Dental Bullshit

I finally got around to going to the dentist, for the first time in almost two years. I got a recommendation for a guy whose office is in Burbank, within walking distance from my work. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn't have to have a root canal or anything gross and painful.

It turns out that this dentist is a one-man shop. And by one man, I mean he's the dentist, hygienist and x-ray dude rolled into one. Other than the receptionist (who happens to be his wife), it's all him. This seemed sorta charming, Mayberry-esque at first, but I've learned that this basically means that what typically gets done in one visit gets spread over several visits.

I've been to him twice now. The first time he took some x-rays and asked me to come back so that he could show me the results and do a cleaning. Okay, fine. Today was my second visit and lo and behold we hardly got anything done. He went over my x-rays and said I needed to have an oral surgeon tell me if I needed my wisdom teeth out. He also told me that a couple old fillings needed to be replaced. Okay, fine. But did he start cleaning my teeth, uh, NO.

Then he went about going between my teeth and assigning numbers to them (anywhere between 2 and 6), which, as he later explained, indicated how far down he had to push before he hit the bone. WTF? Has anyone had this done? Apparently, my gums might be receding (6 is not good) and he might have to do a deep cleaning, which would require novacaine. He asked me if anyone had ever done this numbers thing with me before (I said no) and he said, well, it's very important because you really got to clean that out otherwise you start losing your teeth. Huh? This is news to me. Have all my other dentists been crap or is this new guy crap? I'm thinking the latter.

So I'm pissed. First and foremost I'm pissed because I have better things to do than visit this guy every week for the next four weeks. Apparently, the two filings he wants to replace are on both sides of my face and he said he would need two visits since he can't novacaine up both sides in one visit (huh?). Then another visit for the regular cleaning. And God knows, perhaps even another if a deep cleaning with novacaine is necessary.

Tell me this is bullshit. I mean, is he trying to make money through repeated visits? I really don't like this guy. I don't even know if he's good or bad because he hasn't actually done anything, but I still don't like him. I'm taking a stand and now in the market (again) for a dentist.