Why I Hate Going to the Dentist

It's not a fear of the drill or possibly the utter helplessness you feel while lying back in the space chair while bright lights glare into your eyes. Going to the dentist is a hassle for me, not only because of the paperwork and endless x-rays involved, but because it becomes a huge let-down of my faith in humanity. 

I'm convinced only psychopaths become dentists--at least the ones in my town. They are the most anti-social, psychotic people I know. Staring at people's teeth everyday puts a disdainful view on ordinary citizens from their higher perspective. 

Most of the time, you're just a money pit to dentists, particularly if you have private insurance. They see it as a gold mine and will try everything they can to get you to do 'extra' work (veneers, unnecessary surgery, teeth whitening, etc.)

Case in point, from a recent dentist visit...
I had to wait an hour to see the dentist after they had changed my appointment.

While waiting in the dentist's office, I was given a couple of magazines. Since I am female and over the age of eighteen, I was given, "Martha Stewart" magazine and "Sunset" magazine to look at. I had been reading, "Empirical Magazine", before I was checked-in, a political-literature magazine.

I guess if I had been a man, they would've handed me "Sports Illustrated" or Golf magazine. 

"Do I look like I read Martha Stewart Magazine?" 

Should I be insulted? I should be thankful they didn't hand me, "Parents" magazine or some tabloid fodder from "People" magazine or such. 

Never mind the poor choice of magazines to chose from, it's the fact that they don't think women are capable of handling anything intellectual besides "Martha Stewart" and "Good Housekeeping". It's been a while since I've seen a "Smithsonian" magazine or "The New Yorker" in any office I've had to wait in. Even "Time" magazine is a big drop in intellectual stimulation these days.

Finally the dentist comes in, after I hear him spending a good fifteen minutes trying to convince a teenage girl in the next room to take some drugs for her anxiety, so he can perform some 'major dental work' that she probably doesn't need.

He comes in and practically leers  at me the whole time. Big wide grin showing all his fake veneers, as he grips my hand in this ridiculous tight grip (Yes, I know you're a big strong man, now quit crushing my fingers!). Then proceeds to make excuses as to why he's so late. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Okay, man, whatever, just hurry up and examine my cavity. He glances at the two x-rays and says, "Well, I don't see anything wrong." Well, duh, even I could see that from the x-ray. I tell him my back tooth has been hurting and he should look at it.

So he leans me back, digs around with a metal pointy-thing and scrapes at it. Then he stands up and says, "I need to take a picture. There's a big groove in your tooth, so I can't tell how deep it goes."

"So is it a cavity?" I ask.

He then goes into this big long speech, dithering all the way, without telling me whether or not I have a cavity. Finally he says, "If they were my teeth, I'd get a filling done". 

Yeah, if they were your teeth, I'd have a mouthful of veneers--not in a million years!

I wanted to shout at him, "Stop dithering about, you idiot!"
Instead I said calmly, "Do I have a cavity or not?"

"Well…" Off he went again, dithering and dithering about. Until he finally said something like, "Everybody has a different opinion, so each person will say something different." In other words, he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He blathered something about being in practice for 22 years--most of which I'm sure he just dithered away. 

I found him to be creepy, eerily-sycophantic and domineering. He kept trying to 'stare me down' and I had to look away to avoid his sickening grin.

I told him, no, I didn't want a filling but, "Thanks for lookin' at it." He squeezed my hand in the awful grip again before he went out. Then his assistant told me, "We don't do silver fillings here--so your insurance won't cover it."

Wow, good to know! I'm so glad I didn't have a filling done by that blithering idiot! I just paid $100 for a jack-a$$ to poke around at my tooth, which I could've done at home.

Say AHH!

Not that this is the first time I've paid an exorbitant amount of money to have some idiot dig around my teeth.

I've had about five dentists (not counting the dithering idiot mentioned here) and none of them were any good. They all take different x-rays, saying stuff like, "Sorry, we don't accept film or digital x-rays," or, "We couldn't get the other x-rays from your dentist". So they waste large amounts of money doing all the x-rays (some which are thrown out), to raise your dental insurance. 

One male dentist, whom I will not mention by name here, is famous for expensive 'surgery' and 'cosmetic' dentistry. He told me I should get veneers in the front, teeth whitening, and laser surgery for my gums. I had a slight chip in my front tooth, my teeth weren't yellow and it turned out I didn't really need the gum surgery after all. The whole process would've cost me over $1,000! It's a good thing I said no.

This particular dentist, had a really cold demeanor and whenever he smiled, his eyes wouldn't match what his lips were doing. You can always tell when it's a fake smile. You could just tell he'd rather be golfing than looking at your teeth. 

Another thing to point out is, dentists put more pressure on women than men to 'change' their appearance. They think women are more susceptible after reading those stupid magazines in their office--"Oh, you really should get those veneers!". Women are also less likely to make a fuss, since they are supposed to be meek and submissive. 

Whenever you question a dentist (who insists upon being called, "Doctor", even if he's just a regular dentist), they put up this whole act like, "I've been in business for over 20 years…in my past 15 years, I know such and such…". It goes on and on. They really don't expect to be questioned, especially by women. 

When I heard the dithering dentist lecture that teenage girl, on and on until she finally gave in, I was sorely tempted to leave right then and there. Just because a dentist claims to know, "What's best for you", doesn't mean they actually know anything.

Dental care in this country is really bad (and they make fun of British people having bad teeth!). With all the little kids drinking their sugary drinks (50 grams of sugar in a can), we have a really bad problem in the United States of America. Not everyone has insurance to pay the high cost of an exam--so no dentist for you!

My insurance is medical and they put all these restrictions on how many exams, x-rays and procedures you can have. I can't afford separate dental insurance (I have no job). X-rays run $200 or more, exams are $100, cleanings are $75 and up, etc. That's a whole lot of money to shell out twice a year. 

Never mind the fact that insurance companies raise your premiums every time you go to the doctor or dentist…but that's another story for another time.

I'd rather not go to the dentist because of what I've experienced. If I'm lucky, I'll never have to. I floss and brush every night before bed (though I should do this twice a day) and I try to stay away from sweets (those coffee/tea beverages have a lot of syrup though…). All in all, I don't have a lot of problems with my teeth, but I can't speak for the rest of the 300 million people in the U.S.A..

Perhaps in another country I can get better dental care. I might have to go up to Canada (providing they don't take my passport), so I can get a dental exam. I heard things are more expensive in Canada, so maybe I won't go there. Thailand then? If their hospitals are like a five-star hotel, then they should have good (and cheap) dental care. I just need to pay for the plane ticket…

Do I look like I need veneers?