How dentists are treating your health like **** just to rip you off
- Thread starter Michael_
- Start date
Not my dentist. The ones that are on a national chain I would be scared of.
themechanic
Oklahoma is OK
- Local time
- 7:51 AM
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2012
- Messages
- 18,544
- Reaction score
- 23,059
- Location
- Moore, Oklahoma
I used a free exam coupon once at a new to me dentist. Swanky place and had their own finance office. After the exam and talking to the finance manager I decided I didn't need $3000 worth of dental work and left. Got the free cleaning, though.
Went to work the following day and heard a similar story from my boss.
Went to work the following day and heard a similar story from my boss.
What I find odd is these free dental exams require you to lay on your belly. On a survey of the free exams the results were a lollipop in your hand and a tube of preparation H in your goody bag instead of floss,toothpaste, and toothbrush.
GetX'd
Making Life Great Again!
- Local time
- 5:51 AM
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2014
- Messages
- 11,896
- Reaction score
- 13,126
- Location
- Laguna Beach, CA
A good and legit dentist is hard to find these days. They all go to these seminars about how to start, build and prosper a practice which are loaded we 1000 and 1 ways to upsell a patient on things they don’t need. When I first moved top CA I didn’t go to the dentist for about 2-3 years because Everywhere you looked the AIDS thing was prominantly thrown in your face and CA was the poster child state for it. So I was afraid to go for concern about cleanliness. Then when I did get up the nerve I went to this place in Newport Beach where I lived at the time and they gave me a list of must does that was as long as the pentagon papers. Needless to say I blew them off and never went back. Down the road a ways My wife to be answered an ad for a Dentist that needed office help and only hired VN people. This guy turned out to be a saint. Son of two immigrant oral surgeons educated and practiced on the east coast. He was so smart he graduated from dental school to young to practice yet. So he worked in a lab until old enough. Because my wife worked there for a period he loved her and accepted us as friends and family patients. He is ultra conservative as a practioner and rock star all wrapped up into one. He has nothing but the best intentions for his patients and for us he never charges us more than our insurance will pay. His staff is the best and he only refers out to the best for things he can’t do. He is an absolute anomoly from the pretentious scam of SoCal dentistry. We are so lucky and would never ever change for any reason. Even when I lived in CO pre Ca days - it was nearly impossible to find a legit dentist. And that was 30 years ago.
- Local time
- 7:51 AM
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2014
- Messages
- 34,951
- Reaction score
- 57,147
- Location
- South Louisiana
I should have gone to my dentist, many times more than I have, much longer ago than I started, and had things done that could, no would have kept me from being in as bad of a situation I'm in now,
BUT
Even through my ups and downs of "coverage" including some kind of "dental" coverage, what reached my mind through all of the...
Deductibles
Exclusions
Co-Pays
Minimums
and never seeming to have the money "to spare", I just didn't go unless I had pain so bad I had to go or I may have suffered more than the inability to eat and/or loss of the tooth (teeth). I'm also burned out on having teeth pried on and pulled on, from (oh the irony!) having had braces on ALL of my teeth as a teenager. The "irony" is the money my dear, loving grandmother paid so I could "have good teeth" as I got older and, well, old, so I wouldn't have the problems she did as she grew old.
There wasn't really any sane way around the braces to begin with, because I had a lower tooth in the area of my upper canines come in 90° sideways.
So lack of funds, and to some degree irresponsibility (I admit it) and so on and here I am at my recent visit.
This example alone just makes my resistance to go again that much stronger.
I had the rearmost lower tooth, RH side start to hurt with cold sensitivity. Then cold and hot, then pressure sensitivity to where I couldn't chew on it. I knew it had to be getting an infection, and I also know those kind of infections can KILL you.
So I call my dentist friend (we became friends over 15 years ago when I did A/V work for him and his family...good people). I have to say that he is a good dentist with a solid practice, so he knows what he's doing. The way he treats his patients is NOT like some doctors/dentists, he is a "regular guy" and doesn't carry the aire of some docs like they descended from Mount Olympus in order to grace us mere mortals with their omniscient brilliance and skills.
