OT Vent about dentist

I am one of those very lucky people who at the age of 46 has never had a cavity. My dentist's office has a record of this. I had x-rays and an exam when I first started with the office back in 2005. I've had them done once since. It's now been two years since the last time. So this morning I called to make an appt for cleaning. Nope, can't make one without the dentist's permission (he is a new guy) unless I agree to an exam and x-rays. I'm supposed to have them every year. (Previous dentist told me every three years.) According to his office manager it's a liability issue, and with our sue happy society I can kind of understand it. But for me, it's just pouring money down a rat hole. I don't want to pay the extra money for stuff I don't need, nor do I want to submit my body to unnecessary x-rays. And while this is about teeth, is it any wonder healthcare is so darn expensive????

Thanks for letting me vent.

Michelle in Nevada

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Reply to
Michelle C.
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Reply to
Joanna

I know. Medical people brush off x-rays like they're no big deal.

When you need them for a diagnosis, then cool. But otherwise, forget it.

Michelle > That's crazy. Maybe you should mention the liability of exposing your to

Reply to
Michelle C.

no big deal...then why do they stand behind the protective wall and/or wear the lead aprons when doing xrays on their clients? same thing with CT Scans. yea right, no big deal at all. argh. j.

"Michelle C." wrote ... I know. Medical people brush off x-rays like they're no big deal.

When you need them for a diagnosis, then cool. But otherwise, forget it.

Michelle > That's crazy. Maybe you should mention the liability of exposing your to

Reply to
J*

Because you're only one person, being exposed for a very short time, and they take many x-rays throughout the day! Use a little common sense!!!!!!!! I really can't understand the fuss about dental x-rays. Would you rather your teeth rotted from an unseen problem, than to have them checked by x-ray to detect hidden problems? Probably, in some cases. Paranoia is great. Gen

Reply to
Gen

Gen, you said just exactly what I was thinking.

Donna in SW Idaho

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Reply to
Donna in Idaho

Several years ago I lost a crown, and my dentist said he could replace it or that I could have an implant, and he recommended the implant. Well, the implant dentist's office nurse called, and told me that I would have to stop taking any and all medicines for two weeks prior to the first appointment! I told her I take quite a few things prescribed by my cardiologists, who have consistently told me that I MUST take them. (I have had one bad heart attack, and have one stent and a pacemaker.) She insisted, and told me that the cardiologists were wrong (!), and I told her that I would rather go around with no teeth than to be dead with a nice new implant, because if that was the only choice our conversation was concluded. I then called my regular dentist's office, and they got him on the phone. He was astonished, and then he called the implant dentist directly, and the implant dentist called me at home. I did get the implant -- while taking all the cardiac pills -- and I understand that the nurse was out looking for a new job. But -- how many people may have believed her and followed bad advice without question? It's scary.

Reply to
Mary

i dont have the medical background some folks have so i'm just saying what i've observed/heard and how 'I' interpreted it. all my common sense went right down the tubes last year. j.

"Gen" wrote... Because you're > no big deal...then why do they stand behind the protective wall and/or > wear

Reply to
J*

No, Jeanne. Your common sense in right there where it belongs. I strongly suspect that all of us with incomes and insurance are xrayed lots more than is good for us. I also suspect that some of it is done so the dentist can pay his mortgage or prevent lawsuits. So it may be. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Many years ago I teased a dentist about making car payments with my pain. He pointed to his old Volvo station wagon in the parking lot. He wasn't a crook just wasn't so great a dentist either. Are there a lot of crummy dentists around or do they just all scare us? They seem to usually have really crummy accounting practices too. What is that about? Taria

Reply to
Taria

Even so - once a year for routine x-rays strikes me as more than needed. (amongst other things the dentist has no idea what you're exposed to outside of his office).

Allis> Because you're only one person, being exposed for a very short time, and

Reply to
Allison

In our intensive care units, most of the patients get chest xrays every day (lots of them have asthma and/or RSV and/or pneumonia) --and these include babies just a few months old. That's true, actually, for anyone in the hospital with respiratory stuff. It isn't ideal, but it's nothing like the old xrays. I don't think I'd worry about yearly xrays at a dentist with reasonably new equipment.

--Heidi

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Reply to
heidi (was rabbit2b)

You all have me curious now. Here is some info:

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here:
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Interesting that they are looking at gums and bone in addition to just tooth problems. I bet if you can find a dentist to work with you on the xray concerns you probably have a dentist that is an ok guy otherwise. Just working with you is a big deal. Taria

Reply to
Taria

DH has had at least 2 keratocysts removed from his jaws. One was the size of a hen's egg when it was no longer confined by the jaw bone. If the dentist had not noticed a shadow in the jawbone when x-raying for another problem his whole jaw bone would have broken in due course!

Yearly is probably be more often than necessary, especially if you have otherwise healthy teeth & mounth, but being able to compare the x-rays to each other is also *very* important, which is a good reason for the dentist to have to access to earlier films.

Lizzy

Reply to
Lizzy Taylor

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