Devious Dentists-How Do You Know Who to Trust?

Preface: This post is not ment to degrade dentistry or those who practice it. There are many wonderful dentists out there who have nothing but the best interests of their patients in mind. However, there are also many who only have their own interests in mind. The intentions of this post is to help inform patients about possible bait and switch ploys and ways they may be talked into treatment they don't need. This is ment to encourage you to be an advocate for yourself!

Summer break is over and school is back in session. This semester, I am taking a class on health care ethics. While reading through the textbook this week and completing my assignments, I got to thinking about how many truly unethical medical professionals there are out there. More specifically, how many unethical DENTAL professionals there are!

While all dentists obtain the same, or similar education, and sit through the same board exams, and take the same oaths upon graduation—not all uphold the standards set by the profession or take pride in the obligation they have to society as a medical professional.

More so now, in times of economic hardship, dentists are turning to unethical practices to turn profits. These profits, are unfortunately, at their patients' expense.

These practices are disheartening considering most patients don't and won't know that they are being taken advantage of.

So how do you know?

How does an ordinary patient know when a dentist is trying to pull one over on them?

Here are a few tips/tricks/thoughts to keep in mind when going to the dentist:

-If you go in for an emergency (you have something specific hurting that you would like addressed) When you have a dental appointment for an Emergency, the dental team will focus on the specific area hurting you. Any radiographs taken will usually only be of that area and immediate surrounding area. If the dentist/staff starts to offer you a full set of x-rays with a complete exam, they may be looking for a way to "find" more work to do.

-New Patient Special Many offices are now offering a "new patient special." This deal usually includes x-rays, dentist exam and a cleaning (with fine print, of course!) Again, this new patient special might be a way to phish for work to be done. Now, this is not true for all dentists, there are some who are genuinely just trying to gain new clientele.

-After a dental exam, you are told you need a large amount of treatment You come to your dental appointment ready for a bi-annual check-up. Radiographs are taken, maybe a few intraoral images and then the dentist does an exam. As the dentist is examining your teeth, they begin to list off an exorbitant amount of work needing to be done. You're thinking to yourself, "Self, I was at the dentist just a year ago, there's no way there is all this work needing to be done. My last dentist never mentioned any of this." Be wary especially if their treatment involves root canals—they may be trying to overtreat in order to get more money.

-After the above mentioned exam, the dentist also decides you need a "deep cleaning" While it is true that over half of American adults are affected by periodontal disease, you may not be one of those adults. When a dentist or dental hygienist decides a patient requires a "deep cleaning" or scaling and root planing, they use an array of information obtained from your examination. First, they will look at your radiographs; if there are signs of bone loss then scaling and root planing is appropriate. Secondly, they utilize periodontal charting. Perio what? During a periodontal charting, a periodontal probe is used to measure, in millimeters, the pockets around your teeth. There are 6 measurements recorded on each tooth. If the probe readings show 4 or more millimeters in some or all areas and if there is bleeding initiated when probing, then scaling and root planing is indicated. They never did that measurement probing thing? Then they cannot diagnose you with periodontal disease, therefore, cannot treat you with a deep cleaning.

Some Red Flags:

-High staff turnover: if there are always new or different employees working when you go in, it's likely they are unhappy working there, possibly for ethical reasons

-The dentist recommends treatment, without ever looking in your mouth

-The dentist spends less than 10 minutes with you, reviewing x-rays and looking in your mouth

-The dentist dismisses your chief complaint and pushes different treatment on an area not bothering you

-You do get a deep cleaning, and they complete the whole mouth in an hour....or less: many state dental boards stipulate that 1 hour should be reserved for 2 quads or half the mouth, no less than 2 hours for the full mouth. Many insurance companies will not pay for the full mouth to have scaling and root planing done on the same day.

-You are offered a "really good discounted cash rate" for treatment

-While Yelp!, Google and other review sites are helpful; they will only give you an idea about the office attitude, the dentist demeanor—but not their business practices. Unless someone has caught onto their tricks and ousted them online

-Search a dentist on your state's dental licensing board website. Most states now have online license verification systems. Here you can verify they have a license, see that it is active, and see if they have any board actions (complaints, investigations, etc.)

I could go on F-O-R-E-V-E-R on ways dentists will try to take advantage of you and your wallet. The best piece of advice that I can give is:

IF YOU ARE SKEPTICAL, GET A SECOND OPINION!!!!!!