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[CyberPanda]

In the early 2000s Terry Mitchell’s dentist retired. For a while, Mitchell, an electrician in his 50s, stopped seeking dental care altogether. But when one of his wisdom teeth began to ache, he started looking for someone new. An acquaintance recommended John Roger Lund, whose practice was a convenient 10-minute walk from Mitchell’s home, in San Jose, California. Lund’s practice was situated in a one-story building with clay roof tiles that housed several dental offices. The interior was a little dated, but not dingy. The waiting room was small and the decor minimal: some plants and photos, no fish. Lund was a good-looking middle-aged guy with arched eyebrows, round glasses, and graying hair that framed a youthful face. He was charming, chatty, and upbeat. At the time, Mitchell and Lund both owned Chevrolet Chevelles, and they bonded over their mutual love of classic cars.

Lund extracted the wisdom tooth with no complications, and Mitchell began seeing him regularly. He never had any pain or new complaints, but Lund encouraged many additional treatments nonetheless. A typical person might get one or two root canals in a lifetime. In the space of seven years, Lund gave Mitchell nine root canals and just as many crowns. Mitchell’s insurance covered only a small portion of each procedure, so he paid a total of about $50,000 out of pocket. The number and cost of the treatments did not trouble him. He had no idea that it was unusual to undergo so many root canals—he thought they were just as common as fillings. The payments were spread out over a relatively long period of time. And he trusted Lund completely. He figured that if he needed the treatments, then he might as well get them before things grew worse.

Meanwhile, another of Lund’s patients was going through a similar experience. Joyce Cordi, a businesswoman in her 50s, had learned of Lund through 1-800-DENTIST. She remembers the service giving him an excellent rating. When she visited Lund for the first time, in 1999, she had never had so much as a cavity. To the best of her knowledge her teeth were perfectly healthy, although she’d had a small dental bridge installed to fix a rare congenital anomaly (she was born with one tooth trapped inside another and had had them extracted). Within a year, Lund was questioning the resilience of her bridge and telling her she needed root canals and crowns.

Cordi was somewhat perplexed. Why the sudden need for so many procedures after decades of good dental health? When she expressed uncertainty, she says, Lund always had an answer ready. The cavity on this tooth was in the wrong position to treat with a typical filling, he told her on one occasion. Her gums were receding, which had resulted in tooth decay, he explained during another visit. Clearly she had been grinding her teeth. And, after all, she was getting older. As a doctor’s daughter, Cordi had been raised with an especially respectful view of medical professionals. Lund was insistent, so she agreed to the procedures. Over the course of a decade, Lund gave Cordi 10 root canals and 10 crowns. He also chiseled out her bridge, replacing it with two new ones that left a conspicuous gap in her front teeth. Altogether, the work cost her about $70,000.

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[Tesseract]

dentistry is like anything else in medicine, you should get multiple evaluations before you decide

these days most consultations are free, so are the xrays

a good endo will tell you if a tooth is too far gone, or needs to be plucked because it's beyond saving

 

[Falcs]

Really interesting read. Thanks for that.
What a cunt dentist.

I'll be interested to see how his criminal trial goes.

 

[Kamina]

Crazy story. Good that this was uncovered.

I haven’t been to the dentist in 10 years, no problems either. Teeth are clean and look normal.

 

[eddie4]

I think some dentists secretly fuck up your teeth so that you have to go back and see them. I remember my brother, at a very young age, was told by a dentist that he needed surgery to fix his front gap, while another dentist told him that he just needs to wait, it will grow into place. He waited, and like the dentist said, when his teeth grew, the gap closed. Some dentists are assholes.

 

[synchronicity]

I used to go to a dentist that was more salesman than dentist. They insisted that I must have a crown for one tooth immediately because it was going to crack imminently. I declined, have had no procedure, and no problem. This was more than a decade ago. (They were also endlessly suggesting other high-priced items from their "menu.")

I'm not suggesting you ignore your dental advice like I did, but just have a healthy awareness of the unethical nature of many health care providers, er um, businesses. For them, to lie to their patients is easy money, and there are probably more than a handful of dishonest people in this world.

 

[GAMETA]

I haven't been to the dentist in almost 15 years now, that's half my age.

All my teeth seem pretty healthy except for one that recently started to ache when I eat chocolate... it's probably time to have it checked.

 

[TGO]

I need to go to the dentist, everything is fine but I have an artificial K9 tooth which I lost in fight when I was younger that become loose, so it needs recementing.
And I have a chip in my front tooth which I chipped with my dog tags.
I'm reading it though because it ain't gonna be cheap.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Dentists are one step above chiropractors in terms of being legitimate medical providers.

