Seriously, what the fuck is up with dentists?
I have mild to moderate periodontal disease. Lots of people do. Bacteria gets under the gumline there & causes problems. If you go and get your teeth cleaned the traditional way, they can’t reach it. One of the charming right-wing dentists here in town said there was nothing he could do for me and sent me to a perio guy, who took one look at me and wanted to do $4500 worth of gum-flap surgery.
Have you heard about this surgery? Supposed to be intensely painful and doesn’t work well from what I can tell. They remove the bacteria by cutting open your gums, scraping the bacteria out & sewing you back up. Sometimes they might put a little antibiotic down in there while they got it open, but it turns out most of the time they don’t (lots of dentists haven’t invested in the technology yet). To me that’s like you have leukemia so to cure you they cut off your arm.
So I did a google search, found this guy in Asheville. He doesn’t believe in the surgery either. He does the antibiotic thing, cures whatever disease is left over with lasers. So I was all about it. The price for it is very reasonable and comparable to what I’ve paid to other dentists in 3 states to deal with this problem so far.
Problem with this guy is he becomes obsessed with my molars. I have eight fillings from when I was a kid (I feel I can tell you all this because I’ve known you all such a long time. I feel as though you are my family). Nothing wrong with any of them, they’re 30 years old, they don’t look perfect. What are you gonna do? They’re 30 years old. They're not causing any problems. They chew the food just fine. Guy wants them out & replaced with ceramics, immediately. He just happens to have a new $150,000 lab in house in which he creates these things. Apparently I need $9800 worth of this work done, now. They’re very happy to work with me on a payment plan.
They also recommended Lumineers, which would give me the smile of a movie star. Price tag $9800.
Total recommended treatment (INCLUDING teeth whitening trays!): $19,000+.
I actually made like I was going to go through with at least some of it, because I’ve now taken up these people’s time and feel like an idiot, and backed out of the office smiling and promising to show for my March 5 appointment, started to laugh on the way home realizing now of course I’m never going back.
I think this experience also might absolve me from having anything more to do with any more dentists for at least another year.
Have you heard about this surgery? Supposed to be intensely painful and doesn’t work well from what I can tell. They remove the bacteria by cutting open your gums, scraping the bacteria out & sewing you back up. Sometimes they might put a little antibiotic down in there while they got it open, but it turns out most of the time they don’t (lots of dentists haven’t invested in the technology yet). To me that’s like you have leukemia so to cure you they cut off your arm.
So I did a google search, found this guy in Asheville. He doesn’t believe in the surgery either. He does the antibiotic thing, cures whatever disease is left over with lasers. So I was all about it. The price for it is very reasonable and comparable to what I’ve paid to other dentists in 3 states to deal with this problem so far.
Problem with this guy is he becomes obsessed with my molars. I have eight fillings from when I was a kid (I feel I can tell you all this because I’ve known you all such a long time. I feel as though you are my family). Nothing wrong with any of them, they’re 30 years old, they don’t look perfect. What are you gonna do? They’re 30 years old. They're not causing any problems. They chew the food just fine. Guy wants them out & replaced with ceramics, immediately. He just happens to have a new $150,000 lab in house in which he creates these things. Apparently I need $9800 worth of this work done, now. They’re very happy to work with me on a payment plan.
They also recommended Lumineers, which would give me the smile of a movie star. Price tag $9800.
Total recommended treatment (INCLUDING teeth whitening trays!): $19,000+.
I actually made like I was going to go through with at least some of it, because I’ve now taken up these people’s time and feel like an idiot, and backed out of the office smiling and promising to show for my March 5 appointment, started to laugh on the way home realizing now of course I’m never going back.
I think this experience also might absolve me from having anything more to do with any more dentists for at least another year.