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I.N.E. We can always decline xrays. If I didn't have control over my decisions I'd seek out more flexible dentist. One thing about it here, there are dentists and doctors everywhere....
That's the way it is where I live and where you live but maybe it's different elsewhere. If my new dentist demands that I get xrays every six months, he/she won't be my dentist anymore. I cannot afford hundreds of dollars for needless xrays.
That's the way it is where I live and where you live but maybe it's different elsewhere. If my new dentist demands that I get xrays every six months, he/she won't be my dentist anymore. I cannot afford hundreds of dollars for needless xrays.
I don't think I've ever had a dentist suggest x-rays every six months. Usually after every other 6 month cleaning I get bitewing x-rays and the dentist does a brief exam. When I first started seeing my dentist he had me get the x-rays from my previous dentist so that he wouldn't need to take them again.
That's the way it is where I live and where you live but maybe it's different elsewhere. If my new dentist demands that I get xrays every six months, he/she won't be my dentist anymore. I cannot afford hundreds of dollars for needless xrays.
For what it's worth, all the years I've gone to dentists, I did once a year cleanings. And sounds like many here go every 6 months. I've done fine with the schedule I had been on. There were never demands from the dentists for every 6 months. Could be due to getting off breads and pastas my teeth stayed cleaner.
Dentists know more about teeth and gums than I ever will and if I choose to ignore their advice I may well end up in a lot of pain, or even worse I might lose my teeth. I don't second guess my doctor when she says I have high blood pressure and I don't doubt my dentist when he says I need some work done.
Dentists provide a service that is not cheap to render. When people complain about being 'ripped off' by dentists they fail to realize that dentists graduate with an average of almost 300k in student loans. Graduate student loans carry around 7% interest, the average repayment term is 10 years, that ends up costing a new dentist well over $3,000 a month. Buying or leasing equipment must cost a fortune, and paying salaries for dental assistants and front end staff isn't cheap. .
Yes, they often owe 300K in student loans which is why some dentists push unnecessary services on patients. Sorry but it's just the truth. Dentists being in debt isn't the patients problem and shouldn't be.
It is smart practice to get a second opinion on dental work, just as with any medical procedure a doctor might recommend. There are unethical dentists out there.
Most of the problem with threads like this is that they lump ALL dentists or ALL doctors into one bag.
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I didn't see anyone here that said "all dentists" are bad. A common problem in reading posts is that "ALL" is inferred when it shouldn't be. Just because I discuss unethical dentists doesn't mean I'm calling all of them unethical.
Most of the problem with threads like this is that they lump ALL dentists or ALL doctors into one bag.
I've had a few bad dentists too. I had one who claimed that I needed too have my root canals removed and replaced with new ones. I almost believed him until I overheard him talking on the phone, telling someone that "fortunately most of my patients have needed a lot of root canals." Yes, he was a new dentist just starting out, probably needed to pay off his bills.
Another bad dentist many years later when I moved from one town to another. She did a horrible job replacing a crown. It was way out of alignment and wasn't "hitting" right (as I call it.)
BUT I have had excellent dentists too. Right after that horrible woman, who, btw, refused to do anything about the mess she had made, I asked around and found a real gem of a dentist. She was wonderful. She did her best to make my mouth feel better after what the previous idiot had done. She also was honest and didn't try to get me to have work done that I didn't need. AND, she even allowed me to get my teeth cleaned without an xray. I said I would go for xrays once a year but not every six months. She said OK.
Now that I've had to move away and leave her I have made sure to ask around again. Two dentists came highly recommended as doing excellent work and being honest. All I asked was, "Is there a dentist you would recommend." And the answers usually pertain to doing excellent work and not trying to trick you into getting work that you don't need. I'll see if the new one requires xrays every single time I get a cleaning. I hope not as I cannot afford that and I don't think it's necessary in my case.
X-rays every time your teeth are cleaned? At least in my experience, every dentist I've ever gone to recommended cleanings twice a year, but x-rays nowhere near that often. I'd not go to a dentist who required x-rays with every cleaning either. Total mouth x-rays every six months sounds waaaay excessive.
My current dentist, who IMO does great work and is considerate of a patient's pocketbook ( within reason), recommends full mouth x-rays every five years, unless there is a problem area for which x-rays are needed to find sources of the problem, but those x-rays would be limited to the problem area. This dentist comes highly recommended by the locals here, and that's how I found him when we moved here full time five years ago.
