Do you think dentists are educated crooks?

[anne0001]

I am in my last semester of dental hygiene school, so I felt the need to comment on this thread.....

I agree with everyone that said that there are crooks in any profession. I have not yet worked in a dental office, so I can not comment from a personal experience about working with dentists. Many of my classmates have worked in offices as assistants and I have heard good stories and bad.

There are some things that I have had experiences with that I can comment on.....About interpreting radiographs.....it often IS cut and dry, but many times it IS subjective. However, if someone is saying you have 10 areas of decay, while another is saying 0, there obviously is something more wrong there than just a difference in professional opinion.

"My dentist did all his own hygiene work, so he could know that it was being done to his standards and so that he would really know his patients' teeth"

I just wanted to mention that dentists have a couple weeks of training in scaling and rootplanning in school, while hygienists have two years learning the skill. So I wonder why your dentist thinks that a hygienist may not have as high a quality standard of care as he/she. Sorry, just felt the need to promote my future profession. LOL!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I told my dentist who tried to charge me $500 for cancelling an appointment I was suing him for not repaying me my money I overpaid. I said I'd go to small claims. They stopped bothering me.

[nanamom]

i have only had one dentist I really liked in my life. The others were awful, unfriendly, to the point of meanness sometimes. The last one i went to asctually has his home phone number on his card in case of an after hours emergency so I may keep this one. Finding a dentist fo rmy little ones has been a trial. We have insurance and since they are adopted through the state medicare covers what our insurance doesnt. There is one dentist in the entire area that will take those payments. We haven't tried him yet but will soon. The last dentist I took DS2 to yelled at me for letting him suck his thumb when he was younger, after I explained that I didn't have him at that age yet he yelled at me again. He also told me I needed thousands of dollars of work done and then got mad that I refused to go into debt to have it done. I was going to have it done as I saved the money for it but he said that meant I didn't realize the importance of doing it. Wonder if he lives on credit!!

[markio26]

my dentist is a lil lost in the head if you know what i mean... lets say goofy in a kind way... all he seems to be good at is his work...which is not the best.. and his help needs to be replaced.. i went in december for my xray and cleaning... the office manager had me come in for my appt. 4 days too early to do my once a yr. xrays... the dental hygeniest told the dentist and he said nothing... the dh is my friend, i know. his wife turns $1000 into $100 he always tells me... he does have a sense of humor and asks me all kinds of questions, we all laugh and talk... i even take them xmas cards and chocolates....we are all friends...