This is the oldest dental scam in Indian subcontinent. It's so much culturally persistent that my family resisted going to the dentist.
A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
331–340 of 350 posts
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't get me started on HVAC and plumbing. Two things that save me is I'm cheap and I don't mind a bit of suffering. My HVAC went out a couple of months ago. I diagnosed it like I would any other problem and settled on the blower fan probably went out. I call a place and guy comes out. He tested it and sure enough, broken fan. Now we get on the phone with his boss - they could do a new system on Monday (it was Friday…
Part of the problem is that in the US, everything cost about 2x+ as much as you would think and the reason why is taxes. Being self-employed means you pay almost 40% of all earnings in taxes. When I hear a quote, I take ~10% and estimate that's the cost of the parts and I can fix it myself. One problem with this though is that some thing require specialized tools to fix. Unless you can borrower them, it's not worth b…
Government taxes are at least just a multiple. Private taxes (aka insurance) is a huge fixed sum overhead every year, regardless of how many customers someone has. This keeps new entrants out of the market, and makes small time operations to close up shop. From what I understand those rates have been skyrocketing lately, but nobody is really talking about it except out of very some narrow contexts like consumer facing house+auto insurance. I suspect frustration with this is a big part driving support for the populist reactionary movement to rip down society, despite it being set to make the problem even worse.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#333Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like the idea of that proposal, but I'm not sure how it would work in practice. The problem is that the crooked dentist will argue that the "bait" patient has in fact have cavities. And then if the prosecutor finds somehow convincing evidence that the patient does not actually have cavities the crooked dentist can change tactic and say it was a honest mistake on their part. With other crimes where "sting operations…
It could be done. You do a first pass of a significant number of dentists, with people with confirmed healthy teeth, and then do a second pass on every dentist who recommends fillings. Caught scamming twice? License suspension. Repeat offender? Jail time. The odds of such a program putting an innocent dentist in jail gotta be near-nil. There's no shortage of people who would damn-near volunteer for the work, given ho…
Hmmmm. I like this.
Could it be done as a non-profit perhaps? I mean we clearly can’t do the licence suspension and the jail time that way but we could maybe shame the scammers?
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
It could be done. You do a first pass of a significant number of dentists, with people with confirmed healthy teeth, and then do a second pass on every dentist who recommends fillings. Caught scamming twice? License suspension. Repeat offender? Jail time. The odds of such a program putting an innocent dentist in jail gotta be near-nil. There's no shortage of people who would damn-near volunteer for the work, given ho…
Hmmmm. I like this. Could it be done as a non-profit perhaps? I mean we clearly can’t do the licence suspension and the jail time that way but we could maybe shame the scammers?
Hahaha I love it. Extinction Rebellion but for dentists? ... How about "Extraction Action"?
The main issue I foresee is that there's just so much to be outraged about in the world now. People are using shameful behavior to distract from worse shames - it's been weaponized!
So, making a significant impact in a crowded 'shame market', across a tightly controlled media landscape, generally requires a highly skilled dedicated team.
I was wondering about this problem since this thread; specifically, wouldn't it be rather easy to use big data techniques to catch dentists who are way outside norms?
And after looking into it, it seems that insurance companies, Medicaid etc have been doing exactly this, and catching some pretty big fish. It's new for me to give insurance companies much credit for doing anything good, and I feel weird now. Real enemy of my enemy stuff.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#335I really am puzzled when Dentists are considered "doctors". Honestly, a nurse at a hospital is way closer to a doctor than to a construction worker in a white suit! From poisoning billions with mercury to putting plastic "sealants" in kids' mouth, which leach, to "deep cleaning", which gets harmful bacteria into your throat and lungs to VOCs and all kinds of toxins that you're made to inhale.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#336I never really trusted dentists, and I was validated when I went to a new dentist my brother recommended. It turned out that dentist had an accident and had a temporary substitute.
He took x-rays and showed me on the x-rays that I had 4 separate cavities under fillings that needed to be replaced on 4(!) different appointments.
I have dentist anxiety, so I went to a different dentist in hoped of doing it all at once. He did another x-ray and told me there was no sign of cavities and that I should come back in 6 months.
In retrospect I should have reported that first dentist for fraud or something.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#337This 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…
I think there is some merit to that idea. It is not perfect, but it is a potential red flag. I experienced something similar a couple weeks ago when I went to a local dermatologist for a skin cancer screening. The office was gorgeous. Top of the line everything, spacious, just incredible. When the doctor came in, he was a whirlwind - he glanced at my back, the fronts of my arms, and my face ... then pronounced me in…
The inside of your mouth?
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
The logic is flimsy - having the newer equipment also means looking for reasons to use it to justify the cost so these dentists will often recommend expensive onlays instead of fillings for example.
Or your logic is flimsy. Equipment, as far as I can tell, is mostly bought once and then mortgaged over the lifetime of the practice, so they are presumably paying the same regardless. Newer dentists just have newer, and nicer, equipment. I go to a newer dentist and have never been recommended onlays. It's like any profession, some people are honest and some aren't.
You make a good point! I wish it were easier to find dentists based on machine, for one that has done the research. Now this gets to dental website quality. Also makes me want to ask this community what, if anything, can be gathered about the quality of the dentist based on his website.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#339This reminds me of when I went to a dentist in SF who told me I needed to have my wisdom teeth out. I did the initial exam, and then hesitated when it came to booking the procedure. The dentist noticed my hesitation, and said something along the lines of "And after the surgery, don't forget we'll also prescribe really great pain medication!" 10 years later my new dentist says the wisdom teeth are fine and to leave th…
Starting from my mid teens, I've had around a half dozen dentists tell me that I should get my wisdom teeth removed without me reporting any problems or having any negative side effects from them. I've declined to have them removed every time and I'm still sporting four healthy wisdom teeth into my 40's which now is decades of dentists negligently telling me to get them pulled for their own profit. My family practice…
You are so right about that! If everyone is getting them pulled, we no longer have data on what percent of people can't clean them well at home and they end up rotten in later life.
I agree it sucks to have to jam my toothbrush into the back of my cheek to clean my wisdom teeth, but I am glad to do it.
Re: A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones
#340Earlier quoted context omitted.
Starting from my mid teens, I've had around a half dozen dentists tell me that I should get my wisdom teeth removed without me reporting any problems or having any negative side effects from them. I've declined to have them removed every time and I'm still sporting four healthy wisdom teeth into my 40's which now is decades of dentists negligently telling me to get them pulled for their own profit. My family practice…
I'm in the same position, although luckily it was only two dentists who recommended that before I found a third who said "wait and see". I stayed with her through my twenties until I moved away, and now at 40 I still have all four wisdom teeth and never had any issues with them. However, to be fair to the previous dentists, I was doing this through the Irish free dental program and they wouldn't have made that much m…
Thank you for mentioning the Irish system and being fair.
I was going through the US Army system (also not a monetized system) when I got swept into some sort of new training pipeline, where the newest (and youngest) Army recruits, me included, were being treated (by the newest dentists.) One after another, each of the Soldiers began coming "home" to our barracks from the dentist with chipmunk faces (swelling from wisdom tooth surgery) so when it was my turn, I declined the surgery. I was shown xrays of my wisdom teeth not erupted, and they fairly explained that they could erupt crooked. I took my chances, kept them, and still have them 20 years later.
They went on to the next, and it was no harm, no foul. Some people might come from backgrounds where they don't care for their teeth, so the free procedure now was in their best interest, and some dentists just want to get training and do more procedures.