Comments on: Conflicts of Interest in Dentistry

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:37:08 +0000

The dentists I worked with in the Army (I was a dental assistant) were all officers on salary. When we did deployment exams for units bound for Iraq, we were expected to use the “12 month rule” – if we saw a dental condition that would lead to pain or inability to eat or speak sometime in the next 12 months, we were expected to treat it.
The only place outside the military where I received stellar dental care was a dental college! The students were graded on quality of work only. Unfortunately this incentived quality to the point that it took 6 months of visit to get the equivalent of an exam and cleaning!
Sounds like the best solution would be some kind of dental HMO. This might balance COI by providing strong oversight of medical records (to prevent lazy undertreating) and lack of financial incentive to overtreat.

By: MD Observer

MD Observer — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:10:02 +0000

This is true….

Secretary at anesthesiologiests’ office sees a notation of every operation done at the local hospital. She notices the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor is taking out lots of tonsils lately.

She runs into a secretary from the Ear Nose and Throat doctor’s office and says it must be the season for sore throats.

Oh, that’s not it! The secretary from the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor explains what’s really going on:

The doctor recently divorced, and married his pretty, young receptionist, and she is thrilled to be a “doctor’s wife.” She’s done all the arrangements for a vacation, and it’s going to be really, really expensive.

The doctor didn’t want to appear cheap, so he said OK to the expensive vacation plans.

Now, when kids come in with a sore throat, all of a sudden most of them need their tonsils out. That’s how the doctor is going to pay for the vacation….

This account is absolutely, 100% true.

By: Matt Canning

Matt Canning — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:12:42 +0000

This definitely happened to me. I didn’t get the surgery, and two years later, I’m fine. They still hassle me about coming back.

By: bee

bee — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:39:51 +0000

I have worked in the dental industry for 15 years. I’m sure there are dentists who “up-sell”,just as there are MD’s, financial advisors, carpenters, plumbers, car salesmen, waiters, ect….. My point is, that the more educated you are about your health the better. Each Dr. I have worked for has a different opinion about treatment options for any given patient. Even Dr.’s in the same practice. Some want to tackle problems while they are small and inexpensive to fix, others take a “wait and see” approach. IF you have unanswered questions about a treatment plan, ASK! With x-ray and digital intraoral pictures, you no longer just have to take someone’s word, they can show you the treatment that is needed and explain why it is needed. The dentist’s that I currently work for are very conservative, but also want to take care of the “small fillings” before they become larger treatment. As Hilary said, The BEST Way to find a Dentist is word of mouth – ask your friends or family for referrals to health care providers and other professionals that they trust!

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:55:13 +0000

As a few commenters have pointed out, this has nothing to do with dentistry. Does this exist in dentistry? Yes. Does it happen to MD’s? Yes. Does it happen to Politicians? Yes. Does it happen eaters at a restaurant? Yes. Most people in a job that has something to do with sales get put in this position of upselling. “The more I sell, the more I make.” Now you say it’s a bigger problem in dentistry because you are jacking up peoples health care (very coveted in our culture as it should be), but an honorable dentist will treat you well, just as an honorable insurance salesmen will only help to sell you something if you NEED it. But, more often than not we see insurance agents trying to sell you flood insurance when you live on a plateau. The problem is honesty in society, not honesty in dentistry. So, next time you go to the dentist and he tells you that you have a cavity, don’t go getting all skeptical. How about you find a trustworthy dentist before you go to one, then you will know that what he tells you will be truthful. And make sure that you do this for your mechanic, and your server, and your accountant, and your Senator, and your wife…

By: nhd

nhd — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:02:26 +0000

I’m a librarian who manages a large budget at one of the (very) top university libraries in the United States (I can’t be more specific than that, otherwise you’d know which one). Since I began I’ve been extremely uncomfortable by the freebies given to libraries by corporate (Lexis, Proquest, Gale/Cengage) sellers of large, uber-expensive databases. They give free lunches and dinners – expensive ones at that – and all other manner of soft incentives. People are well-aware of this system in medicine, but I suspect that even academics who are affected by the vendor/librarian relationship have scarcely a clue about the nonsense taking place in large academic libraries with COI.

By: Jeffrey Dixon

Jeffrey Dixon — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:33:53 +0000

Went through the same upsell routine with 2 dentists. I had both of them claim that less than optimal oral health could lead to complications of general health. May be true, but I question just how perfect it needs to be. I’m over 50, so some of my dental work is older, but symptom-free. Does it need replacing? Doubt it!!

The addition of cosmetic services further clouds credibility for me. Question on my intake form for present dentist: Rate your smile on a scale of 1-10!!!

By: Hilary Ireland

Hilary Ireland — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:10:05 +0000

Hi Everybloggie,
Hmm…this seems to be the way some cowboy dentists work. This happened to me when our family relocated from California to the east coast. I call it the ” Dental New Mercedes Purchasing System”. I would never go back to the crooked dentist ~ and my husband and I took our family to another dentist recommended by friends and neighbors.
“By word of mouth ” is by far the best way to find honest doctors, dentists…and plumbers !!

By: ella

ella — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:55:24 +0000

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By: Lou Wigdor

Lou Wigdor — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:28:20 +0000

Another elephant in the room, moreover, is the framing of dentistry as somehow “quasi-medical” with its own (typically inferior) insurance systems. Perhaps that offers its own culture/flavor to the business/medical
model.
Ironically, poor dental health is considered a marker for systemic medical issues.

I am now ready to rinse.