at cleaning your own teeth).

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

#217

Post by EGreg »

eropple wrote: post #206
EGreg wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, discussing institutional dogma has a major place on HN because the hacker ethos is to question authority and the official narratives of the dominant system we are embedded in. Or at least it used to be… now a larger number of people on HN support centralized power in the form of corporations, state governments, CBDCs, etc. while also bitterly complaining about the downstream results of their exercise…

Thank you for demonstrating my point.

You’ve just demonstrated mine! Ironic.

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

#218

Post by [deleted] »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #201

It was so jarring coming from France in the late 80s to the US and going to the dentist. In France, the dentist's office was one woman, was the dentist and ran her office (Scheduling, seeing patients, etc...) She had modified her house so she ran her practice from a wing of her house. It was modern at the time, sanitary and she was a very nice dentist, but no assistants or anything. It was very much 1 patient at a ti…

[deleted]

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

#219

Post by peteradio »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #119
CommieBobDole wrote: post #31

I've posted this before, but I went to a new dentist one time and though I'd never had a cavity, the new dentist said I had nine, some of which were pretty bad and needed immediate treatment lest they require a root canal. I didn't have any money or dental insurance at the time, so I didn't go back and just worried about it a lot for a while. That was twenty-five years ago. Haven't been to a dentist since. My teeth a…

the dental elephant in the room is that our body can heal cavities to some extent. especially if you change your dental hygiene and diet. (also your dentist might have tried to scam you, of course)

Nuh uh! - your dentist probably

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

#220

Post by charles_f »

This resonates so much. I have had some heavy dental work in the past because of actual problems that got my mouth (or rather both the issue and it's fix) published, but then I moved far away and had to change dentists. And since then...

> Your dental work is lousy

This makes me fly away faster than anything else.

> Some of your crowns have jagged edges and need immediate attention. They will trap food and cause decay

I've also heard this one for the first time from a dentist that I thought I could trust. She initially said the previous work was nicely done, but one day, curiously while she started renovation work in her office, this became a problem that "she wasn't comfortable with anymore"

This is to the point that I switch dentists often and only get cleanings, reject everything they propose. Nothing they recommend ever align, and I'm quite open to them about that, and they still go ahead and affirm that the previous one was wrong and they know their shit.

> what I really ought to do, he said, would be to crown all 28 teeth

How can you reasonably be comfortable proposing that to someone? I can't begin to imagine all the problems you're gonna create for your customer at this stage.

Incentives for dentists are built in a way that only a very strong ethical sense will make them do the right thing. And since the standard is so low, of course things are going this way.

Unless ethical boards are made to be more independent and get much stronger on this kind of malpractice, or you reform training so that dentists don't start with huge student debt, there's no good way out.

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