i'm not really anti-dentite, but i've been watching a lot of seinfeld lately. . .
anyhow - from age 18 to age 30, i didn't go to the dentist. for the first few years it was cuz i didn't have insurance and was poor. then, when i had coverage, i didn't go because i hadn't been for so long that i was too ashamed, etc, and i knew it would suck, blah blah - fast forward to age 30: a piece of one of my teeth broke off, so i figured i'd better get my ass in to see the dentist. ended up getting 4 wisdom teeth pulled plus the tooth that a piece broke off of. also ended up getting a bunch of fillings.
now i go regularly and it isn't all that bad.
here's my problem: my dentist says i need to get a bridge to replace the extra tooth they pulled. it's gonna cost me $1700. he says that if i leave that gap in there my teeth will all shift and cause me horrible problems later on.
being that i'm the paranoid type, it does occur to me that a dental practice probably makes gobs more money off of bridges, false teeth, implants, etc. than they do off of cleanings. so, wouldn't it really be in their best interest to keep telling me i need a bridge, even if i don't really need one? wouldn't it be more lucrative to keep telling me that my (remaining) teeth look great until they rot out of my head so they can sell me false teeth?
it's been 2 years with the missing tooth and i haven't had any problems yet - it's kind of a nice place to store a peanut for later. i'm wondering how much i really need that bridge, so i'm curious as to what other people think about it.
can't help you. haven't been to a dentist in 18 years.
Your teeth will shift, it just takes a long time and by the time it's a problem it's too late unless you get braces to move them back. Get the bridge. Cheaper and better in the long run.
just stick a chicklet in the hole
This is not unlike the Doctor discussion at the Bodega. A responsible dentist who actually cares about your oral hygene will be telling you something useful. A sell-out enamel whore will tell you whatever it takes to pay for all the new technology in his office.
For instance: I have a wisdom tooth that kinda pokes out at an angle. It doesn't hurt, it doesn't cause problems and it doesn't get in the way. Three dentists have looked at it (one British dentist, the other two American.) 2 of them said 'Hmm...wisdom tooth...' and left it at that. The other was "OMG A WISDOM TOOTH. IT'S IMPACTED....IF YOU DON'T HAVE MY FRIEND FROM DENTAL SCHOOL REMOVE IT, THE TERRORISTS WIN!!1111"
So I figured that 2/3 dentists don't think there's a problem and as someone who is interested in Cranial anatomy (part of my job) I'll be damned if I'll pay $$$$s to a dude who is trying to scare me into removing healthy bone tissue from my head.
Perhaps consider getting a second opinion? It might be that you really do need this work.
I know that teeth are pretty easy to shift over the space of a month or two if you apply pressures to them from when I was getting orthodontic work done.
I dunno man, having a gap in your teeth could allow them to ease themselves out to have more space. I don't like the sound of it.
Quote from: Squid on December 19, 2009, 07:09:53 PM
just stick a chicklet in the hole
This.
Practical, and attractive.
When I was a kid, I was scared of the dentist.
He was a pedophile.
:x
i think i'm gonna go ahead and do it then - i am using my HSA to pay for it, but with teh babby coming i thought maybe i should forgoe the tooth fixin and save teh moneys for that.
also, would someone really into bicycles be considered a pedalphile?
Quote from: Mangrove on December 20, 2009, 12:06:40 AM
This is not unlike the Doctor discussion at the Bodega. A responsible dentist who actually cares about your oral hygene will be telling you something useful. A sell-out enamel whore will tell you whatever it takes to pay for all the new technology in his office.
For instance: I have a wisdom tooth that kinda pokes out at an angle. It doesn't hurt, it doesn't cause problems and it doesn't get in the way. Three dentists have looked at it (one British dentist, the other two American.) 2 of them said 'Hmm...wisdom tooth...' and left it at that. The other was "OMG A WISDOM TOOTH. IT'S IMPACTED....IF YOU DON'T HAVE MY FRIEND FROM DENTAL SCHOOL REMOVE IT, THE TERRORISTS WIN!!1111"
So I figured that 2/3 dentists don't think there's a problem and as someone who is interested in Cranial anatomy (part of my job) I'll be damned if I'll pay $$$$s to a dude who is trying to scare me into removing healthy bone tissue from my head.
Perhaps consider getting a second opinion? It might be that you really do need this work.
Yeah, actually one of the things I loved about my old dentist is that I told him a bunch of the things a previous dentist had told me I "should" have done, and he was like, "Veneer your front tooth just because it's cracked? Bad idea! Teeth crack over time, there's no reason to mess with it. Veneering won't help it structurally, it's purely cosmetic." He had a very "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude and a very strong opinion on preserving teeth in as close to original condition as possible unless there was a health-related reason not to.
Best dentist ever.
He retired. :x
Those kinds of dentists are sooo hard to find around these parts. Anyone with insurance (and the insurance is pure crap for dental) gets shoved off to a "you're just a number" type of facility instead of a small town dentitst type. You can tell their bottom line and not your jawline is what matters most when they start telling you you need these $100-per quarterly cleanings, even though you have no cavities and need no work. This happened to me twice with such places.
We switched to a PPO in hopes of finding a better place. I've had such nightmares with billing, fillings caused by a dentist, which then fell out, another dentist who replaced it who use no novacaine until the end and gave me 8 shots to the jaw, and then THAT filling fell out...etc. I finally found someone who's awesome and I got her to give me THE GAS. I love the gas. GAS FOREVER.