A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
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Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#2I went to a new dentist when I was 18 because my other dentist was unavailable. He declares that I have two cavities and fills one, but doesn't use enough anesthetic. Given my bad exp with him I went back to my other dentist who's flabbergasted that there was supposedly a cavity on the other tooth. No sign of any decay.
These kind of experiences are why I try to vet a new dentist very hard before trusting them, even going so far as to getting a second opinion if the new one finds anything.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#3I went to a new dentist when I was 18 because my other dentist was unavailable. He declares that I have two cavities and fills one, but doesn't use enough anesthetic. Given my bad exp with him I went back to my other dentist who's flabbergasted that there was supposedly a cavity on the other tooth. No sign of any decay. These kind of experiences are why I try to vet a new dentist very hard before trusting them, even…
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Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#4It's a bit off topic but I often wonder why dentistry is not a specialization of medicine (like e.g. dermatology) but is its own separate thing, with separate insurance, etc.
Dental health is part of being healthy. A lot of dental work is surgery. To me, it should be part of regular medical care.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#5I went to a new dentist when I was 18 because my other dentist was unavailable. He declares that I have two cavities and fills one, but doesn't use enough anesthetic. Given my bad exp with him I went back to my other dentist who's flabbergasted that there was supposedly a cavity on the other tooth. No sign of any decay. These kind of experiences are why I try to vet a new dentist very hard before trusting them, even…
Exact same thing happened to me as well. I now travel very far to go to a dentist that I can trust. It never even crossed my mind that this would be a possibility when I was younger.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#6Hardly new.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#7This is an old scam, but I would strongly reemphasize that you should not just blindly trust your dentist. Vet them, push back on any operations and get a second opinion.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#8This short-term hustle is going to hurt the practice of dentistry long-term, as people learn to distrust their dentists. Look what's happening on the non-dentistry medical side: when mainstream doctors fool and take advantage of their trusting patients for long enough, then anti-vaxers, Homeopathy, essential oils, faith healing, and the like start to take root.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#9Dental profession has a rampant fraud problem in general. Personally know many dentists who scare people to upsell unnecessary procedures, extractions etc.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#10Scams and crimes that hurt the victim for much more than the gain of the criminal are particularly heinous.
Burglars breaking into your home just to take money, a mosquito introucing malaria to get some blood out, pulling healthy teeth to increase sales, ransomware blocking up your systems for some cryptoransom.
The damage is often not in what is taken from us, but the collateral havoc the pathogen is willing to cause to take it.
That said, while it does not excuse malpractice, it is possible that the professionals truly believe that what they are doing is good, they may just be corrupted by their financial incentives.