Especially after I have read some of the stories here on the topic, I'd be reluctant to go to one of the corporate dentist mills especially if it's the managers ( who aren't dentists and haven't even looked in a patient's mouth) calling the shots regarding the treatments and procedures performed on their patients and the dentists are just going along with the manager's "treatment plans". IMO that is outrageous if it's true and I can't imagine an ethical dentist going along with such practices, especially if it results in unnecessary treatments for patients.
I couldn't agree more. I couldn't find a single dentist in my county that would do a cleaning without a full series of xrays if it had been more than 2 years.
They said in case something happens, a tooth comes out, etc. Then have patient sign a waiver or something.
I even called dental assistant schools.
Wow, so much wrong stuff in one post...
So EVERY dentist in your county told you the SAME thing, yet you think they are ALL scamming?
FYI - those "waivers" are not worth the paper they are printed on. Any decent lawyer will beat them. If you develop jaw-destroying cancer that could have been detected earlier with an x-ray and treated, but the dentist's trump card is your "refusal of x-rays during my cleaning" waiver, then the dentist is toast and his/her lawyer will be trying to settle faster than you can say "DMD". The lawyers know that the waiver means nothing because the dentist decided to treat you against their better judgment as a DOCTOR. A patient doesn't know what's good for them - the doctor does. I can almost guarantee you that the dentists using these waivers have not run the idea by their malpractice insurance carrier.
Also, dental assistants are spit-suckers - they are not allowed to clean teeth. The most they can do is polish teeth under supervision of a licensed dentist, and that requires extra training beyond the scope of a dental assistant school. Most dental assistant schools are "earn a career in 11 Saturdays"-type places. They are a joke.
I sadly disagree on the final level. Most interns will be paid ..those assets can go towards school fees or income. My husband interned in clinical ...I think I know a bit of the schooling for masters and doctorate. He served 200 hours on a ward. He was paid. He was limited in some tasks . But by no means was it purely volunteering to get his degree. He did do hours of observation and data collection on his own time ..it was for his thesis. So your assumption that these dental students are doing it for free (wrong).
They are doing it for the required clinical hours. Which the syllabus explains. Yes they receive compensation.
This is 100% wrong. Speaking as someone who went to dental school, I can assure you that NO dental student working toward their DMD/DDS degree gets paid. On the contrary, WE pay the school an obscene amount of money. Your comparison with your husband's internship is completely inapplicable to this discussion. A dental STUDENT is not an INTERN. Dental school is a Professional School with its own set of admission requirements. It is NOT the same thing as Graduate School for a Masters or PhD.
If you are talking about a RESIDENT who has already completed dental school (i.e. has already gotten their DMD/DDS degree and is already a doctor) and is pursuing specialty training, then that is different. During my residency, I was a licensed doctor holding a DMD degree working about 60 hours a week, and my yearly salary was well below that of your average waiter.
Don't believe me? Call your local dental school and ask them how much they pay their students. After about 30 seconds of laughter, you'll have your answer.
Also, dental assistants are spit-suckers - they are not allowed to clean teeth. The most they can do is polish teeth under supervision of a licensed dentist, and that requires extra training beyond the scope of a dental assistant school. Most dental assistant schools are "earn a career in 11 Saturdays"-type places. They are a joke.
I wonder if this varies by state. My dental assistant cleans my teeth with something that emits a stream of water. It may have a sonic aspect to it as well. She uses the instruments to scrape some stuff as needed and then polishes with the mechanized brush. At least since I've been an adult, the assistants have all done the cleaning and the dentist comes in at the end and checks my mouth.
I wonder if this varies by state. My dental assistant cleans my teeth with something that emits a stream of water. It may have a sonic aspect to it as well. She uses the instruments to scrape some stuff as needed and then polishes with the mechanized brush. At least since I've been an adult, the assistants have all done the cleaning and the dentist comes in at the end and checks my mouth.
That's how it is here. The hygienist takes a long time and does a thorough cleaning. At the very end, the dentist comes in and checks for problems.
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I have made sure to ask around again. Two dentists came highly recommended as doing excellent work and being honest. All I asked was, "Is there a dentist you would recommend." And the answers usually pertain to doing excellent work and not trying to trick you into getting work that you don't need. I'll see if the new one requires xrays every single time I get a cleaning. I hope not as I cannot afford that and I don't think it's necessary in my case.
