re: Advice for not being oversold or upsold at the Dentist?

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Once you get that fixed... how much are you paying for that dental insurance? Lots of plans have very low caps.

I think mine is like $16 a month for $1,500 coverage. How much is cash pay for a cleaning? Might not be that much more expensive to just cash pay it for a cleaning.

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I pay about $35 a month. I get preventative like teeth cleaning x-rays, fluoride paid for, but fillings, crowns, and dentures are 50 percent with a cap of $1000 with a $100 deductible. I'm convinced that for the average person the premiums, co-pays and deductibles for the doctor gives you a better return than the damn dentist per dollar.

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I wonder if I"ll get the "you haven't been to the dentist in awhile so you need to get all these things done

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Hell yes you will. Be prepared for the "you need a deep periodontal cleaning". If you hear that, prepare they anus and block out time for another appointment in the near future as they will only do 1 or 2 quadrants at a time.

Dentists are constantly upselling, because they can.

Was he trying to force you to get those things or was he simply letting you know they were available if you were interested?

Damn shame when medical field becomes like car salesman

Find a dental school nearby. They are closely supervised so you should come away with most of what you went in with, as far as teeth go.

It’s what I do. Works out great. And it’s cheaper.

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Was he trying to force you to get those things or was he simply letting you know they were available if you were interested?

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The hygienist who wasn't even cute who kept trying to sell me stuff and I later found out I didn't need preventative restoration the dentist did to me.

Doctors don't upsell things. I've never been told you need to get this procedure done to prevent a stroke. He just tells me to watch my weight, exercise, and take these blood pressure pills which I do. He doesn't sell me a diet plan, health club, or other things.

Cash pay

I'm a dentist who has had experience in chain dentistry as well as now private practice dentistry, and my advice is to go to a dentist with a private practice, ideally one not in-network with insurance plans. The fees per procedure might be a little higher out-of-network (misunderstood topic for further discussion in and of itself), but because of that, they won't be trying to get you to do extra procedures you don't need

I will add though that vast majority of dentists I know are not con-artist used car salesmen; just a broad spectrum of conservative vs aggressive treatment philosophy out there

Dentist are the dumbest professionals in the world