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One major issue is that the biggest money maker for dentists, cleaning/scaling, is basically nothing more than a cosmetic procedure that has little to no medica

by Kranar 3y ago

One major issue is that the biggest money maker for dentists, cleaning/scaling, is basically nothing more than a cosmetic procedure that has little to no medical value. Getting your teeth cleaned by a dentist is something many adults with health coverage do on a yearly basis, and yet it serves little to no purpose. So how do you integrate that into the health care system as a whole? Do you just continue having people see the dentist every year and get their teeth cleaned to continue the tradition so that dentists can continue to get paid? Do you eliminate it and then put a large number of dentists out of business? A great deal of common dental care as a whole is not actually based on any kind of science or research. Certainly some of it is legitimate and the article points out the few cases where there is a strong connection, but that makes up an absolute tiny minority of dentistry as a profession in terms of the money. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004346.pub4/full https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD...

y-c-o-m-b 3y ago
Your link doesn't disprove the need for cleaning, just that the studies examined were generally of poor quality. Anecdotally - I have issues with receding gums - and teeth cleaning (even though I hate it and only go once every 3 years or so) seems to be one way to quickly alleviate it for a while. For me there appears to be some benefit at least to going regularly if one does have dental problems.
- Kranar 3y ago
  Generally that's what studies do; you can't really disprove things like naturopathy or chiropractic care, all you can do is show that they do not have any evidence to support them. I can't speak to your particular medical condition, but I can say I know people who say the exact same thing about acupuncture; they absolutely swear that it helps treat their pain and they are sincere in their belief just as I am sure you are sincere about your belief. Thankfully science is not about sincerity in one's own beliefs.

by Kranar 3y ago

y-c-o-m-b 3y ago

Your link doesn't disprove the need for cleaning, just that the studies examined were generally of poor quality. Anecdotally - I have issues with receding gums - and teeth cleaning (even though I hate it and only go once every 3 years or so) seems to be one way to quickly alleviate it for a while. For me there appears to be some benefit at least to going regularly if one does have dental problems.

Kranar 3y ago
Generally that's what studies do; you can't really disprove things like naturopathy or chiropractic care, all you can do is show that they do not have any evidence to support them. I can't speak to your particular medical condition, but I can say I know people who say the exact same thing about acupuncture; they absolutely swear that it helps treat their pain and they are sincere in their belief just as I am sure you are sincere about your belief. Thankfully science is not about sincerity in one's own beliefs.