Dental Insurance - Unnecessary Dental Procedures
By Marianne
Wolf
Is there a new trend in dentistry toward a higher incidence of
dental fraud? According to the Surgeon General's report on oral
health last year, a century ago most Americans lost their teeth
by middle age. Today though we have widespread fluoridation and
most middle-aged Americans can expect to keep their original teeth
for the rest of their lives. I am 48 and I know that is exactly
what one of my dentists told me. Also unlike when I was a child,
most kids today have few if any cavities.
Since dentists have fewer cavities to
fill, they have had to find other ways to increase their income.
According to Dr. Marv Zatz, a New Jersey dentist who works as
a dental insurance consultant for Towers Perris, a health welfare
and retirement consulting firm, "Dentist
have changed their whole paradigm. Today, much of what they do
is elective including tooth whitening, braces for adults and replacing
dark fillings with white ones."
There are reports that some dentists are telling their patients
to have old amalgam fillings replaced even though it is a practice
that the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
does not recommend. What makes matters worse; according to dental
industry sources dentists have fewer national guidelines on specific
practices. Additionally, dentist are more likely to work alone
hence there is less professional scrutiny. These factors give dentists
an increased opportunity to over charge patients.
Also there are a lot of gray areas in dentistry. My son's dentist
recommended he have his wisdom teeth out when my son was 17. Americans
spend $2 billion a year on wisdom tooth extraction and it is the
main income for oral surgeons. Many dentists advise it should be
done in teenagers to avoid cysts or infections. Also they say young
people heal faster.
Actually there is no hard evidence of
a long term benefit to routine extraction of wisdom teeth that
are not problematic. Currently the most recent government recommendation
is age 22 for wisdom teeth extraction. Even that advice is questionable
given the results of a study published in 1990 in the International
Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. The article
suggested that "instead
of routinely pulling healthy wisdom teeth, it might make more sense
in terms of both economic costs and disability, to extract only
those teeth that are impacted and clearly causing problems." My
husband has all his wisdom teeth and other than one cavity, he
has had no problems.
Not all dentists are just in it for the money but some are. My
advice is if you or a member of your family needs an expensive
dental procedures, get a second opinion. Also choose your dentist
carefully.
