<p>Our long time wonderful dentist retired last year and sold the practice a young guy. Since we began seeing this guy we all suddenly have lots of things that need to be corrected. My husband had to get several new crowns, now they say he needs extensive gum treatments including some kind of laser therapy not covered by insurance. They also push a $25 fluoride rinse (not covered by insurance) after each cleaning. I had one tooth that was deemed on the verge of cracking, so got a new crown. Now he says two other crowns may have decay around the base and should be replaced. It’s possible our old dentist just wasn’t very proactive, but now I don’t trust the new guy. The crown I had put in by the new guy took 3 weeks to arrive and feels different from my other crowns, so I’m wondering if he uses an overseas lab. Will other dentists provide second opinions? Has anyone else felt suspicious of their dentist? </p>
<p>First to respond, and I hope this is helpful. Be very careful and get second and even third opinions. 25years ago we had a"fair"dentist. Ten years into practice,he talkedmy husband into getting a mouthful of crowns. Trustme,my husband isnot a stupid man,but he fell for this and the cost was tremendous. I INSISTED with yelling that he visit the local dentist in the small town to which we had relocated. Itrusted this local low-invasive dentist competely. My husband agreed to go, and had a life-changing conversation with the local dentist about how his teeth were FINE and how the earlier dentist wanted to give my husband a "movie star"set of teeth. I feel bad to disparrage the first dentist, but I think he was not looking into my husband’s best interests, to put it mildly. Our whole family has now been going to the low-intervention, relatively low cost dentist who works very slowly and aims for his own high standard. Over the years wehave become true friends. Because I do not know your own complicated situation,Ihope this helps,as an example of a “low invasive” careful dentist…who talksfreely abouthow his own teeth are far from perfect! Good luck!</p>
<p>I do now. Had a similar situation, we were new in town and got a recommendation for a dentist who sold his practice a year later. The new dentist seemed ok at first, but a problem was missed, he sent a bizarre letter to all patients (about 4 pages in length, explaining plaque using words like “poopy”) and had a bookcase in his office with a full set of binders with L. Ron Hubbard’s name on them. I got another recommendation from friends and when I asked for my records, was given one single small X-ray in an envelope. When I presented this at the new dentist’s office, the hygienist laughed, apologized, but said it wasn’t the first time they’d gotten “records” like that from that practice. </p>
<p>If you don’t feel comfortable, why not ask for recommendations from friends, etc. and try someone different? You’re under no obligation to your retired dentist. It’s possible the standard of care is different with the new dentist, but when you have doubts, investigate it. Set your mind at ease or find a dentist you trust.</p>
<p>Yes I think part of the problem is the new emphasis on cosmetic dentistry, even for those of us who are more interested in function. I guess I will go for the second opinion before letting him remove crowns.</p>
<p>@lefthandofdog, your post had me laughing out loud! Maybe if you’d stayed you would have seen Tom Cruise in the waiting room one day.</p>
<p>We had this happen with the very first dentist I went to after moving here. There was this huge list of thousands of dollars of work that needed to happen NOW, including removing all my old amalgam fillings, including the ones under crowns. Fortunately, I’d had a visit with my long-trusted dentist right before moving. I called him, and his advice was to find a different dentist. I did so, and have been a patient for more than 25 years and still have some of those old fillings that “needed” to be replaced in 1985. </p>
<p>At least in my case it was a cluster of things that weren’t quite right - but anytime I’d hear someone talk about their expensive treatment with this dentist, I couldn’t respond.</p>
<p>I had some dental problems right before I moved, and I saw a nice, but older, dentist. He said nothing wrong (except I was in the middle of getting two implants, and we all knew that but it wasn’t time yet). Moved and went to a new dentist who wasn’t concerned about the implants, but with the 7 other teeth he thought needed crowns or new crowns. He said we’d just work through them, and we did. Very expensive, but very very excellent dentist. I’ve never had such a good experience, and I’ve had a LOT of dental work. I just had the second implant in (the first thing I wanted done!), and I’m now done. Expensive? Oh yes, but I do believe it needed to be done. I’ve been less happy with the office staff as they can never seem to get stuff done right, expensive xrays get lost, they changed systems and bills were screwed up, I’d get six appt reminders or none.</p>
<p>But I’m happy with the work.</p>
