This is just a warning of caution.

I'd been going to the same dentist for probably a decade. He was my neighbor before he was my dentist, so we were friends. I didn't feel that I was taking very good care of my teeth over the past five years, but he never really said I had anything to worry about. There were a few small issues he'd fix over the years, but overall he never told me there was anything to worry about.

Well, I started looking at my teeth myself in a little more detail and started to disagree. I decided to head over to a different dentist to get another opinion.

They told me I have 11 cavities (some are very small, though), that I nearly have gum disease, that I have some bad infections, and they immediately got me using prescription toothpaste and mouth wash. As it happens the cavities are individually rather small, so I can't feel them at all, and they aren't really visible, not even with x-rays, due to the orientations of the cavities.

I nearly shit my pants. Obviously any dental health problems I have are my own fault, but I feel very misled. I regularly went to the dentist for a decade. There's no way *all* of that just magically appeared since my last visit to the dentist, which was fairly recent, actually.

So I'm just writing this as a friendly warning. It might be worthwhile occasionally getting a second opinion on things like your teeth, if you're worried at all.

Did you look at the xrays yourself? Maybe you should get a 3rd opinion just in case your friend wasn't as bad a dentist as you thought.

As it happens the cavities are individually rather small, so I can't feel them at all, and they aren't really visible, not even with x-rays, due to the orientations of the cavities.[/quote]
How did they find them?

As it happens the cavities are individually rather small, so I can't feel them at all, and they aren't really visible, not even with x-rays, due to the orientations of the cavities.

How did they find them?
[/quote]
Seriously. Sounds like the second dentist you went to is a bit shady.
"Oh, uh, you have cavities. 12 of them. They're invisible though, even to x-rays... due to their... orientation. And um, you can't feel them either. Fairies put them there. Also you have gum disease. And aids. That'd be $1200.00, after your insurance covers the other bazillion dollars. You need to use prescription toothpaste from now on, that I get a kickback for recommending. Because... uh, toothpaste heals cavitities! Or something."

But who knows? Get a third opinion. An online message board about programming doesn't count.

As it happens the cavities are individually rather small, so I can't feel them at all, and they aren't really visible, not even with x-rays, due to the orientations of the cavities.

How did they find them?
[/quote]


My description wasn't good. They *are* visible with x-rays, but their depth can't be judged due to orientation. This only applies to some of them. They only took two quick and cheap x-rays from the sides, so it's fairly easy to visualize and see that this explanation is logical.

Did you look at the xrays yourself? Maybe you should get a 3rd opinion just in case your friend wasn't as bad a dentist as you thought.

[color="#1C2837"]No, I didn't see the x-rays myself.

[color="#1C2837"]Should I legitimately be worried about being ripped off? The second dentist was recommended to me by a friend and has had his private practice here for years. Well, I'm not sure what to think. The first dentist is getting old, he's planning on retiring, and he doesn't seem like he cares anymore. He was even canceling some of my appointments--at least twice he canceled. The second dentist definitely did not come off as shady.

It's certainly a possibility but you should check into it a little more.

I've heard of it before, and you'll find plenty of anecdotes with similar scams or upsells in a Google search. There was a Reader's Digest "sting" way back that had some pretty poor results for honesty, but articles like that are usually sensationalized.

Although it's annoying not knowing who to trust, you may as well get another opinion. Wouldn't you rather pay the checkup fee again and know for sure, than pay more for unnecessary work?