The only major problem I had at a dentist was that the dentist assumed that i wanted a bridge done to fix previous crown that got infected. I had by that time already got two implants with crowns. I got suspicious when he never talked to me about what he was doing, and then started sticking the numbing the teeth around the former tooth and crown. I had to stop him ask him what he was doing. I couldn't believe he didn't even tell me what he was up too, and he assumed I would be getting a bridge. I left and was very, very shocked that he was that bad at his job.

The same with a lot of doctors.

I'm fortunate to have a dentist I trust with this sorta thing. I had a root canal several years ago. My fault, I had a toothache that didn't go away for two years but I was dirt poor at the time and I told myself that ibuprofren was cheaper than debt from dental bills. Went to Aspen after the pills stopped touching my pain, $2,500, oh and $110 for this toothbrush you'll need to keep your teeth clean.

Couldn't afford that at the time. I'm a journalist we don't make dental procedure money. Best friend recommended a family practice. Dentist saw their X-rays that I brought in and trashed them, gave me new ones for free and gave me options. He's like, I understand where you're at, but to make the pain stop you have two options. You can give me $100 and we can pull that tooth, or about $650 for the root canal procedure.

Handed over the $650, and the routine cleanings I get there every six months are covered by my insurance.

Finding a good dentist then, seems to be like finding a good mechanic. Fortunately I'm at a time in my life where I've found both.

As a kid our family dentist found cavities at almost every checkup. As a young adult I found a new dentist who didn't find any cavities for about 10 years..??When that dentist of many years sold his practice to a corporate dental group I was again told I needed work at virtually every visit. And all the patients in the corporate dental group, before they saw the dentist, had to first talk to a "closer" (they didn't call her that). She aggressively badgered and harassed people into getting more work done than the dentist even recommended. Even the dental hygienists did sales jobs to push additional work on patients. Rule of thumb should be that it a dentist has a "closer", that alone is reason to run away as fast as possible.

Mmm I've been lucky with dentists; but it does sound like this guy was rather charmed and could have been more sensible with his decision making.

It is sad when there are dentists who are only interested in how much money they can make.