Metal Mouth Message Board

Kirjax,

I wish you the best of luck.

Mike

YIKES. Let us know how it goes. I can only imagine how frustrated you must be.

Hi, I am brand new here - I'm getting my braces put on tomorrow!

This topic is very interesting. Last summer when I finally went to the dentist after about 4 1/2 years I was told I had 5 cavities. I couldn't get them filled since I was pregnant at the time. Last month I finally got around to getting back to the dentist, there was no mention made of any cavities at all. I looked and one "cavity" completely disappeared. The rest are definitely still there (black spots) but the dentist didn't say they were cavities. I have been using ACT since last summer, so maybe that helped.

rsprouse, you post did make me feel better about the dental profession!

I look forward to reading more posts on this message board.

I am a spammer who as been banned, along with my entire country (The Phillipines).

I've been in this scenario, going from my expensive dentist that I had since I was a kid to one that accepts my insurance payment as 100% of the fees. Got the same run around that nearly all my fillings needed to be replaced, some fillings that were only a couple years old. Didn't go back to that place - asked my old dentist about what happened and he tried his best not to say they were wrong but just said he thought the fillings were good and didn't think they needed replacing.

Its my opinion that those offices involved in HMO plans seem to feel the need to push productivity higher in order to make up for their low cost procedures. Dentistry is health care but at the same time it is a business. The health care side of it would love to see the entire population never have any tooth decay, but the business side would go out of business.

Kirjax,
I tell everyone without insurance that it's worth the effort to see if you can get accepted as a patient in a university dental school. Probably not for you right now because there is usually a period of time that you need to wait on a list, but dental fraud would never happen there. You will get what you need at a great price. Dental schools are usually very detailed and if you don't mind more than one eyes on your teeth and a little extra time in the chair it's the way to go.
Good luck and definately don't go through with something you feel so wrong about.

This situation ocurs in just about every profession out there.
Just as many of you recevied many different opinions on your orthodontic treatment many times different doctors can give different opinions on 'cavities' based on the technology used and experience level. Some doctors use advanced machines to help find decay. Many of my friends use what is called a Diagnodent which is essence is a cavity finding laser. This laser can find cavities before other methods can find them. You see the pattern of decay has changed drastically over the years d/t the higher amounts of fluoride in teh water and in toothpaste. It used to be that tooth decay caused a larger shallow hole that was easy to spot and subsequently restore. Now since the enamel is so strong fron the Fl the decay pattern is more often a very small hole that tunnels deep then expands. Once the decay gets to the softer dintin layer underneath it can really spread out causing a very large defect. Think of it like a large underground cave sitting over apparently solid looking ground. If you remove a portion of the ground then there will be a massive hole. That is what tends to happen now. This is why the dentist may have said to you something like 'that cavity was bigger than I thought it would be'
These newer type cavities are harder to detect and some doctors are better at finding them than others...again based on their experience and the technology used.

Also keep in mind tooth decay is an infectious disease (so is periodontal disease). Just like other diseases certain situations can cause speeding up or slowing down of the infection. Aditionally the mounth is a very harsh environment. Changes in diet, salivary flow, acid reflux or consumption, diet, home care, immune response and many other factors play critical roles in tooth decay and periodontal disease. That is one reason why you can go from no cavities to 4 cavities in 6 months or so.
Also it is often easier to take care of all the fillings in a certain section of your mouth at once so you only have to be numbed one time. Of course this should be shared with teh pt in case they would rather wait another 6 to 12 months before having another cavity filled but that is a common practice.

I hope this sheds some light on this subject.

In regards to dental schools, that is not a perfect environment by any stretch of the imagination. Differing opinions can happen there as well..and usually do. It will be less expensive since pts are working on you but it can take 1/2 a day (or more) to get a filling done. It is not uncommon for that to take 3 to 4 hours.

The dentist who told you that they don't do amalgam fillings in kids was probably not trying to cheat you. My dentist doesn't do any amalgam fillings because they still contain mercury. He does not like to deal with the mercury in the office, so he does resin only, and take the hit on the cost if it comes in over what the insurance will pay.

I wouldn't be surprised if amalgam fillings don't go away soon entirely. When I was in grad school in micro, we had a seminar presented on the lifetime exposure to mercury in the fillings. It apparently alters the normal bacterial flora in your mouth over the long term.

It is the only place where it is still legal in the U.S. to use mercury inside a human body.

So, don't assume that a dentist that won't use amalgam is trying to cheat you. He or she has simply decided not to handle the mercury.

Many feel that composites are a superior restoration than amalgam.
That is one of the main reasons they are used (in a ddition to being tooth colored of course)

Just to add on...my dentist uses only the white fillings, and when they submitted it to my insurance (which only covers it for the front teeth) they payed the same amount for the resin or composite or whatever its called because the dentist doesn't have the metal fillings available.

many doctors that provide both amalgam and composite charge the same fee for both. As such your copay will be the same for either option.