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A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

arstechnica.com

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Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#121

Post by CharlieDigital »

sameoldtune wrote: post #50
hansonkd wrote: post #31

This might sound stupid but I refuse to go to dentists that have "too nice" of an office. Over the years I have lived in several places and had a variety of dentists and one common theme that sticks with me, the nicer and higher tech the office is, the more procedures they are going to recommend you. They need to pay for the equipment and office somehow. I've had one dentist say I need 3 cavities filled. That I neede…

When I started working at Amazon in 2014 I had a number of coworkers from India and Taiwan whose dentists had convinced them that they needed professional teeth cleanings every 3 months. I didn’t say anything as I am not a dental expert, but it felt like my coworkers were being taken advantage of. Like you I had an experience as a child with a dentist who my parents later found out was full of B.S.

    >  Taiwan whose dentists had convinced them that they needed professional teeth cleanings every 3 months
Thing is, Taiwan's NHI covers dental care. If my insurance covered professional cleanings every 3 months here in the US, I'd go every 3 months, too.

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#122

Post by amflare »

loocsinus wrote: post #97

I am a dentist. The article and some of the comments here make me sad. sorry for the bad apples in my profession. I am sure most of the dentists are honest. If you have questions about procedures you don't understand, you can ask me.

Given that most of us can only afford to go to the dentist twice a year when our insurance covers it, what advice do you have for sussing out bad apples?

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#123

Post by MarcoZavala »

codingwagie wrote: post #98
hansonkd wrote: post #31

This might sound stupid but I refuse to go to dentists that have "too nice" of an office. Over the years I have lived in several places and had a variety of dentists and one common theme that sticks with me, the nicer and higher tech the office is, the more procedures they are going to recommend you. They need to pay for the equipment and office somehow. I've had one dentist say I need 3 cavities filled. That I neede…

Huge amount of fraud in the dental space, even in places like NYC.

[dead]

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#124

Post by majormajor »

dazc wrote: post #46
hansonkd wrote: post #31

This might sound stupid but I refuse to go to dentists that have "too nice" of an office. Over the years I have lived in several places and had a variety of dentists and one common theme that sticks with me, the nicer and higher tech the office is, the more procedures they are going to recommend you. They need to pay for the equipment and office somehow. I've had one dentist say I need 3 cavities filled. That I neede…

It doesn't cost that much to have a nice office. A better way of judging is how much stuff your dentist places on 'watch' rather than recommending expensive treatments. As we get older our teeth become less perfect and there will always be some work that needs to be done. Most of it isn't urgent, has no effect on your health and can take years to deteriorate to a state where it does. If your dentist isn't telling you…

It does cost a fair bit to remodel an old office.

But it's really easy to see it as "new office" = "nice office" - I've seen overbearing dentists who've been in business for 25 years so their office no longer hits the "nice" scale but they're still in the habit of recommending anything and everything. And dentists who moved into a new office more recently so everything is new and shiny, but they are more conservative.

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#126

Post by pests »

hansonkd wrote: post #31

This might sound stupid but I refuse to go to dentists that have "too nice" of an office. Over the years I have lived in several places and had a variety of dentists and one common theme that sticks with me, the nicer and higher tech the office is, the more procedures they are going to recommend you. They need to pay for the equipment and office somehow. I've had one dentist say I need 3 cavities filled. That I neede…

There is an article that's a few years old of a guy going to ~60 different dentists to see what variety of services he's offered.

I remember he went to his original dentist to get a baseline and it was just a cavity.

He was suggested all the way up to full denture replacement, IIRC.

I do remember him making a connection to the office nicenwss.

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#127

Post by lupusreal »

xyclos wrote: post #35
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #2

I 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…

When I was 12, I was scheduled by my regular dentist to have two cavities filled. It was the first time I had anything negative in a dental checkup. We were very poor, so my dad was pissed that it was going to be almost $400 to get them filled. He found a different dentist that was supposed to be a bit cheaper, and I went to that one instead. He was shocked to hear that I had been scheduled for two fillings. Since I…

> I fear there's not really a good way to vet Dentists effectively since most people probably never find out that they've been scammed for years. I'd love to learn some new strategies though.

It's something the government should be doing; running sting operations against dentists with compliants against them. Unfortunately, dentists and prosecutors are in the same social circles.

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#128

Post by jollyllama »

ryandrake wrote: post #8

This 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.

It's already happening, there are influencers hawking homemade toothpaste recipes on twitter.

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#129

Post by result2vino »

codingwagie wrote: post #98
hansonkd wrote: post #31

This might sound stupid but I refuse to go to dentists that have "too nice" of an office. Over the years I have lived in several places and had a variety of dentists and one common theme that sticks with me, the nicer and higher tech the office is, the more procedures they are going to recommend you. They need to pay for the equipment and office somehow. I've had one dentist say I need 3 cavities filled. That I neede…

Huge amount of fraud in the dental space, even in places like NYC.

> even in places like NYC

would be curious to hear why this specifically surprises you. Is NYC your idea of a gold standard for honesty?

Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

#130

Post by Johnny555 »

yardie wrote: post #33

My wife, who is a recent immigrant to the US, when she goes to get her teeth cleaned here is what happens: dental hygeniest does there thing, X-rays are taken that weren't asked for, dentist come in to review the photos, sure enough her mouth is falling apart and she has loads of cavities, then they want to discuss a treatment plan. When she gets home we discuss it and agree $8000 in Invisalign is a bit excessive. Th…

The biggest red flag here is that Invisalign is not a cavity treatment. If she needs a treatment plan for cavities, that plan should include some treatment for cavities.
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