My dentist is in his early 60s. I'm so scared of him retiring because he's never done me dirty. I just know I can't trust these other ones due to the anecdotal stories of people I know, but also articles like this one.
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)
#542Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reread your article. There’s no evidence that “brush your teeth and you’ll be fine”. There’s no good evidence that flossing is effective because there are nearly no large randomized controlled studies of flossing. Nearly all of the studies rely on self reporting. Flossing isn’t some kind of conspiracy. Dentists make no money off it. Many dental associations and government agencies outside of the US recommended it. De…
I suspect dentists push flossing as a way of convincing their patients that they're not doing enough, and can therefore push more services. "Well sir, if you only flossed regularly like we tell you, you wouldn't need all these regular deep cleanings!"
You think there is conspiracy at the ADA level to push a free fake treatment as a way to convince patients to pay for other expensive fake treatments?
And this conspiracy has infiltrated not only the ADA and every dental schools but dental hygienist schools and dental agencies all over the world.
Dentists are all remarkably consistent about flossing. This level of coordination would require an actual coordinated conspiracy that is massive in scale.
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#543Earlier quoted context omitted.
Went to a new dentist after moving. She found two "small spots that could go bad if left untreated!" and "should be drilled and filled!". A year later I am still in pain some time. Dentists are fucking psychopaths and we are literally cattle at their mercy. I have no idea how to continue, how to find a dentist I can trust with my stupid teeth. I am terribly afraid of them now.
I've considered using lies to detect lies. Go to a dentist and lie to them about a particular tooth sometimes being sore. If they tell you there's nothing wrong with it, that's your new dentist.
Very clever actually! I guess the average money hungry dentist wouldn‘t mind an extra filling.
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#544Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect dentists push flossing as a way of convincing their patients that they're not doing enough, and can therefore push more services. "Well sir, if you only flossed regularly like we tell you, you wouldn't need all these regular deep cleanings!"
You think there is conspiracy at the ADA level to push a free fake treatment as a way to convince patients to pay for other expensive fake treatments? And this conspiracy has infiltrated not only the ADA and every dental schools but dental hygienist schools and dental agencies all over the world. Dentists are all remarkably consistent about flossing. This level of coordination would require an actual coordinated cons…
Dentists in the US* flossing basically doesn’t exist in other parts of the world
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#545Some years ago I was seeing a dentist that I had no complaints about--I try to take good care of my teeth, and she would tell me what I was used to hearing, teeth look great, nothing concerning, and so on. Then one day I go to my 6 month cleaning appointment and something is off. The name of the practice is the same, my dentist's name is still on the door, but I don't recognize anyone on the staff. When I'm greeted b…
> also it's apparent that I grind my teeth and need a night guard to prevent further damage
THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!
I went to a dentists office that I found on ZocDoc for a routine cleaning. They took lots of X-rays, etc. The dentist told me that I grind my teeth and needed a night guard. Never heard this before up until that point.
A few years later, I went to get another cleaning. This dentist never mentioned the grinding, despite having taken a bunch of X-Rays...
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#546Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doctors are technicians. Technicians with a large toolkit, but technicians nonetheless. When you compare their behaviors to IT it all starts making sense.
Being a doctor is like debugging a unique humongous software application with thousands of years of organic patchwork added by a godlike AI which just generates random code and watches the failed experiments die, no source code to any of it just the final binary, no debugger that lets you kill the process and dump its memory or trace its execution, just a bunch of test cases that cost lots of money to run and may yie…
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Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#547don't try with psychologists then
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#548Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something your comment overlooked is the overall availability and the required timeline for something health related is usually quite different than home maintenance or car troubles. I had a really bad sprain about two years ago to the point where my partner had to help me on and off the toilet. Eventually I took off work, went to urgent care, and paid $200 for them to basically say "well it's not broken, we could do…
In an ideal world, what would you say should have happened?
Instead of being blown off and told "I don't know what you want us to do" after being triaged, some helpful direction on next steps I can take would have been nice. Something like "Yes, we can do an MRI but that'll be expensive. We can make an appointment for you for physical therapy. Also here's some minimal tips we have to make recovery a bit better." It's a sprain, I imagine that's pretty common, but most people don't know what to do. To be shuffled out as soon as possible seems pretty irresponsible to me.
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#549Earlier quoted context omitted.
Favorably comparing the US health system to the Canadian one is an interesting take indeed…
I know people in Canada who come to the US for healthcare (better care for specialties, shorter wait times). I'm not aware of the reverse (admittedly, that would require more than just $$).
And Americans go to Mexico for healthcare, I'm not aware of the reverse, I guess that means Mexico has the best healthcare in the world.
Re: I went to 50 different dentists: almost all gave a different diagnosis (1997)
#550Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some dentists are the worst - they're no better than used car salesmen, and sometimes they are worse than that. Just shady and questionable businesses that try to extract the most money possible from you, and in some cases they will lie to do it. I moved cities a few years ago, about an hour south of where I used to live, and I changed my doctor, my mechanic, but I kept my dentist even though it's a 1.5 hour drive in…
Forever is a loooonnnggg time. I liked my dentist and kept going to him, he practiced into his 80s. Turns out he left some packing material in a crown and it rotted out the tooth. The dentist that took over his practice tried to save the tooth but it had to come out and I have an implant in its place.
"Forever" is a metaphor. I guess I'm lucky my dentist is younger than I am.