He looks at it, takes a few X-rays, writes a script for a week's worth of antibiotics (a must before any procedure, to prevent a potential flood of bacteria, and it reduces swelling, thus alleviating pain). I go back, and we agree to do a....
ROOT CANAL!
Well, I have certainly heard of them, mostly in a humorous context, as one of the most unpleasant yet not uncommon shared human experiences.
Well, now I know why a "root canal" procedure is so loathed, and mine was worse than "normal". As the dentist was using these different size teeny round flexible files to ream out any tissue, basically anything that was nerve and blood carrying, leaving only what I'd call "hard tooth", and this has to be done for each root (4 in this tooth) the crack in the tooth that ran through the middle of it front to back, became a variable in the question of this being a successful procedure. The flex files were getting "sidetracked" out of the root channel and into the crack. Also one of the tips of a file got snagged and the tip got broken off at the jaw end (bottom) of one root channel. I could see the teeny tip in a X-ray, but not to worry as it is made of titanium and is basically inert.
So it took TWO visits to complete the root canal, and as an added bonus, and I'm one who is an advocate for "painless" dentistry, the 2nd trip he hit some major nerve on the outside of my jaw with the novacaine needle, which felt like it was hit with a drill bit, razor, and laser beam all at once. I yelled and it took all I had not to jump out of the chair or punch him in the head. He cleaned it out and then "plugged" the 4 new channels with some temporary filling.
A few days, almost 2 weeks or so go by and all is well. I'm chewing using that area I had been avoiding, and I was just thinking about when I'd be getting a permanent filling or cap. No pain at all...
Then, of all the things I had been eating it was Raisin Bran that put enough pressure on my tooth to either deepen/lengthen the crack or shift one half of the tooth enough to make some of the temporary filling break off and fall out. From that point until a few days later when I went back in, the inner half of the tooth got more and more loose.
YEP, after ALL THAT, I wound up having to have it PULLED anyway!
BUT
Even through my ups and downs of "coverage" including some kind of "dental" coverage, what reached my mind through all of the...
Deductibles
Exclusions
Co-Pays
Minimums
and never seeming to have the money "to spare", I just didn't go unless I had pain so bad I had to go or I may have suffered more than the inability to eat and/or loss of the tooth (teeth). I'm also burned out on having teeth pried on and pulled on, from (oh the irony!) having had braces on ALL of my teeth as a teenager. The "irony" is the money my dear, loving grandmother paid so I could "have good teeth" as I got older and, well, old, so I wouldn't have the problems she did as she grew old.There wasn't really any sane way around the braces to begin with, because I had a lower tooth in the area of my upper canines come in 90° sideways.
So lack of funds, and to some degree irresponsibility (I admit it) and so on and here I am at my recent visit.
This example alone just makes my resistance to go again that much stronger.
I had the rearmost lower tooth, RH side start to hurt with cold sensitivity. Then cold and hot, then pressure sensitivity to where I couldn't chew on it. I knew it had to be getting an infection, and I also know those kind of infections can KILL you.
So I call my dentist friend (we became friends over 15 years ago when I did A/V work for him and his family...good people). I have to say that he is a good dentist with a solid practice, so he knows what he's doing. The way he treats his patients is NOT like some doctors/dentists, he is a "regular guy" and doesn't carry the aire of some docs like they descended from Mount Olympus in order to grace us mere mortals with their omniscient brilliance and skills.
He looks at it, takes a few X-rays, writes a script for a week's worth of antibiotics (a must before any procedure, to prevent a potential flood of bacteria, and it reduces swelling, thus alleviating pain). I go back, and we agree to do a....
ROOT CANAL!
Well, I have certainly heard of them, mostly in a humorous context, as one of the most unpleasant yet not uncommon shared human experiences.
Well, now I know why a "root canal" procedure is so loathed, and mine was worse than "normal". As the dentist was using these different size teeny round flexible files to ream out any tissue, basically anything that was nerve and blood carrying, leaving only what I'd call "hard tooth", and this has to be done for each root (4 in this tooth) the crack in the tooth that ran through the middle of it front to back, became a variable in the question of this being a successful procedure. The flex files were getting "sidetracked" out of the root channel and into the crack. Also one of the tips of a file got snagged and the tip got broken off at the jaw end (bottom) of one root channel. I could see the teeny tip in a X-ray, but not to worry as it is made of titanium and is basically inert.
