People have far too much faith in the medical profession in general, but I’d have never put up with this kind of thing. I’ll always get a second opinion on any major dental procedure, particularly when the person recommending it is going to perform (and profit) from it. A few months ago, I broke a molar that had been weakened from a filling. But it was just the side, and the basic tooth remained intact. I got the dentist to grind it for a crown, and we avoided killing the tooth (for now, at least). I’m sure a lot of others would have recommended a root canal (though those are generally done by specialists).
12 thoughts on “Dentistry”
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Yeah, many years ago one dentist told my newlywed wife after an exam that she needed 9 fillings! I suggested that she was digging a pool in her backyard. We got a second opinion, which showed everything was just fine. In retrospect we probably should have filed a complaint with the state board.
Robert Bloch once complained that we heard a lot about mad doctors, but not as much about mad dentists. Looks like they’re trying to make up for that omission.
My dentist has the same philosophy – my silver amalgam fillings may slowly (or not so slowly, I had a molar break yesterday) crack my teeth, but when it happens, the remaining tooth gets ground down for a crown. I’ve asked about replacing the old fillings, and his position is that everything he does to the affected teeth will weaken them, so it ultimately does no good to replace the fillings.
In this case, there was no discussion of replacing the filling; the tooth itself was broken off on the inside just below the gum line. The only issue was whether or not the root could be saved. So far, it’s doing all right with the crown, with no pain.
I meant replacing the old fillings on currently intact (except for the filling) teeth. Some dentists recommend it, in order to stop the tooth cracking; others to eliminate any risk of the metals from the amalgam fillings leaching into the body. No evidence for either hypothesis.
That’s a pretty scary article. I’m very happy with the dentist office I’ve been using for the past several years. They’ve replaced a few old amalgam fillings with modern ceramic ones, usually when the tooth started decaying around the edges of the old filling. They drilled out the old filling and replaced it. The results have been very satisfactory.
I’ve only had one root canal, before I started going to the current office. I broke a molar at the gum line, and had a root canal followed by a crown. Within a couple of weeks I started experiencing increasing pain, and an x-ray showed that the root had cracked and become infected. The tooth had to be extracted, along with the crown I had just paid for.
At the next checkup I told the dentist that I thought that installing the crown must have cracked the root and asked for a refund. He didn’t take kindly to that and declined to schedule any future appointments. That was fine with me, because I really thought that he was at fault.
I later learned that my experience was not unusual, and that teeth that have had root canals become more brittle and prone to cracking. So the fact that he was offended by my insinuation probably indicated that he was on the up-and-up. He didn’t try to sell me any more expensive services and essentially told me to get lost.
It was after I stopped seeing him that I found my current office, so it worked out fine for me in the long run.
Overall, I feel very fortunate for the modern dental care I have had. Both of my parents lived into their early 80s, and both had full dentures later in their lives. My mom in particular was plagued with poor dental health. I think she had dentures by the time she was in her 60s, about the same age I am now. I have several filled teeth, a couple of crowns, one missing tooth, and a bridge that has been trouble-free since it was installed about five years ago. I am infinitely better off than she was. I don’t know whether it was poor dentists, a more primitive state of dentistry, or poor genes, but she had trouble with her teeth as far back as I can remember.
I was four years old on February 20, 1962, the date of John Glenn’s MA-6 flight. I hadn’t started kindergarten, so I was at home. I probably watched it on TV, but I don’t remember any details. Literally the only thing I remember about that day is that my mom had to leave for a dentist appointment.
Women who have trouble with their teeth maybe shouldn’t be that hard on themselves. My mom kept here teeth but had subjected herself to an enormous amount of pain from a bone graft, back when that was an experimental procedure. My sister has had periodontal work.
A speech scientist who trained under another speech scientist at MIT who was a dentist told me that women can experience problems on account of their physiology. He suggested to me that “One should never subject a girl to orthodontia who has any intention of bearing a child later in life. During pregnancy, there is such a high turnover of calcium in a woman’s body that you can move teeth around and do whatever you want with them.”
So maybe we can blame ourselves for our mom’s dental problems? But I think that fluoridated water, improved nutrition as well as advances in dentistry have benefited our generation, men and women.
I had an aunt, I guess born during the early 1920’s, who had all her teeth pulled as a teen so she could have a set of prettier looking dentures. I’m not sure any dentist would do that today.
And today’s youngsters with their tattoos, piercings, and ear gauges think they’re hardcore. Yikes.
I’m sure there’re more than a few dentists willing to give you a nice set of fangs and other pointy teeth to go with the forked tongue.
I had a predatory dentist for about three visits. Each visit, I had to sit through a sales pitch for a particular kind of power toothbrush. They said I had a receding gumline, and needed antibiotics implanted under them. That was painful – and completely unnecessary. If my gumlines were receding as much as all of the dentists I’ve seen have said, they would be clear off of my body by now.
I haven’t seen a dentist in five years, and have no plans to – ever. My teeth are all intact, and functioning just fine. If I ever break one again, I’ll go see a dentist. Reluctantly.
That said, I did have one really great dentist in my past. He never did anything unnecessary, but the things he had to do, he did flawlessly. And he is the only dentist I know who made a house call. Our younger son had a baby tooth that was trying to come out, but wouldn’t. It was causing him great pain. We managed to get hold of our dentist’s wife (they lived near us, and our wives were friends), and she got word to him to stop by on his way home that evening. He did, and using an ice cube as an anesthetic, quickly and painlessly yanked my son’s tooth. He’s now long retired, so I can safely say that he was once president of the California Dental Association. And a Harley Davidson rider. And, on the night of his house call, was on his way home from a biker party at which he consumed a number of margaritas – all of which he disclosed to us. I wish he was still in practice. I’d move wherever he lived just for that.