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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)

#331

Post by tomcam »

cancerhacker wrote: post #324
mapt wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

House, MD was a fictional show on how the medical system is supposed to work, with abundant detective work and testing of hypotheses and pursuing a solution until one is found. On the other hand, from the administrator's perspective: "Your team of four people treat about one patient a week, why am I paying your salaries again?" In our universe, I probably won't receive that much medical care in my lifetime.

If you ever get cancer... Maybe it's just that I lucked into getting the most aggressive oncologists, but on more than one occasion I was sent to get an MRI or CT on the spur of the moment. There were times when it was scheduled out as well - but along the lines of "come back in six months; we'll schedule the CT for the week before". (But I know I was lucky - my oncologist could order a river to reverse itself and it…

Your profile and your user name seem to imply you’ve changed the direction of your career? Glad you’re alive, by the way.

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

#332

Post by NovaDudely »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #238
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 have learned from personal experience to never take healthcare medicals for their words. Always do your own research. Ask them consequences and how sure they are. And take into consideration the impact of treatments and diagnosis to the life quality of yourself or loved ones. At times can be hard for doctors and others to look beyond their own worldview. Personally I’ve had this eczema where I found the correct cre…

Oh yeah I had really bad skin flaking, they would orescibe all kinds of hormone or steroid based creams that would next to nothing.

One search on Reddit and many people just said to use petrolium gel. Bam fixed it up in two days! Costs me about $3 a year to control this now.

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

#333

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

smsm42 wrote: post #313
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very true. I had a SO with severe chronic gastric pain and they got passed around by doctors for years. One jerk wrote "drug seeking behavior" into her file and that made things even worse. Finally someone took her seriously, got imagery done, and discovered surgery was necessary. In US healthcare you have to be your own advocate and be willing to push. The system breaks down if you don't have a routine and o…

It's not specific to the US. It's the problem of doctors seeing every particular patient for literally minutes and having zero incentive to dig deeper. 90% of the problems are of the nature that is either covered by standard remedies or will pass by itself with time. If you have one of the 10%, you need to have good luck to encounter an extra-ordinary doctor that would take personal interest in your problem, usually…

I once had extended work done at a dentist. It took a few hours, some of which involved sitting around and waiting for things to happen.

It gave me a new perspective on that kind of work. From my/our point of view, I was the most important person in the room and my problems really really matter.

From the doctor or dentists POV, I'm one a long long list of people they're seeing that day. It's a health care production line, and even if they have the inclination to be equally caring about everyone - which is a rare quality, because a good medical professionals are only in it for the money - they just don't have the time.

This is not an excuse unprofessional behaviour. But it made me realise that self-advocacy works because you're asking - maybe demanding - more than the production line gives you by default.

Also, medicine is incredibly complicated. And the research is often very low quality.

And that's not taking into account Big Pharma trying to tout its products, whether or not they're suitable or effective.

The most depressing thing recently has been the professional response to Covid. In the UK countless doctors have aggressively given up masking, even in settings with immunocompromised patients.

It's really made it obvious that some doctors are just in it for the money, a good few are phoning it in, surprisingly many have quite irrational beliefs, and the caring expert professionals are much rarer than they should be.

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

#334

Post by wredue »

colordrops wrote: post #326
wredue wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The earth is not 6000 years old God didn’t do it Gravity is the curvature of spacetime Things are not attracted to the planet through static electricity Covid is real Vaccines work Rich mother fuckers do NOT have our best interests at heart Intelligent aliens have not visited earth People are called conspiracy nuts for being conspiracy nuts. Not for “taking less trodden paths”. Getting real tired of the HNs new “wahh…

You are arguing with a straw man. Nothing in my post suggested support for any of those things. That's why I included the terms skepticism and data.

[flagged]

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

#335

Post by commiepatrol »

I had a very similar experience at the dentist.

Top of my crown cracked and I went to a new dentist(because we recently moved) to check it out. They told me that I need to get an implant and that implants are much better than real teeth anyway and it would only cost me $6k. The crazy part is they also had a foot massage place inside the office that was free after your procedure and you also get a free fresh cut rose when you come in...weird.

