Dentists function similarly to mechanics for most people: they're the expert who knows everything and you know basically nothing. They tell you something is wrong and they need to do a $X00 procedure to fix it, but you have no way to validate in the moment that this is true.
The funny thing is that with mechanics I think this has long been widely understood. People realize how important it is to find a trustworthy mechanic and to get second opinions. But it's only recently that I'm starting to see people talk about dentists in the same terms.
The lab coat and the expensive degree seem to be more reassuring than the coveralls.
Yes. In the US we seem to be trained that every medical professional is 100% truthful and knowledgeable. That is just simply NOT the case. Without going into the details, I had a fully-trained dermatologist with a PHD diagnose a sudden and severe skin condition. It turns out they got it so wrong it was hilarious. With no actual evidence or lab tests, he diagnosed it as something that was both very unlikely (borderline impossible) and mildly embarrassing, and provided several prescriptions.
After a few weeks, the prescriptions weren't helping at all and it wasn't until I got off my butt and started doing my own research that I found out it was something extremely common and obvious once you knew what to look for. I hemmed and hawed for several weeks over whether to email a reprimand to that Doctor's manager, but ultimately decided it wouldn't do any good.
ALWAYS get a second opinion when you are unsure, when the cure is expensive, or if it is (or could be) life-threatening. And for the love of Dog, do your own research. You need at least enough knowledge around the thing you are dealing with to be able to talk about it with your doctor intelligently, and be ready to challenge anything you are skeptical about. At the end of the day, NO doctor is going to care as much about the health of either your body or your pocketbook as much as you do.
> hemmed and hawed for several weeks over whether to email a reprimand to that Doctor's manager, but ultimately decided it wouldn't do any good.
Why? I feel I'd at least want that on the record even if the manager chooses to do nothing. Given what you're saying sounds so blantalty off course and not just some honest mistake.
A less cynical view of it is just that diagnosis of engine and dental problems is still pretty subjective so different providers will have different judgements about what constitutes a problem that needs fixing. If one dentist says you have a cavity that needs filling and another doesn't it doesn't automatically mean the first dentist is crooked. It could be the second one is wrong or it could just be that what constitutes a cavity that needs filling is not very well-defined.
True. I'm in the Army, so I typically see Army dentists. That means that they're on salary (edited to add: in a rigidly seniority-based promotion system, working in a clinic that isn't concerned with profit and loss), not getting paid under a fee-for-service model. It also means that I see a different dentist every time I go in, due to them working interchangeably on a team and all of us moving every 1-3 years. Anyway, despite them having no obvious incentive to influence their work one way or the other, I get told different things every time I go in. One dentist found a cavity during my annual exam, and when I showed up for my appointment to do the filling, the next dentist couldn't find the cavity. So, yeah, I think it's more art than science.
> One dentist found a cavity during my annual exam, and when I showed up for my appointment to do the filling, the next dentist couldn't find the cavity.
I'm also suspicious that our teeth aren't as completely incapable of self-healing as we have long been taught. I haven't looked at the research that led people to the non-healing conclusion, but I've heard many anecdotes like yours, and I don't think it can all be attributed to fraud or mistakes.
Intuitively it also just seems odd that we would have one part of our body—and a frequently abused one no less!—that is uniquely incapable of repairing itself.
This has been known about dentists for a long time too. I remember reading articles back when I was a kid (in the 90s) talking about how to tell if a dentist is ripping you off, getting second opinions, etc.
The funny thing is that with mechanics I think this has long been widely understood. People realize how important it is to find a trustworthy mechanic and to get second opinions. But it's only recently that I'm starting to see people talk about dentists in the same terms.
The lab coat and the expensive degree seem to be more reassuring than the coveralls.