Well, it happened yet again.

Now that I am Of A Certain Age, I cannot find a conservative dentist. By that, I mean a dentist who is not proposing thousands of dollars of repair work.

My mouth is fine. Nothing hurts. Everything works.

But dentists seem to see my mouth as a jackpot of old dental work that needs to be upgraded or replaced *immediately.*

Their favorite recommendation seems to be to start replacing every single one of my fillings in bunches (today's quote had my cost for three filling replacements at $550). They also think I should replace a bridge with two crowns and an implant (that would surely cost thousands). Previous dentists have suggested my teeth were about to fall out in the street from gum disease. Or that I was grinding them to pulp in my sleep and needed a pricey night guard. Some whitening would look nice, they suggest.

My view of dentistry is that every time you fiddle around in there, you lose some tooth and you risk making your root angry and sensitive to heat, cold, or pressure. I don't want to do anything to my teeth that isn't immediately necessary.

Dentists do not like to hear that. I like this latest dentist and will keep her (there's no reason to believe the next one will be better), but we need to stick to cleanings.

I'm with you on the "don't fix it if it ain't broke". Am fortunate to have a dentist who is very conservative. Part of the crown on my implant cracked off, and when I went in to see him he said I still had most of the biting surface so I could just soldier on if I wanted to, no need to replace the crown until/unless it broke further. And I have many decades old amalgam fillings that get checked over during each cleaning, but have never gotten a recommendation to do anything with them until they fail.+

I do know what you're referring to, though. I have noticed the signs around the office that advertise tooth whitening, Botox injections, and tooth straightening with Invisalign. They just don't actively try to upsell, and I guess patients who are interested make it a point to ask.

And on a related note...seems like dermatologists have gone for the upsell, too. I took a friend to her dermatologist and was perusing the pamphlets in the waiting room. There was precious little about things like basal cell carcinoma and melanoma, but tons of info on Botox, Juvederm, peeling treatments, and all other forms of skin treatment that are for cosmetic rather than medical reasons.

First world medicine, I guess.

Amen!

I had a cleaning, four cavities filled during two appointments, and have a cleaning on Friday.

There's still some gum disease.

I can tell when I floss.

They couldn't clean them the right way when the cavities were there.

It's taken me a year to get to this point.

I care about is my teeth being healthy and clean.

There should be a special place in hell for greedy health practitioners.

I read somewhere that the increased offerings of cosmetic procedures (whitening, straightening etc.) is due to people taking better care of their teeth, eating better, over the last 20 years or so, and thus fewer cavities to fill.

My father was a dentist. As a typical 1950s kid I drank all the sugary sodas and ate all the sweets. Plenty of fillings.

I think I have a decent dentist now. Doesn’t mess with the amalgam fillings, but uses new material for any new ones. And he helped stave off gum disease when I noticed it 20 or more years ago. But it marches on, and I recently started using a mouth irrigator (similar to a Water Pik) to sanitize under the gum line.

Yeah, be wary of dentists recommending lots of work. Some practices have been bought up by investors who demand big returns. Happens with physicians and veterinarians too. It’s a racket.

Re old dental work,

My bridge was installed in about 1979. Just after high school and before I fell off my parents' dental insurance. See, I had a baby tooth with no permanent tooth under it. Eventually, the baby tooth can't hang on anymore. So back then, they ground down the two adjacent teeth and put a bridge, which is a crown on the two teeth that were ground down with a spacer in between where there is no tooth.

Trouble is, dentistry has progressed a lot since then. The bridge was supposed to last 15 years or so and then fail due to metal fatigue.

For each of the last 25 years, dentists have tried to warn me that it is going to fail any minute.

Each time, I tell them I plan to take this bridge to my grave.

I once had a dentist who told me jokingly that my teeth were like little rocks and I was never going to make him any money. I never did. One cavity filled and cleanings, that was it.

I agree, Cindy, I hate it too. We haven’t found a dentist in our new town yet. Last semester was find a pcp, so now finding a dentist is on my list for this semester. :/

After losing an implant I told my late brother, a dentist, about it. He said not to bother with getting it replaced.
Neither the dentist who put the post in or the one that put the fake tooth on told me how to take care of the implant.
More recently a new to me dentist gave me a hard sell on a $4500 bridge with reinforcements that made it sound like a medieval device.
After agreeing and leaving I called and told them I would not be back.

quote:

Neither the dentist who put the post in or the one that put the fake tooth on told me how to take care of the implant.

I didn't get any instructions about the implant either. It's still solid in terms of the post, but part of the crown cracked off. My dentist said that the lab they used at the time I had my implant done probably 15 years ago was making the post a little too large relative to the size of the crown, so the porcelain sides were a bit thin and that the crowns were failing like mine did. They use a different lab now.

Did you ever find out what the "care and feeding" instructions are? Asking for a friend....

After I lost the implant a different former dentist suggested Proxa brushes. I think they are the reason I still have teeth.

Some forms of meditation include breathwork. May start including it in the form I use.

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
Re old dental work,

My bridge was installed in about 1979. Just after high school and before I fell off my parents' dental insurance. See, I had a baby tooth with no permanent tooth under it. Eventually, the baby tooth can't hang on anymore. So back then, they ground down the two adjacent teeth and put a bridge, which is a crown on the two teeth that were ground down with a spacer in between where there is no tooth.

Trouble is, dentistry has progressed a lot since then. The bridge was supposed to last 15 years or so and then fail due to metal fatigue.

For each of the last 25 years, dentists have tried to warn me that it is going to fail any minute.

Each time, I tell them I plan to take this bridge to my grave.

I have one of those bridges too Cindy - 1978 or 79. Bridged over a molar that was pulled (one that probably should have had a root canal). It’s holding up so far and I will likely take it to my grave. I have a conservative dentist, thank heavens. We’ve had one before that only cared about money and put Steve through all sorts of painful “gum disease” treatments (Steve has NO fillings and perfect teeth) Same guy did a gum flap surgery on a friend of mine that she likely didn’t need.

Here, they advertise full mouth teeth implants, each one screwed to the bone.

The people playing patients in the ads are middle aged or old, who might afford it.

This is unhealthy and downright stupid.

Yeah, I just dropped a dentist cuz she was always more expensive than the insurance I have - while my wife who has the same insurance never pays a nickel. SO...I'm now seeing her dentist.

Similarly, I'm missing two molars. First dentist sent me to a doc who suggested 2 implants plus some additional surgery on the sinuses. It's been 3 years since he made that suggestion which I haven't followed up on . I asked the current dentist if I needed to consider the implants - "not if you're good with what you've got." Done - saved a boatload of expense and discomfort.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kluurs:
Yeah, I just dropped a dentist cuz she was always more expensive than the insurance I have - while my wife who has the same insurance never pays a nickel. SO...I'm now seeing her dentist.

I switched to Rachel’s dentist a few years back for the same reason. The former person did exactly as Cindy described.