Dentists are pulling ‘healthy’ and treatable teeth to profit from implants, experts warn
Dentists are pulling ‘healthy’ and treatable teeth to profit from implants, experts warn
Yes, and mechanics are "fixing" perfectly fine cars out there. AC technicians are telling people they need to replace their entire system when a $30 capacitor blows. Lawyers are charging people for many hours they didn't work.
Welcome to the wonderful world of getting ripped off!
PS: have you ever played Eve Online? You'll never get ripped off there. Never.
Growing up I had two molars removed to make room for my teeth to move backward with braces. The orthodontist said my teeth were too big for my mouth and that I needed the extra space. Literally every dentist I've been to over the 30 years since then has asked why I didn't have those molars. I always tell them, and they always say it doesn't make sense. I'm guessing my family got "up-sold."
Fuck... That's terrifying.
I've discussed this with my wife. If any dentist tell us our daughter needs teeth removed we're getting a 2nd and maybe a 3rd opinion.
I was going to skip this response because it's controversial and scientifically uncertain (as a scientist in a previous incarnation, but seem to have reasonable evidence, look at it yourself), but screw it, I feel your pain, downvote me. Given preamble...
It seems likely that soft foods in the developmental stage of the jaw cause the orthodontic issues common to current first world countries. It may be possible to remedy this with straight up chewing gum at around age 8, but preferably use actual whole food that requires chewing, basically jaw development, and hence teeth positioning requires work. Wish I knew it earlier...
This has been going on for awhile. My wife was estatic with my familys dentist because he was so honestly concerned about oral health over profit. He retired this year though :(
Honestly, unless this tooth repair gel thing works and becomes available soon, I'd rather have some of my teeth replaced with implants.
I've asked my dentist "can we just skip the endless filling replacements, caps, crowns, and eventual implants and just go right to implants?"
They always say no, and I ask is there a reason why "natural teeth" with fillings/caps/crowns are better than implants - they reply with "But it's your teeth! They'll last a long time before needing implants!"
Yeah, so I'll need implants eventually, can't I just get them now before I put more fillings, caps, crowns, and eventual implants? Ain't nobody got time for that.
"but your natural teeth will last a long time!"
Yeah, but they ain't so natural after 5 procedures, and I'd rather avoid the ha$$le and just get the implants now instead of implants and a lifetime of repairs.
They always say no, and it's probably because they make way more money fixing bad teeth than replacing it with something permanent
EDIT
Thank you everyone!
I've gotten better answers here than from my dentist, so thank you everyone for educating me on the reasons why.
Implants aren't nearly as good as real teeth from a sensation perspective. If you can keep as much of the real ones as you can, do.
Idk my father got a set of titanium chompers, he eats ice as a snack now.
Implants go bad too. What do you do after an implant goes bad? I bet your options would be very limited then.
I was under the impression swapping out an implant was far easier than installing the system.
And I'm also talking about teeth that have been repeatedly drilled, capped, crowns etc - not a normal, healthy tooth.
These teeth are basically anchors for crowns, at what point is a new implant better than a chiseled out tooth?
IDK how these implants work or if she had them but my mom had a bunch of teeth taken out and her jaw started dissolving because there were no teeth there and it was expensive for her to get it straightened out.
I have a broken molar on my left side and I've been dealing with it for years because I couldn't afford to have all 8 teeth removed that the dentist wanted to pull because I lost a corner of one molar.
If was explained to me that without that one tooth, the teeth on either side of it would move to fill the gap and would cause other problems, and without the teeth on the bottom the teeth on top would start to drop down and cause more problems, so if i wanted that one tooth fixed I'd need to pay thousands of dollars to get all the teeth on my left side pulled.
Being the gullible idiot I am, I trusted the medical professional and decided that if it had to be done that way, I'd just have to live with it the way it was because I didn't have thousands of dollars to pay for the surgery and my job at the time didn't offer dental.Get a second opinion. You could probably get a single implant to replace the broken molar.
I'd have gotten him to write up a cost quote and taken it to the dental association. That was utter bullshit he fed you.
Damn is no industry safe to use these days?
I went in for a root canal on a painful tooth in the top of my mouth. When I got there I learned they planned to pull one from the other side where there was no pain. I told them I didn't think it was right, and then they pulled up my files and assured me it was right and we went ahead. But I still suspect it was unnecessary and I lost a perfectly good tooth
When dental care started being covered here suddenly my parents had a bunch of urgent issues. The guy is bit of a diva too. He absolutely will not acknowledge the patients at all who not scheduled for procedure with him. Not even a "hi" or anything. Dentists are a weird bunch.
Maybe I just know too many dentists, but there is a certain scammy personality that it unfortunately seems to attract. There also always seems to be weird sexual misconduct in all the private practices with hygienists... but that's it's own topic.
Highest suicide rate of the professions, as I heard (happy to be corrected)
Makes me appreciate my dentist. He's a good dude.