Just take care of your teeth, brush, floss, and use mouthwash daily, and ignore calls for procedures unless you start feeling pain. There are tons of scam artist dentists and orthodontists.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

They definitely play it up, if teeth were as fragile as dentists would have you believe historically humans would have not have had any teeth in their damn head.

 

[Tesseract]

Dentists are one step above chiropractors in terms of being legitimate medical providers.

Just take care of your teeth, brush, floss, and use mouthwash daily, and ignore calls for procedures unless you start feeling pain. There are tons of scam artist dentists and orthodontists.

when you begin to feel pain it's usually too late, the tooth either needs a root canal or pulling

you should go to the dentist at least once / couple years, although every 6 months is best

although tbh if you brush every day with a sonicare, floss, and rinse, you can probably go 10 years without a cavity

 

[MetalAlien]

Went recently for a broken tooth. If I had just said yes to everything they wanted it would have been 5 grand out of pocket and I have insurance. I told them to fix the broken tooth and that's all. They still tried repeatedly to preform stuff I didn't ask for. I had to check them at every step.

Years ago I went to a different dentists. Wanted a cleaning (they were free with my insurance), they said oh no you need a deep cleaning we'll have to submit it to your insurance. Deep cleanings were not free. Went back a month later for a requested check up but the doctor that helped me was busy so one of the others helped me. Took one look and said oh no you need a deep cleaning we will have to submit this to your insurance. I said another deep cleaning the other doctor gave me one last month! He flipped through my chart and told me to make sure to request the same doctor on each visit.

It was just a line they told everyone who came in regardless of how your teeth looked. I never went back.

 

[Infinity]

I go every six months to a dentist that I trust completely. She and her husband practice what I call “old school dentistry.” Clean your teeth, check for cavities, and ask if you’re having any problems or questions. Then, you’re out the door. Doctors and dentists alike are all too often obsessed with checking everything under the sun, need it or not.

If I could just find a doctor that practices like my dentist, I’d be set.

 

[Punished Miku]

I haven't been to the dentist in almost 15 years now, that's half my age.

All my teeth seem pretty healthy except for one that recently started to ache when I eat chocolate... it's probably time to have it checked.

Just go get them cleaned and they'll tell you if you need anything. It's not expensive.

 

[infinitys_7th]

when you begin to feel pain it's usually too late, the tooth either needs a root canal or pulling

you should go to the dentist at least once / couple years, although every 6 months is best

although tbh if you brush every day with a sonicare, floss, and rinse, you can probably go 10 years without a cavity

I'm just going from experience.

When I was an adolescent and would have been covered by my parents' insurance, my dentist constantly recommended against getting braces, even as my front teeth started to cross around 13-14. Literally the first visit after I turned 18 he suddenly recommended I get braces. Now I've got wisdom teeth and a ton of crowding, and have neither the time nor cash worth putting towards something completely cosmetic. Apparently, according to one of the orthodontists I went to, they would need to break my jaw to be able to do the alignment, which would probably give me arthritis knowing how things go.

 

[888]

I cracked a tooth once. Not like in half but a chunk off. The dentist said I needed and crown and I said ok. The tooth had changed colors a bit so I figured it was damaged.

Two years later I moved to a kick ass dentist and he flat out said I probably didn’t need a crown and even refused to do another tooth with an silver filling until it was no longer good anymore. Whereas other dentists would have jumped right on that other tooth.

 

[kingwingin]

Worked with an older guy once and he never talked about his past. Would always quickly change the subject or brush it off.

Turns out he was a dentist and would do bogus work on aboriginal peoples teeth like root canals and extractions just because insurance covered it 100%.

He was suspended for a few years and could return if he was supervised

 

[StreetsofBeige]

If someone out there has no insurance, shop around and just say you can only pay cash.

Chances are good, you'll pay half what the insurance claim amount is. Dentists will give you a break.

I did that long time ago when I just graduated university, didn't have a job yet (so no perks) and could only pay cash. A cleaning with xrays was something like $88 cash. When I got a job and had it covered, I'd peak at the clerk doing the bill and it was more like $200.

 

[haxan7]

In my late teens I had a small town dentist (the only dentist in the town where I lived, I believe) go through my mouth with his assistant calling out at least a dozen cavities that needed to be filled.

I never had any problems with my teeth at that point, so I was quite surprised. In the office after the appointment was over, the hygienist made a snide comment about me having a fun visit in store when I came to get all the work done.

I didn’t believe them, so I didn’t go to the follow up appointment. A year or so after that I visited a dentist in the next town over, and he told me my only cavity was one so small it wasn’t worth filling yet.

I still question whether the visit with the psycho dentist actually happened, or if it was some kind of isolated delusion or failure of my memory. I don’t understand how someone who was such a blatant liar or a such a bad dentist could have a practice.