Is Your Dentist Working For Your Best Interest?

by Scott Warner

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I would like to invite you to gain a greater awareness of dental health and what you can do to maximize your chances to obtain the best dental health and to ensure that you are getting quality care from dental professionals. In order for this to happen you must be cognizant of the realities of dental care today, particularly if you are receiving dental care in the United States.

We often blindly assign a great deal of trust to our health care providers and this is true even for dental care. Because of our conditioning to the white lab coat and the authority of doctors, this trust is ingrained in our psyche. In order to guide against the problems that can come from such blind trust, we need to create ways that we can test the quality of care and the professionals that are working on us. In this way, we can help to protect ourselves from the costs of being treated beyond what is necessary.

You may be a bit skeptical and wonder why this would be necessary. In this case you are encouraged to do a bit of research on your own. You can experiment by visiting three different offices and seeing the dentists there. You may be shocked to discover that the treatment advice you receive may be very different from each dentist. One dentist may tell you that you have four cavities, another may say that you have two and the last may say that you have none at all but that you need a root canal.

In this case, you will understandably wonder what the truth is. Upon further investigation, if you dig further, you will discover that dentists have the authority to use their own judgment in diagnosis. This leads to wildly different diagnoses. There are not clear and definitive guidelines on what constitutes a cavity. At least, there is no unified, standardized diagnosis that is checked and enforced by state or federal agencies.

This has led to a situation where some dentists will say that a 'dark spot' on your tooth is a possible cavity and feel justified in drilling it and filling it. If pressed, they will exclaim that this is practicing 'preventive dentistry'. As you can see, such a situation lends itself to a conflict between the potential for monetary gain and the best interest of the patient.

Be aware that you are very much within your rights to seek additional opinions when dealing with health care practitioners in any field. Also, if you feel that a dental practitioner is recommending 'excessive' treatment, you may report him or her to the state dental board. When more patients begin to do this, you may find these dental professionals will start to give more 'conservative' diagnosis.

What should I do now, you may be wondering? Under such a confusing situation, it might be best to take a look at the most conservative treatment. You may also wish to ask the doctors you have gotten opinions from about the other recommendations you received. This may compel them to 'adjust' their diagnoses. It might be helpful to simply seek out even more opinions. However, that has the potential to add toeven more to the confusion.

When considering these scenarios, you may have realized that it would be useful to learn more about dental care so that you have the ability to form your own judgments and evaluate your health care professionals a bit better. Click on the link at the bottom of this article to read more about a book that focuses on, from a non-doctor's perspective, what it takes to evaluate the quality of care you may or may not be getting and what you can do to help protect yourself.

Grab your free  dental health report now. I highly recommend taking a look at the book: What You Should Know about Gum Disease - available at http://www.gingivitiskiller.com

Grab Your Free Report Now