Anyway, so I went to a different place for a second opinion and they told me the crack is superficial and unless I'm concerned with the way it looks I can just ignore it. Which I did. This was about 3 years ago and I've been going to the second dentist ever since.

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

#336

Post by User23 »

iancmceachern wrote: post #152
kypro wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same is true for healthcare generally in my experience. Very bad advice is often given. I can't really common about the US, but here in the UK the quality of healthcare is shocking bad. Although we may have the opposite problem, where instead of doing unnecessary procedures to increase costs, the NHS generally tries to avoid doing anything unless you're dying. I had some pain in my abdomen a few years back and ha…

>The same is true for healthcare generally in my experience. Very bad advice is often given. I have seen this in my personal life time and again. I have seen it in my professional life time and again. The only way though the mine field is to take personal ownership over your Healthcare, you need to learn more about what ailes you than the doctors know. You need to be confident in this knowledge enough to challenge th…

This is true for every kind of professional including realtors, lawyers, and financial advisors, just to name a few. At the end of the day everyone you hire is just doing a job, and it’s on you to learn enough to know that they are doing it to your satisfaction.

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

#337

Post by whynotminot »

dublo7 wrote: post #242
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 kids had insurance through their mom, because she made shitty pay, but good benefits. She lost her job and put them on state medicaid plan. Suddenly my son who has never had a cavity in his life needed 6 fillings. I took him to my dentist who found a single tooth that may have a cavity but it's too early to be sure. A year later he's had one filling. And that one was not any of the teeth the other dentist wanted t…

Was military in the past, so on tricare. Base dentist was busy so they referred me off base to a local dental clinic for my regular cleaning.

That local dentist I guess saw a blank check when I walked in the door and tried to convince me I had 5 cavities that needed filling. I told him to finish just the cleaning and I’d check back in with my military dentist.

Military dentist later looked me over again and said I had one slowly developing potential cavity to keep an eye on. That’s it.

A lot of dentists are apparently unethical hack shops.

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

#338

Post by littlestymaar »

Etrnl_President wrote: post #263
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very true. I had a SO with severe chronic gastric pain and they got passed around by doctors for years. One jerk wrote "drug seeking behavior" into her file and that made things even worse. Finally someone took her seriously, got imagery done, and discovered surgery was necessary. In US healthcare you have to be your own advocate and be willing to push. The system breaks down if you don't have a routine and o…

Now imagine doing this on Canadian healthcare, having to wait months or years for each appointment, and nowadays they try to talk you into MAID to save resources…

Favorably comparing the US health system to the Canadian one is an interesting take indeed…

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

#339

Post by webmobdev »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #228
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…

This is very true. I had a SO with severe chronic gastric pain and they got passed around by doctors for years. One jerk wrote "drug seeking behavior" into her file and that made things even worse. Finally someone took her seriously, got imagery done, and discovered surgery was necessary. In US healthcare you have to be your own advocate and be willing to push. The system breaks down if you don't have a routine and o…

That sounds very much like someone I know. She had pain in her stomach that doctors in the US just refused to examine in depth. One prescribed her pain-killers and another steroid. She asked more tests but they declined. Her father is a doctor in India and when she finally told him (after a few months of suffering) about her ordeal, he asked her to come immediately to India. After some reluctance, she flew down, and the first thing they did after reviewing her reports was a simple ultrasound. They discovered a tumour in her stomach. Operated and removed it and luckily it was not cancerous. The irony is that when her father asked her to come down to India, she refused initially arguing that the US was at the forefront of medical science in the world. She now understands that doctors matter too. (And unfortunately doctor behaviour in the US is very much influenced by insurance provider policies).

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

#340

Post by istjohn »

programmertote wrote: post #118
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…

Same thing. I am always good with flossing twice a day, brushing teeth twice a day (in fact, I spend ~10 mins brushing teeth gently and carefully every day). But the dentist in SF I visited 10 years ago "saw" 4 cavities and he showed me the X-rays, which I didn't know better I should have looked at carefully. But I got 4 fillings. Credit to him, those fillings never had any issue for the last 10+ years. But I went to…

If you tell them it makes you uncomfortable when you chew, they will probably grind down the filling for you at no charge--at least mine did.
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