Anecdotal. Here in India, I have also found a high variability in recommendations by dentists. Every relative/friend of mine has been told that the previous den

Anecdotal. Here in India, I have also found a high variability in recommendations by dentists. Every relative/friend of mine has been told that the previous dental work was bad or ineffective. - Both my wife and I had gotten braces at a young age like 15-20 years back. Our current dentist told us that the braces are the reason for our enamel degradation. I have received 3 RCTs and 8 crowns right now. Wife has more crowns than me. I still have a molar which was grinded cos "there's a cavity from inside out" - Wife's previous dentist used to do her fillings. There was a year gap between consults due to the pandemic. When we went for the next checkup the dentist was adamant that the previous dentist did a bad job and refused to accept that she was the previous dentist. - I got my braces done twice from scratch from two different dentists cos the second one said it was done wrongly. - There are dentists who "clean" the teeth just because you wanted a consult. A relative was on blood thinners due to heart surgery and even though the dentist was informed about this, the "cleaning" made them bleed so much they had to go to the ER. Some takeaways my wife and I have is to not trust dentists that much, take care of our teeth properly by flossing and brushing twice a day with gum massage, avoid sugary foods, quick mouth wash with water after each meal, visit dentists only when there is pain/infection/something suspicious. In my country, dental is a degree that is separate from the regular physician's degree. To say it in US terms, one can become a dentist without having a general MD (MBBS in India). This seems really off to me, why would you want a specialization to be separate from the rest of the body? Like, you can't study about teeth in your general medical studies? Is recommending expensive treatments a justification for their investment into the profession and equipment? I hate dentists...