Dentistry and economy

Today I want to talk about the state of profession.

In times of hardship dentistry is one of those fields that suffers because priority's change. Having a beautiful smile is not as important as feeding your children.

I understand that, at least the cosmetic stuff. What I don't understand is people waiting to get a filling done until the pain is so bad they have to. It happens all to much.

So what is this visit like for me as a dentist. I am the one that gets to tell that patient that because they waited until it was in so much pain that they could not bare it anymore, the tooth now needs a root canal and a crown. So what would have cost 200 dollars to do if they had not waited, or cost even less if they continued to get their cleanings done, is going to cost them 2000 dollars.

This has happened more in the past 4 months than I have ever seen. So here is what the patient does. They ask me how much it costs to just take it out. WTF. You are now going to loose a tooth because you chose not to take care of the problem or see your dentist earlier. So I tell them and almost always they get it pulled. They then get mad at me, like it is my fault.

The real kicker is they still are spending tons of money on their cigarettes, beer, pets, cable TV, movies, what ever it is, but are now mad at me because they took to long to get their work done.

So I do sympathize to a point. Dentistry is important and can be expensive. People need to understand though, even in times of hardship your health is so important. Cut other places, and make sure you are keeping healthy.