So it took TWO visits to complete the root canal, and as an added bonus, and I'm one who is an advocate for "painless" dentistry, the 2nd trip he hit some major nerve on the outside of my jaw with the novacaine needle, which felt like it was hit with a drill bit, razor, and laser beam all at once. I yelled and it took all I had not to jump out of the chair or punch him in the head. He cleaned it out and then "plugged" the 4 new channels with some temporary filling.
A few days, almost 2 weeks or so go by and all is well. I'm chewing using that area I had been avoiding, and I was just thinking about when I'd be getting a permanent filling or cap. No pain at all...
Then, of all the things I had been eating it was Raisin Bran that put enough pressure on my tooth to either deepen/lengthen the crack or shift one half of the tooth enough to make some of the temporary filling break off and fall out. From that point until a few days later when I went back in, the inner half of the tooth got more and more loose.
YEP, after ALL THAT, I wound up having to have it PULLED anyway!
Mopar Hunter
Well-Known Member
Can’t you old people just drop your teeth off at the dentist and pick them up later. They do have a Mail in order now.
padam
Well-Known Member
I should have gone to my dentist, many times more than I have, much longer ago than I started, and had things done that could, no would have kept me from being in as bad of a situation I'm in now,
BUT
Even through my ups and downs of "coverage" including some kind of "dental" coverage, what reached my mind through all of the...
Deductibles
Exclusions
Co-Pays
Minimums
There wasn't really any sane way around the braces to begin with, because I had a lower tooth in the area of my upper canines come in 90° sideways.
So lack of funds, and to some degree irresponsibility (I admit it) and so on and here I am at my recent visit.
This example alone just makes my resistance to go again that much stronger.
I had the rearmost lower tooth, RH side start to hurt with cold sensitivity. Then cold and hot, then pressure sensitivity to where I couldn't chew on it. I knew it had to be getting an infection, and I also know those kind of infections can KILL you.
So I call my dentist friend (we became friends over 15 years ago when I did A/V work for him and his family...good people). I have to say that he is a good dentist with a solid practice, so he knows what he's doing. The way he treats his patients is NOT like some doctors/dentists, he is a "regular guy" and doesn't carry the aire of some docs like they descended from Mount Olympus in order to grace us mere mortals with their omniscient brilliance and skills.
He looks at it, takes a few X-rays, writes a script for a week's worth of antibiotics (a must before any procedure, to prevent a potential flood of bacteria, and it reduces swelling, thus alleviating pain). I go back, and we agree to do a....
ROOT CANAL!
Well, I have certainly heard of them, mostly in a humorous context, as one of the most unpleasant yet not uncommon shared human experiences.
Well, now I know why a "root canal" procedure is so loathed, and mine was worse than "normal". As the dentist was using these different size teeny round flexible files to ream out any tissue, basically anything that was nerve and blood carrying, leaving only what I'd call "hard tooth", and this has to be done for each root (4 in this tooth) the crack in the tooth that ran through the middle of it front to back, became a variable in the question of this being a successful procedure. The flex files were getting "sidetracked" out of the root channel and into the crack. Also one of the tips of a file got snagged and the tip got broken off at the jaw end (bottom) of one root channel. I could see the teeny tip in a X-ray, but not to worry as it is made of titanium and is basically inert.
So it took TWO visits to complete the root canal, and as an added bonus, and I'm one who is an advocate for "painless" dentistry, the 2nd trip he hit some major nerve on the outside of my jaw with the novacaine needle, which felt like it was hit with a drill bit, razor, and laser beam all at once. I yelled and it took all I had not to jump out of the chair or punch him in the head. He cleaned it out and then "plugged" the 4 new channels with some temporary filling.
A few days, almost 2 weeks or so go by and all is well. I'm chewing using that area I had been avoiding, and I was just thinking about when I'd be getting a permanent filling or cap. No pain at all...
