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I've been once a year since for cleaning, and have been getting the same hard sell regarding going to the orthodontist every time. I wonder what he gets out of sending his patients there? A referral fee or something like that, perhaps? It's something I don't need, and I'm not going to spend whatever the copay was by then on a cosmetic procedure.
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First, its illegal to give any kickback for a referal to another doctor. So unless your dentist and the orthodontist are breaking the law, your dentist just thinks you NEED orthodontic work. I refer to oral surgeons all the time, I get nothing for it, and the patient gets needed work done.
Orthodontics is not only a cosmetic procedure, even from your limited discrption of your problem, cosmetics is not why they want you to go. I see adults every day who thought their teeth were fine too, and they didn't need braces, only to discover that their bite was off to the point that it caused teeth to wear down unevenly and they had a lot of damage requiring dentail work to fix it after they get braces. It can also cause TMJ problems in women. I won't get technical without knowing your case because there are a lot of different ways this can happen, to many to list really.
You will have to forgive them for giving you the 'hard sell'. Its called having your best interests at heart.
You will also have to forgive them for not recognizing that when you said 'this is your first time' it was your first time EVER at a dentist. Thats not typical for just about anyone.
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When I called, the receptionist asked if I was transferring over from another doctor, and I told her yes and gave her the info from the old office.
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Did you mention you never saw the other doctor? Transfering implies you were an active patient, not just a name on the list of people in your insurance plan. Its not often one runs into college professors who have never been to a dentist.
They swallowed 30% of their fee to treat you, you might want to be a little less resentful.
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Originally Posted by Sultana
I think dentists can be zealous about oral health and hygenie, and I'm certain they are often subjected to folks who don't take care of themselves, which eventually leads to major and painful dental work, for which they blame...the dentist.
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One of the reasons I did orthodontics was so I wouldn't have to deal with much of this. Adults come to me mostly because they care about their teeth and want to be there. They don't want braces, no one does who is over the age of 14, (lots of kids do want them), but they are glad to be there since I am fixing a problem for them.
My one faulting of many dentists is that they don't explain whats going on enough. They expect you to take their word for it and are poor educators. I love explaining that sort of thing, which makes my consultations rather long and annoys my receptionist
Its 230 AM enjoy any typos, I'm too tired to proofread.