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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)

#301

Post by dsugarman »

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…

I think in general it's safe to take a cynical view on every vendors aptitude. Many, if not most, people are terrible at their jobs and it's your job to find the good ones and hold onto them

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

#302

Post by imperfect_light »

It's because in many of these fields (medical, dentistry etc) professionals are making decisions based on intuition and what they learned in school (which may or may not considered accurate anymore).

They should be consulting a formal decision tree based on latest research, but many doctors consider that to be insulting, much like they pushed back on check lists when they first became a thing.

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

#303

Post by zw123456 »

OK, throwing my dental horror story on the pile. About 15 years ago I bit on something in a wrap, and it hurt like heck, and I went to the dentist, and he said I needed an implant. $3000 later, I had a cool fake tooth. Then a few years later, something similar happened but this time I decided to try another approach. I used my water pick and sonic toothbrush and just kept after it while taking naproxen to deal with it.

Guess what, the tooth healed up and stopped hurting and stopped wiggling in there. that was about 10 years ago, and it's been fine ever since. Now, I use the water pick 3 times a day and brush at least the same number of times or more. And I have not been back to the dentist since. I just keep everything nice and clean in there. I am not a doctor and blah blah warning. Just my personal experience.

Chiropractor == Dentist (IMHO)

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

#304

Post by AQuantized »

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…

I saw a private dentist for the first time roughly a year ago. I was under the impression that I had 10+ fillings, and prior to lockdowns a dentist had told me I needed at least 2 more, which I assumed would still be the case.

He said he could see no indication of decay that would need treatment, and all the 'fillings' I had were more like sealants in the enamel, none of which reached the dentin, and any of them could have been avoided by a more wait and see approach.

I saw 5+ dentists on the public health system that all had the same cavalier approach, and it's hard to assume it wasn't to line their own pockets.

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

#305

Post by cies »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #229
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…

Similar story here. I went to a dentist, who with a sad look told me that all my wisdom teeth needed pulling. She recommended me to an oral surgeon who agreed and wanted to do the surgery, but not without first handing me a letter to sign which stated that I would not sue her if I lost feelings in my face or developed some kind of permanent pain. Seemed fine to me, but my father insisted to ask a friend of his who is…

> grinding my teeth

For which magnesium (try different types of Mg-salts) helps many! (never heard that from a dentist, again, possssibllyy because the solution is not sold in their shop)

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

#306

Post by alwa »

I do think this is a (1997) rather than a (2022), judging by the line at the bottom where it says that’s when it was originally published. Also, language in the piece—selecting dentists at random from 28 cities’ Yellow Pages, the claim that “the average income for dentists in private practice for 1994, the last year for which figures are available, was $117,610”—seem to support the idea that these figures are from 26 years ago rather than last year.

And if those prices were in 1997 dollars, I can’t imagine they’d be anything but much higher in 2022.

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

#307

Post by _yb2s »

I went to one dentist that said I had over 20 cavities. I didn't believe them and went to a second dentist that said I had none, but one spot was eroded and would soon become a cavity. I waited a full 10 years without doing anything and then went to a 3rd dentist, that said I have no cavities.

I'm convinced dentistry is a total scam. I'm the only person in my friends group that has never had a cavity or dental work, and I strongly suspect it's not because there's anything special about me, except that I don't go to dentists as often as most people do.

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

#308

Post by cies »

ArisakaDJB wrote: post #222
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…

I'm not from the U.S. but I was that kid. I broke my teeth when I was 6. My dad took me to the local dentist who told me to "leave him as it is" for a decade. Except my teeth were my second teeth, and they were half broken. I was walking around with half-blackened by the rot teeth, which caused all sorts of health problems on top of all the bullying and the first kiss kids tend to take came to me after I fixed the te…

I have a tooth with a root-canal treatment that I dont trust. But several dentists say all is fine.

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

#309

Post by tyg13 »

ROTMetro wrote: post #295
mikeyouse wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know HN is a privileged place but people should recognize that the “worst case” of Canadian/European healthcare wait times is already the reality for many if not most Americans.. You shouldn’t base your understanding of American health care on personal experience if you work for a big company that provides a nice health insurance plan.

I have jank government insurance and this is not true. When I got out of prison and had no insurance I went to the city's clinics. Wait times have never been an issue (at most was two weeks for specialist). The doctors in the clinic were also friggin amazing doctors/people. I had a ton of shame around getting out of prison, some much shame about needing to get tests ran for HIV/Hep from being in prison but they were…

I'm always surprised when people leave comments like these, based on nothing but N=1 anecdata. You don't have any authority to say something like "this is not true" with regards to the whole of the American healthcare experience. Compared to my own personal experience, yours was uncommonly-good. Wait times for specialists for my SO's heart condition are routinely several months out.

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

#310

Post by jokethrowaway »

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…

My son had cavities at 3, likely resulting from a lack of minerals and breastfeeding until 3.

UK NHS diagnosis was to pull 4 front top teeth out. I asked a relative (a doctor working in a public hospital but not a dentist) who advised to absolutely don't do that without even seeing him in person (COVID lockdown BS).

A local private dentist agreed and wanted 5k to fix his teeth (remove cavities, put fillings under general anesthetics).

In the end we went to Russia and got it done for 1k.

That's public healthcare for you!

His teeth have been fine for years, not long until he loses them naturally.

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