<p>Yes, it is not at all uncommon to get a second opinion when it comes to dental work. I would encourage you to do so. </p>
<p>And yes, I do trust my dentist. But he earned that trust over many years of faithful service to my family. We will be very sad when he retires. </p>
<p>Chances are the things that the new dentist sees as problems are technically problems, meaning he may not just be trying to rip you off. Some dentists are attempting to create perfection and others try just to do the basics so your teeth don’t fall out. I’ve had both, like the one where I had to ask the dentist to for the fancy stuff please, because he was so conservative. My current dentist needs to be told what shade to use since he doesn’t seem to think white is natural and I don’t care about natural I’m paying cash and I want white. I guess what I’m saying is “need” with dental stuff varies. No pain could equal no need. Or ten years down the road this could be an issue, lets fix it now could be his idea of need. You need one that gets you or you have train them. </p>
<p>I have a lot of dental work. </p>
<p>Hi, I am the initial respondent… I just felt obliged to say our "second opinon 'densitist was a graduate of the excellletn SUNY Stony Brook Dental School and we had trust i in his minimal intervention combinedwith throrogh dental care competely… Good luck;;; you could easily be victimized ij this difficut field,in my opinion</p>
<p>Op,
I haven’t read all of the posts but many dentists will upsell and do unnecessary work (or borderline necessary). It’s the same as when you get your car fixed…you may get a range of opinions of what is necessary and a range of pressure to fix these things. </p>
<p>I had an opposite situation. I had been going to the same dentist most of my life. I have really terrible teeth and one in particular would bother me every once in a while but he said there was nothing wrong with it. I went to another dentist (either to get my wisdom teeth out or something, can’t remember) and he said I’d need a root canal within a year if I didn’t get it fixed. Went back to my dentist and again, was told nothing was wrong. Sure enough, several months later, I had to get a root canal. </p>
<p>I’ve learned to trust my gut and get a second opinion. </p>
<p>We had a problem with our family dentist a few years ago (identified 4 fillings needed for D1 right before she went overseas, but no time to fill them before she went, so appointment made for when she was returning – she saw a dentist while abroad for another reason, and got xrays showing no fillings needed). We took her to the state flagship dental faculty clinic (not students, faculty) and got a 2nd opinion when she got back, and they said NO fillings needed. We reported it to the state dental board, who (of course) did nothing – dentists monitoring dentists, about what you would expect. From that time on we have continued at the faculty dental clinic, has worked out well and we trust their work.</p>
<p>The catch-22 is that I am most comfortable with the old dentists who have lots of experience but plan to retire soon. I think I’ll visit one of the near-retirement dentists for a second opinion. They won’t be telling me what I want to hear just to get my business.</p>
<p>The problem with new dentists is that they may have a lot of dental school debt, plus debt from starting a new practice or buying an existing practice. So they may have much more incentive to sell services more aggressively than long established dentists who have long ago paid off their startup debt (which was lower back then).</p>
<p>True. Older dentists are also not nearly as interested as making everything as pretty as possible. Usually. </p>
<p>Yes this one my husband and I have been seeing for at least 25-30 years. But he is ready to retire so I’m worry about finding a new dentist. The previous dentist was super incompetent, despite the fact she is a faculty at some local dental school. Kept telling my teeth was unfixable, blah blah. Then one day I remember the old dentist name that I used before I move to another area and sure enough we went back to him and he fixed the problem easily. In fact, he was super excited to see a challenging problem. It’s been 10 years now and there is nothing wrong with that tooth.</p>
<p>I trust neither dentists nor auto-mechanics.
I only have 2 good dental hygienists so far: the one I had 20 years ago and the current one.</p>
<p>Since we were a military family, every time we moved meant a new dentist. It was a hit or miss usually but we never stayed long enough to have a lot of work done. Since hubby retired and we have been in one place for awhile – we are thankful to luck into the dentist we have. He makes sure the teeth are OK and tells us if he thinks something needs to be done down the road. We will be moving to hopefully our “permanent” retirement home in 3-5 years and we will have to look for new doctors and dentist. I would go for someone who has an establish practice and usually I am the guinea pig – I go in for the first cleaning – and if I get a good vibe, I make the appointments for the rest of the family. </p>