Canadian Dentists - Greedy

News Flash - Canadian Dentists are greedy sons of bitches!

There's bad news and there's
good news - your teeth are
lousy and you need $12,000
worth of work.  The good
news is "we have a sale
on this week".

Well...actually this isn't a news flash.  We've known this all along. 

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "Marketplace" program recently did an investigation into Canadian dentists in Vancouver and Toronto. 

A woman named Theresa was examined by two acknowledged dental experts at the University of Toronto.  They determined that Theresa had no tooth decay, needed several cleanings to fight gum disease and potentially needed a crown on one tooth, at a cost of about $1,800 to $2,000.  

The TV program then sent this woman to 20 different dentists to see what treatments they would recommend for her, after examining her teeth and seeing her x-rays which she provided herself. 

These 20 dentists basically said that almost every tooth in her mouth needed work. This included root canals, veneers, dental fillings for non-existent cavities, bridge replacements, mouthguards, whitening treatments and crowns.  

Hi.  I'm a Canadian Dentist.  I
am a medical professional who
wants to repair your teeth, even
if you don't need it. 

Some of the procedures recommended cost up to almost $12,000, and almost none of it was needed.

It is commonly known in the dental industry that many dentists find out what procedures are covered under your particular "Dental Plan" (if you have one), and then recommend dental procedures based on what your dental plan covers.  If you aren't covered, then you don't need work.  If it is covered....Man, do you need the work!!

What kind of bullshit is this? What sort of medical ethic is this? 

This entire issue isn't really an example of corporate greed as most of these dentists work individually or in small corporate groups. 

What this is....is an example in our society of individual greed, in which patients are put through needless dental procedures that can almost cripple the patient financially, and cause physical pain and mental anxiety, plus time off of work, etc. 

Could you imagine the impact of a dentist recommending $12,000. of needless dental work on a fool who follows this advice? 

Moral of the story:  Question your dentist's recommendations.  Don't accept everything they say as fact. 

It has been stated that Dentistry is an interpretive art and is not "black and white".  Indeed it isn't.  It is green - the colour of money. 

God save us from the greedy ones in this world, who have no honour.  Amen.