Then, of all the things I had been eating it was Raisin Bran that put enough pressure on my tooth to either deepen/lengthen the crack or shift one half of the tooth enough to make some of the temporary filling break off and fall out. From that point until a few days later when I went back in, the inner half of the tooth got more and more loose.
YEP, after ALL THAT, I wound up having to have it PULLED anyway!
Wow, that's bad.
I had a similar experience, got a root canal, towards the end he would hit nerves or something and I almost hit the ceiling every time. Then couple years later it went bad so I had it pulled.
What a waste of money! Never again!
I did find a nice female dentist at a clinic, older lady from South America, spoke with a German accent. She could pull teeth like nobody's business.
- Local time
- 8:51 AM
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2020
- Messages
- 2,509
- Reaction score
- 8,242
- Location
- State College, Pennsylvania
I have been fortunate to have both good teeth to start with, excellent legit dentists for most of my life. Still have all my original teeth at 68 (kind of like a B body with original quarter panels and trunk floor). Sadly, the inflationary pressures of dental education, and equipping a practice have skyrocketed. For years, my dentist was a former high school classmate. She was excellent, maintained a modest office, charged what the market would bear, and kept office hours three days a week. She owned a 70 acre farm with stables, 4 horses, a stone mansion, an ex husband (psychiatrist) who spent weekends in the guest house when he visited their daughter (whose college was paid for in full). Five years ago she sold the practice to my current dentist, and retired. The new guy is in a different place financially. Also excellent, he is staring down the barrel of start up costs that are chilling. One benefit of buying my former dentist's practice, is he got a bunch of aging baby boomers who need a fair amount of work, and pay cash. He has a good sense of humor, and laughs about Ginger's horse farm. Playing it legit, he hopes to be out of debt in about 20 years. No horse farm in his future, he hopes to own a new pick up without a payment book.
When I was in private law practice in the early 1980s, I was pressured by the jerk I worked for to over bill our few corporate clients, to subsidize freebies for his girl friend. I took the moral high ground and left. My student loan debt in that era was 15K. Graduates of my alma mater today leave with about 150K. This trend doesn't bode well for patients or clients across most professions.
When I was in private law practice in the early 1980s, I was pressured by the jerk I worked for to over bill our few corporate clients, to subsidize freebies for his girl friend. I took the moral high ground and left. My student loan debt in that era was 15K. Graduates of my alma mater today leave with about 150K. This trend doesn't bode well for patients or clients across most professions.
barbee6043
Well-Known Member
- Local time
- 7:51 AM
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2008
- Messages
- 2,590
- Reaction score
- 2,551
- Location
- S E Texas. Shepherd, texas
I guess I will visit thee dentist after Covid.
- Local time
- 8:51 AM
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2020
- Messages
- 2,509
- Reaction score
- 8,242
- Location
- State College, Pennsylvania
After Covid arrived, my dentist invested in what amounted to space suits for himself and his assistants, helmets with breathing apparatus and filtration. Creates a really eerie feeling while getting work done, but keeps the operation going.
Those 50-seat walk-in clinics are like chicken processing plants. Anyone with half a brain will have a regular dentist that they see on a regular basis. Its a medical thing, you have a family doctor, why wouldn't you have a regular dentist!
- Local time
- 8:51 AM
- Joined
- May 14, 2011
- Messages
- 18,226
- Reaction score
- 35,504
- Location
- On the Ridge, TN
The title of this thread is a glaring example of what they teach in literature and journalism classes -
namely, it's a case of the mortal sin of "glittering generalities", wherein the author (whether intentionally
or not) lumps all of a given group into the same category - which cannot be, of course.
In this example:
In reality no, not all dentists are doing what the title of the thread suggests.
Obviously...
More credible titles could have been " How some dentists..." or perhaps "How a few dentists..." or even
"How many dentists...".
Generalities have been used by writers for centuries in order to gin up artificial support for their positions.
I cringe every time I see an example of that - for in reality, there are very few absolutes of anything or
anyone.
namely, it's a case of the mortal sin of "glittering generalities", wherein the author (whether intentionally
or not) lumps all of a given group into the same category - which cannot be, of course.
