Why does it seem like there are so many people just waiting to blame their dentist?

Ok, I know that sometimes the dentist does do poor work and it is his fault, ( I have worked for one of those). But so often I hear patients blaming dentists for problems that in reality they caused themselves. I have seen people come into the office with 6 or 7 cavities, many very deep. We drill out the decay as consevatively as possible and place a filling. We warn the patient that there is a chance of a rootcanal in the future, But in a week or 2 the patient comes back claiming that we did something to their tooth. This same type of blame happens with dentures, extractions, crowns, and rootcanals. Instead of gathering information about the specific treatment they recieved, alot of patients listen to family and friends and start yelling "malpractice, Im going to sue". Why are there so many patients that think that dentists are doing something wrong, instead of realizing that dentistry is not an exact science, and things do go wrong?

Why does it seem like there are so many people just waiting to blame their dentist?
This, for the person above who thought this was a crazy question, is what Huskymom was talking about:





"They are so into profit sharing as I like to call it now days. Its ridiculus (sic) how the dentist can charge so much and then send you to a specialist even for the simplest extractions that they go to dental school to learn. It's no wonder so many people are walking around with bad teeth while dentists and doctors live in their big houses and weekend on their yachts. It should be an exact science at the prices they charge."





I'm sorry to say this, but this comment reeks of ignorance. Dentists do not charge all that much for the service they are providing and for the amount of education they must obtain to be licensed.





People "walk around with bad teeth" because they put off seeing the dentist until they are in pain and desperate. By the time they come to the dentist, it is often too late to do anything but pull teeth. Some will spend money on everything else under the sun - cigarettes, beer, video games, off-road-vehicles, etc, but scream bloody murder if a dentist asks for payment to take care of their self-inflicted decay.





If the person I quoted wants to live in a big house, perhaps they should invest 8 years and many thousands of dollars in obtaining an advanced degree, spend a small fortune on equipment and hiring a staff, eat Top Ramen for years, and make the sacrafices dentists do in order to set up a practice.





You do all that, and I'll be happy for you to live well. You deserve it.





This is not a silly question. It's stated on here over and over again, and it is offensive to people who work hard to provide a needed service.





I bet nobody here works for free. When payday comes, how many of you say, "No thanks, I'm just doing this for the good of mankind. You keep the money."





Yeah, right.
Reply:I blame him,,just look!!!!!!!!
Reply:I have to admit that I am forty-eight years old and in my entire life I have NEVER, EVER, NOT EVEN ONCE, ever heard a person blame their dentist for ANYTHING. This may be one of the strangest questions I have ever read on this site.
Reply:Our culture teaches us to blame anyone and everyone first before ever taking the blame ourselves.
Reply:People would rather blame someone else then think that they did something wrong, especially something that caused harm to themselves.
Reply:I have worked for 4 different dentist and I think in 3 of the instances it was a failure of communciation because the dentist was already thinking of his next patient and how much money would be involved
Reply:Dentists are stupid med school dropouts and they turn evil
Reply:I brushez my toof ev'ry day! But it still brown! Last time I open beer toof get chipt! Dennist say toof gud az noo! Nope!


Toof still cut lip when I talk 2 fast!


I gonna go bite dennist!
Reply:They are so into profit sharing as I like to call it now days. Its ridiculus how the dentist can charge so much and then send you to a specialist even for the simplest extractions that they go to dental school to learn. It's no wonder so many people are walking around with bad teeth while dentists and doctors live in their big houses and weekend on their yachts. It should be an exact science at the prices they charge.
Reply:It is not just Dentists that people seem to do this to. Why do they do it? Because they want money!!!!!!
Reply:Ah, yeah and after all those ghastly high priced expenses that they have, gee they still somehow have enough left over to buy huge homes, fancy cars, take hot shot vacations and yada yada yada. When I am wondering where my babies next meal is coming from.


Maybe you were one of the lucky ones and worked for a nice guy.


I can't speak for anyone else, but I have been injured by a dentist in ways that this forum isn't the place to express. It has severely altered the course of my life.


And in general, you might want to look at my response to Tomh311's question.


I didn't even mention the chronic damage part there.
Reply:they has a right to blame the dentist especially when the dentist is stupid who does not know what his doing. the teeth is the most sensitve part of the body any mistake made by the dentist its the patience who will suffer okay. just imagine the poor patience will undergo a lot of suffering in his life just cause the dentist commit a mistake like putting a false teeth or braces on the mouth etc. see
Reply:This is more a response to ROMA than anything else.





Wouldn't it be wonderful if medical and dental educations were free! Check this out. This is the school I graduated from. Tuition was a fraction of this 30-some years ago, but in relative terms, it was not too far off.





http://www.dental.upenn.edu/academic/DMD...





The four year total is approximately $300,000. This is for THIS YEAR, as I know that it will increase about 5% or so every year, adding about $20,000 to the total.

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