11–20 of 390 posts
No joke. That is a major money maker. There is minimal cost per-use and your insurance pays $200 for it (my last one was $186.00 for instance). The dentists would be crazy not to recommend them as of often as possible.
Fluoride "rinses" are likely up there too. Rinse for a few seconds and they charge the insurance $50 or something for it.
Other outdated yet still routine dental practices include polishing of teeth during checkups for any justification other than cosmetic reasons
My bugbear with dentists in the US (after living my first 30 years in the UK) is that they all continually hassle me to have my wisdom teeth removed. Said teeth have never caused me any problems and are all through the gums. I can only assume it's dogma or an opportunity to bill insurance for costly unnecessary surgery.
https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/wisdom-teeth-removal-neces...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
and fees. But are checkups themselves backed by evidence? Unless you say “It hurts there”, will the dentist find anything on their own?
> will the dentist find anything on their own? In my experience they always find something that they "have time to take care of right now if you want". I've heard anecdotes of folks going to get second opinions that reaches a different conclusion.
I'm going to also throw anecdotes into the bucket: three dentists completely missed a cavity on one of my rear molars (wisdom teeth) until I mentioned pain, and then they poked around physically and said, "oh yeah, that's a big one."
What kind of dental x-rays they took? Panoramic (shows the whole row of teeth in one image), CBCT (volumetric 3D) or intraoral (a digital sensor or film was put inside your mouth)?
I understand that radiation effects are cumulative but is this overexposure source worth fighting against as a patient?
Other outdated yet still routine dental practices include polishing of teeth during checkups for any justification other than cosmetic reasons
My bugbear with dentists in the US (after living my first 30 years in the UK) is that they all continually hassle me to have my wisdom teeth removed. Said teeth have never caused me any problems and are all through the gums. I can only assume it's dogma or an opportunity to bill insurance for costly unnecessary surgery.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
and fees. But are checkups themselves backed by evidence? Unless you say “It hurts there”, will the dentist find anything on their own?
> will the dentist find anything on their own? In my experience they always find something that they "have time to take care of right now if you want". I've heard anecdotes of folks going to get second opinions that reaches a different conclusion.
I went to another dentist in the area, they took some x-rays themselves, and told me that there was nothing that needed immediate work - maybe one pre-cavity that would eventually turn in to something but certainly not worth doing anything with now.
Three years later (and sticking with that new dentist) I still haven't needed to have anything done (and certainly don't have any pain in my mouth anywhere either).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My bugbear with dentists in the US (after living my first 30 years in the UK) is that they all continually hassle me to have my wisdom teeth removed. Said teeth have never caused me any problems and are all through the gums. I can only assume it's dogma or an opportunity to bill insurance for costly unnecessary surgery.
I was told they get harder to remove when you’re older
Routine wisdom teeth removal is not a thing in most of Europe. Another random example are colonoscopies and routine flu vaccines (except for the elderly).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My bugbear with dentists in the US (after living my first 30 years in the UK) is that they all continually hassle me to have my wisdom teeth removed. Said teeth have never caused me any problems and are all through the gums. I can only assume it's dogma or an opportunity to bill insurance for costly unnecessary surgery.
I was told they get harder to remove when you’re older