Half of your dental work may not have been necessary
Americans are adamantly loyal to their dentists – more so than to any other clinician in their life. Yet the data suggests that dentists are one of the least consistent medical providers. Just like any other medical field, some providers will compromise their medical judgment for financial gain. A simple Google search reveals that oral health providers have paid millions to settle False Claims Act cases. This means the company paid to resolve allegations that a dental clinic provided medically unnecessary services.
Dentistry is, at this point, an inexact science. Most dental offices do not have the highest-quality, durable medical equipment because of the high costs. Inter-teeth cavities (those occurring between teeth) are typically diagnosed through x-rays, but many dental practices still use outdated x-ray machines.
This can result in blurry images that need to be interpreted quickly, often in less than 5 minutes. With this in mind, it’s unsurprising to learn that up to 50% of dentists will disagree on the location of a cavity from the same patient x-ray. Some dentists are providing more serious medical care services like root canals or tooth extractions without having the highest confidence in the diagnosis.
Many dentists are billing for dental procedures that are not a medical necessity. After fluoride use became more widespread, the number of cavities Americans experience has been halved, slashing the potential profits for dentists who have been practicing for decades. Unfortunately, this can result in many dentists overtreating patients, often providing unnecessary fillings and other dental services.
These dentists are not always just inventing tooth problems out of the air. Often, dentists will suggest fillings for teeth that have some decay even though this may cause more harm to the patient in the long term. Whenever you receive a filling, the integrity of the tooth is compromised from drilling, which exposes the tooth to more potential infections. As anyone who has had a cavity filled knows, the tooth will need to be drilled repeatedly over time, as the fillings will not last forever.
Some dental providers overemphasize the need for dentistry that is cosmetic.
An alarming “experiment” carried out by writer William Ecenbarger of the Reader’s Digest found that when visiting 50 dentists throughout the country selected at random, almost none of the dentists agreed on the diagnosis.
Worse still, he found that three dentists he consulted who were informed ahead of time that he was not intending to use their services reached the same conclusion as his own long-time dentist – only one of his teeth would benefit from a crown (#30) and his overall oral care was very good. Yet when he consulted dentists who were informed that he was interested in seeking their care, they offered procedures ranging from $500 to $28,000. An unnamed dentist began the assessment by asking how much his insurance was willing to cover and suggested they “would start from there”.
As with any significant medical decision (in terms of cost or quality of life), seeking a second opinion is always advisable. However, studies suggest that you may not receive a consensus from seeking the advice of several dentists. Unsurprisingly, this is particularly true if they have a financial incentive to overtreat. The best option if you are not time-constrained is to seek a second opinion. If you inform this other dentist that you’re not seeking dental care and just need a second opinion, they are less likely to push medically unnecessary procedures.