You are absolutely right. Dentists are able to recommend wrong therapy plans without patients knowing. Even when a patient gets the correct diagnosis, they can

You are absolutely right. Dentists are able to recommend wrong therapy plans without patients knowing. Even when a patient gets the correct diagnosis, they can be recommended drastically different therapy plans. This happens because there are many ways to solve the same medical problem. Depending on the financial capacity of the patient and the desired quality which is most commonly measured by the length of durability or visual appearance, as well as other factors. Another related issue is the aesthetic dental work paid for by the patient, which can cause the need for more treatments down the line. All these decisions influence the health of the patient in a way they aren’t able to fully comprehend, and they rely on dentists as experts to advise them. Generally, advice and diagnosis are not separate. This creates a venue for unethical behaviour. For example, dentists might resort to recommending "tools from their toolbox.” In your case, it was fillings. When you buy a hammer, suddenly everything looks like a nail. The results of all this are: - Patients get suboptimal/wrong health treatments - Treatments are still performed long after there are better approaches available - Dentists are less able to give the right advice