In this example:
In reality no, not all dentists are doing what the title of the thread suggests.
Obviously...
More credible titles could have been " How some dentists..." or perhaps "How a few dentists..." or even
"How many dentists...".
Generalities have been used by writers for centuries in order to gin up artificial support for their positions.
I cringe every time I see an example of that - for in reality, there are very few absolutes of anything or
anyone.
67charger383
Well-Known Member
My dentist is great. He’s getting old now and has had some health problems lately, but I’ve been going to him my whole life. He’s worked on presidents and politicians, I trust him. Great painter too! Has his paintings hanging all around his practice.
padam
Well-Known Member
Some people don't have the $$$.
My dentist retired this year. As a wedding gift he did our teeth 43 years ago . His partner has been with him for ten years now and he knows me and what I expect, you do your job and I pay you. That could never happen to me. I don't even get it.
- Local time
- 5:51 AM
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 3,429
- Reaction score
- 4,449
- Location
- Rancho Cordova, CA
I'v been going to the same dentist for probably the past 25 + years.
Now I'm beginning to think he has become a shyster, and rip off artist in the dentistry world.
Recently had $3.000.00 worth of dental work done, resulting from a tooth of mine that a portion cracked off, that led to a root canal job.
After all this i cannot afford any more dental bills in the rest of my lifetime.
Now he want's to upsell me with this, that, saying i gotta have this done, that i am not having any issues with at all.
Doesn't realize i cannot afford to go to the dentist anymore, and pay the big bills that they charge.
Tony Soprano would be proud of these guys. lol
My savings account, and social security is only going to last so far.
Dentistry is one big racket, in this medical world.
My .02 cents worth on the subject.
Now I'm beginning to think he has become a shyster, and rip off artist in the dentistry world.
Recently had $3.000.00 worth of dental work done, resulting from a tooth of mine that a portion cracked off, that led to a root canal job.
After all this i cannot afford any more dental bills in the rest of my lifetime.
Now he want's to upsell me with this, that, saying i gotta have this done, that i am not having any issues with at all.
Doesn't realize i cannot afford to go to the dentist anymore, and pay the big bills that they charge.
Tony Soprano would be proud of these guys. lol
My savings account, and social security is only going to last so far.
Dentistry is one big racket, in this medical world.
My .02 cents worth on the subject.
padam
Well-Known Member
I think some dentists are very clever, they treat you right for a year or so then start to pile on with the unnecessary work.
I have personal experience with this.
I should say I know auto mechanics that do the exact same thing.
I have personal experience with this.
I should say I know auto mechanics that do the exact same thing.
- Local time
- 8:51 AM
- Joined
- May 14, 2011
- Messages
- 18,226
- Reaction score
- 35,504
- Location
- On the Ridge, TN
Yep, we've got a good one here also. Every six months like clockwork, the miniature Dremel-like thingy
comes out and the lady knows to have at it whole hog on my teeth, no holds barred.
Then the dentist comes in, has a quick chat and a gander at anything pressing, then I'm outta there.
No fishing for work, no made up diagnosis.
I left my dentist for a year, many years ago for insurance reasons. My wife goes to the new guy and comes home in tears. He thinks everything in her mouth needs to be replaced, old fillings and crowns. I go and have him explain his findings. After we go back and forth with his fancy dance, I explain to him that my dentist and lawyer would review his findings and that my lawyer, not dentist would be getting in contact with his lawyer and I'm sure we could get to the bottom of all this. It went from findings, to opinion and then to back peddling. I stuck my finger in his face and told him to go **** himself and that I would have my lawyer keep an eye on him. He was still pale as I walked out the door. Yes, these people are out there, but the real problem starts with them thinking you will back down due to the thought that he is more educated and refined than you are and he's absolutely controls the final outcome. A second opinion can put an end to that if It's brought up before services. I went back to my old dentist and told him what took place and he said bullshit. She still has all but two filling that were 40 years old and a mouthful of gold crowns in the back that are almost 45 years old. Check, checkmate.
Similar threads
