Teeth, Tech & toys
Apr. 2nd, 2015 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Last night I had my final crown put in from the prep work I had done a
month ago.
http://www.fbhjr.livejournal.com/971555.html
I had to leave early to get there in time. As I walked out of the staff
meeting to go, one of the software engineers asked:
“Why don’t you go to one of the dentists that can just 3D print new crowns?”
He went on to say how the one he goes to does that and it saves a second
trip and is very convenient.
And part of me does think that would be very cool. To have a new tooth
printed while you sit there and not have to spend a month with a temporary
would be great.
But…
The last couple of dentists I’ve had were from big corporate practices with
a dozen or more dentists working together. They could get together and
afford some of the cool new “toys” like fancy x-ray machines and such. I’m
very sure that those are the same folks who can manage to buy teeth
printers too.
Some of the dentists at those groups were very good.
But, my over all experience there was not.
And, this stuff happened at more than one such place.
They’d change my appointments without telling me. They’d push for me to
get things done that I didn’t want and didn’t really need. Some times they
just wouldn’t show up when I had an appointment and would expect one of the
other people to cover for them. Sometimes that left no one there. (One
place I got there for an appointment and the place was locked and the
lights off. No one had shown up that day.)
The endless trying to upsell me things REALLY annoyed me as well.
I was told at every appointment I had at two different dental groups that I
should buy a night shield for my teeth to prevent wear on them while I
slept.
Every single time I’d ask which teeth they were talking about. They always
pointed to the same four.
“I broke those four in February 1983 when I got so drunk I fell down on my
face on a cement floor,” I’d tell them. “If your product will go back in
time to stop that from happening, I’ll be happy to buy it. If it won’t,
stop trying to sell it to me.”
Six months later, we’d have the same conversation.
Clearly they made a lot of money selling those to people…
My current dentist is a one man operation. No partners, no receptionists,
no hygienists or anything else.
He has left family events to come work on my wife’s teeth when she had an
emergency.
He’s helped us out on weekends, nights and every single time we needed it.
Of course, he has rescheduled appointments. But, never without notice.
And, he’s never just failed to show up.
He has always been up front about problems, what solutions there were and
the costs involved.
The only thing he has ever tried to sell me is tooth paste and he told me
where I could get it cheaper even though he wouldn’t get a kickback.
And, he’s very good at his job as well.
Printing a new crown for me as I waited would be very nice.
I hate temporary crowns and would very much like to skip that part of the
process.
But, I think I’ll still stick with my guy and avoid all that other stuff
I’ve had to deal with elsewhere.
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Date: 2015-04-02 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2015-04-03 08:36 pm (UTC)He's a one dentist operation, but I don't know that he'd come to the office off hours for an emergency.
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Date: 2015-04-11 09:00 pm (UTC)