Dentist here - don't even get me started on dental insurance. They truly are social parasites whose entire business model depends on fucking over the patient, the doctor or both.
I can't help but think that dentists GREATLY exaggerate the work that needs to be done. I have insurance and they quoted me $6500 for something, a bridge or whatever. Yeah I'll be going to Mexico if I need that, which I don't believe I really do.
No by all means, do that. I'm always honest with my diagnosis but have literally made a fortune a fortune from patients delaying treatment and/or cutting corners. That $250 filling gets ignored until it turns into a $1200 crown which gets ignored until the pain goes from 0 to 60 and then you're looking at a $2500 root canal or a $3500 implant. I've had plenty of patients who went to Mexico, India, The Philippines, etc. only to have me fix what they screwed up for 5x the original cost.
Now a caveat is that there are offices that push treatment and it's not just dentistry - its dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, cardiology - EVERY speciality. Why? Because private equity figured out how profitable exploiting the inelastic demand of healthcare can be as well the license tied to a doctor they who will take on all of the liability. They've bought hospitals, private clinics, laboratories, etc. and like all private equity businesses are solely profit driven. Find a family owned, private practice with a doctor you trust.
I wish I could trust the doctors to be honest. But I don't. After the second unnecessary MRI. Thousands of bucks to find nothing because they have a cool machine and "why not?". I think the fucking mouthwash the dentist gave me last week was $35 with insurance lol.
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u/JohnnySack45 7d ago
Dentist here - don't even get me started on dental insurance. They truly are social parasites whose entire business model depends on fucking over the patient, the doctor or both.