[jonhohle]

Have you switched dentists recently? I have little trust in the profession (though I like my current dentist).

Around 2008 every time I went in to the dentist she found cavities. I moved states between a bad diagnosis and getting any fillings and when I went to a new dentist I came out with a clean bill of health.

I moved back and had a dentist that I trusted, she sold the practice and the new dentist started finding cavities every single visit. I switched dentists and magically those cavities were gone.

Not only did I likely get drilled and filled superfluously, the first dentists fillings fell out or broke and needed to be replaced after a few years.

If a machine was doing the work, economies of scale also create a large enough class that if the treatment is not effective the class can sue. Against a one-off terrible dentist with a small sample size, the chance of compensation for terrible work is almost non-existent.

[emchammer]

Last time I went to see my US dentist, he said I needed another filling. I wasn't feeling it for some reason, I told him not now, and he looked at it again, and said "I agree". Now I sort of regret getting my other "small" fillings.

I've had a dentist in Europe who laughed and said there's no need to come here every year, that's an American thing.

[avgDev]

In the end dentist offices are businesses, and often dentists have small practices.

I've recently listened to a podcast of a dentist turning consultant to increase numbers. Dude literally applied a lot of marketing tricks, tested them and analyzed the results. He did things like naming teeth cleaning, a "clinical teeth cleaning" or something along those lines. This resulted in an increase in cleanings. I guess he could be lying as he is now selling his services but the whole podcast felt disgusting.