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Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

arstechnica.com

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Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#31

Post by wccrawford »

jebarker wrote: post #9
krackers wrote: post #2

Other outdated yet still routine dental practices include polishing of teeth during checkups for any justification other than cosmetic reasons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.

I had the opposite experience. I told the dentist that I thought my wisdom teeth were causing my migraines, and they said it was possible but unlikely, and didn't really recommend removing them. I pushed, and they relented. They were right, it didn't make any difference.

Oddly, I only had wisdom teeth on one side, and not the other. So only 2 teeth were removed.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#32

Post by dopylitty »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #3

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."

I had the same but with a cracked crown. The dentist did the bite wing x-rays, did whatever examination they do, and then at the end said it all looked good. They even did some fancy 3d scan trying to sell me on a mouth guard or those transparent braces.

Then I mentioned I had pain around the crown whenever I ate something sweet or sour. The dentist took another look and said "oh yeah the crown is cracked"

So now I know I either have a cracked crown or I don't. Great service.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#33

Post by filoleg »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #28
galleywest200 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in the US and I had my wisdom teeth filled. Granted after the procedure my dentist said he was never filling wisdom teeth again, lol.

Filled? What does this mean?

It means they fixed cavities on those teeth.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#35

Post by macNchz »

doe_eyes wrote: post #19
electronbeam wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told they get harder to remove when you’re older

It's one of these areas where people (including medical professionals) hold strong beliefs, but then it turns out that there are other highly-developed countries where this is not routinely practiced, and the outcomes aren't necessarily different. 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).

I've generally assumed the simplest explanation is that many of these weakly-supported procedures are regular, consistent income streams for the people who perform them in the US: my four wisdom teeth (that were causing me serious issues at age 19) cost $2k to remove nearly 20 years ago, and I know colonoscopies are billed to insurance in the thousands. There's not much incentive to move to cheaper tests or wait-and-see, when you can just do it to everyone who reaches a certain age by default.

Presumably flu shots are good business for the manufacturers, though I'm not sure about the science. After having the flu as a healthy late-twenty-something a while ago, which was...intensely horrible, I've chosen to get it ever since.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#36

Post by alexjplant »

genter wrote: post #20
electronbeam wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told they get harder to remove when you’re older

https://www.jwz.org/gruntle/wisdom-teeth.html

This guy infamously has a problem with each and every HN user and chooses to display an NSFW image saying such if your request's referrer header has news.ycombinator.com. Don't click.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#37

Post by nkrisc »

jebarker wrote: post #9
krackers wrote: post #2

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.

Mine recommends the same, but it’s not because I need them out now, but because by the time I’m elderly I might be more likely to need them out, but by that time the surgery might be very difficult for me. As he pitched it to me, “get them out now while you’re young and it’s no big deal”.

I haven’t decided yet since they cause me no problems now and so far I’m to keep them relatively clean, but I have known several elderly family members who eventually needed molars removed because they hadn’t/couldn’t clean them well enough and it was a very difficult surgery for them.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#38

Post by rootusrootus »

kart23 wrote: post #29

Isn't flossing not supported by science also, but all the news articles said you should keep flossing?

Yes, flossing cannot be proven to help. But it cannot be proven to hurt, either, so current recommendations are to do it anyway.

Re: Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

#39

Post by krackers »

rootusrootus wrote: post #38
kart23 wrote: post #29

Isn't flossing not supported by science also, but all the news articles said you should keep flossing?

Yes, flossing cannot be proven to help. But it cannot be proven to hurt, either, so current recommendations are to do it anyway.

>cannot be proven to hurt

Inserting floss between your teeth pushes them slightly apart. I wonder if that could have any negatives?

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