Why do dentists have such a bad reputation compared to other kinds of doctors?

Archmage Azor@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 66 points –
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My mother in law was an office manager at a dentist. Dentists have sales quotas and have bonuses to everyone in the office for upselling.

You go in to a medical professional for health care and advice and they try and sell to you.

That's weird. I've never ever had any dentist try to sell me anything except for coming up with solutions to problems I have with my teeth. Never up selling or anything

Yeah. It’s extremely common. Fluoride treatments, sealants, crown replacements aren’t necessary. And things like veneers, and whiting are pushed pretty hard.

I think one of the problems is even determining where that line is.

I think my dentist is “good” and they have NOT been pushing things like veneers or whitening.

However I’ve lucked out with good teeth so they are almost never fixing problems I currently have. However as I get older, they’ve started recommending more serious preventative measures. However I have no way of knowing whether I actually need them or if they are superfluous.

It’s coming down to having a dentist who I trusted very much. However he retired and sold his practice, so do I trust the new guy?

They've been mentioning for years that I need to replace my fillings with crowns. I didn't do anything until I cracked a tooth. I learned my lesson and am working on getting crowns for the teeth that have the most fillings.

So... It might not happen right away for you, but they're not warning just because they're trying to make money.

Ya, going to the dentist can feel like seeing a car mechanic. You come in for one thing and then they try to sell you tons of other stuff that you are not even sure you need. It can feel really scummy. There are good ones but just like car mechanics they usually own their own business. If you go to the jiffy lube of dentists they will try to sell you other shit and may make the issue you went in for worse.

You go in to a medical professional for health care and advice and they try and sell to you.

You obviously were not at my last ED visit.