121–130 of 349 posts
Always be skeptical when the person giving you a diagnosis also directly benefits from giving you a particular diagnosis. This goes for dentists, banking and so much more.
Can you give an example of a professional for whom this isn’t the case? Maybe a general practice doctor referring to a specialist? But often this involves trips back to the GP for checkups as well.
So, there are dentists who aren’t in it just for the money. It is anecdotal, but so is the article. For that matter, the bad dentist was caught by a good dentist.
Also, I miss my dad.
> As for common but invasive dental procedures, an increasing number of dentists question the tradition of prophylactic wisdom-teeth removal This is an American thing. In Europe if a wisdom tooth doesn't hurt, you don't remove it.
My Japanese dentist has also continually kept pushing for me to remove one of my wisdom teeth since "its hard to keep clean down there"
Throwaway because I run a large dental software company. Dentistry is practiced as a business focused on maximizing revenue. Dentists are routinely coached to deploy sales tactics to increase their treatment acceptance beyond what is needed. If you walk into a dental office, you need to protect yourself from being abused. A second opinion unfortunately puts you in the same position, but now with a new dentist who wil…
A compelling book on tooth care is Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye by Ellie Phillips. It advocates for: - Using flouride toothpaste. - Using a combo of bad-bacteria-killing mouthwash and flouride mouthwash (especially before bed). - Eating or finishing meals with tooth-protective foods. - Chewing xylitol [0] gum or mints. Xylitol is a sugar-replacement (with a lower insulin response) found in plants . I think Epic Dental h…
You forgot two big ones: 1. avoid as much sugar as possible 2. [deleted]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You forgot two big ones: 1. avoid as much sugar as possible 2. [deleted]
#2 is terrible advice. Acidic food weakens your enamel. Brushing after eating will make things worse. It's actually recommended that you wait after eating acidic foods to brush. Rinsing (with water) is totally safe, though.
I used to know a few dentists. One was a conservative, family dentist with a small home office in a small home (and a mountain of savings). He had a good rep bc he earned it. The other two had a bit more extravagant lives, and they earned it through specialization (and in my opinion, probably a little bit of this article).
What consumers should be most concerned about is the end of family practices, and the start of corporate 1800-DENTIST/Supercuts for dentists. Issues like this article are the norm, and instead of a local dentist to seek resolution with, you’re doing the equivalent of filing a Jira ticket with a faceless insurance conglomerate.
This is the trend the industry is going bc of the costs and difficulty of owning a practice. If you can, I recommend finding a young dentist who has recently bought into a home office partnership, and stick with them until corporate dentistry takes over. It is the only way to consistently avoid situations like this article.