My experience is that there is a huge difference in skill set and knowledge between different dentists. If you suspect your dentist is causing problems, or if your cleaning sessions are painful, then switch.

You'd like to think they are all equally competent trained professionals, but that is not the case.

I'm sure the same is true of doctors too.

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tkdb 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is a lesson we should teach early and often:

Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, CEOs can be idiots and may not know what they are doing. I hope the last vestiges of unquestioned authority and decision making in medical settings will be gone for the next generation.

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forshaper 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The first three select for people who are especially good at school. However, a confounding factor is patients/clients themselves. When working under physicians, I noticed that patients often liked a physician I personally knew to be incompetent at diagnosis, because she was good at being likable. Another physician was fairly robotic in her interactions, but her diagnostic track record was great. As an insider I could compare their assumptions to test results, which let me check their records.

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PaulDavisThe1st 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Unquestioned authority can be an issue.

But it can be just as much of an issue to disregard any "authority" on the part of actual professionals. Your doctor isn't a genius, they aren't god, and they don't know as much about your body as you do. But .... they do know HUGELY more about medicine, disease, interventions, symptoms and so forth than you do (and almost certainly more than you will ever know).

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ergocoder an hour ago | parent | next [-]

It's like during the covid era where CDC and WHO recommended against wearing masks. Anyone dared questioning it was branded anti-sciene.

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tkdb 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Right. I think there are two cases here:

Legitimate idiots who somehow acquire professional titles/positions. Things like "Florida surgeon removes wrong organ."

Then you can have honest mistakes by otherwise good practitioners.

What I want from my doctors and dentists is a sort of consultative collaboration, but the systems (in the US) are optimizing for transactions.

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scun 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What is authority when it is not unquestioned?

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Fricken 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>and almost certainly more than you will ever know

That's something you should question. While Doctors know more than you about medicine in general, one usually does not have to do a lot of research to know more about their specific ailment than the family doctor does.

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PaulDavisThe1st an hour ago | parent [-]

I'll give a specific example. It's 2016. I've just eaten out at a restaurant near the ocean. Within an hour or two, most of my body has turned bright pink, like sunburn, and I soon develop terrible diarrhea to go with it, along with intense digestive system pain. Come morning, all symptoms have vanished and I feel fine.

It wasn't that hard to find out what caused this.

But about a year later, we had a couple of med students staying with us, and before I even got to the end of the symptoms, they asked me specifically if I had eaten one very particular kind of fish (which is actually illegal in many nations and even some US states). They didn't even bat an eyelid, and they were of course 100% correct.

Yes, I can "do my own research", but fitting that into an overall view of drug and physiology interactions is something quite different, as is simply knowing stuff that for other people is complete arcane knowledge.

	▲	HarHarVeryFunny 28 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		According to Gemini, those symptoms indicate Scombroid Fish Poisoning (also known as Histamine Fish Poisoning), which can occur with a variety of improperly refrigerated fish, including things like Tuna, Mahi Mahi, etc - none of which are banned. Wat was the correct answer that your med students guessed?

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hbosch 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>I'm sure the same is true of doctors too.

And police officers, teachers, race car drivers, and engineers too. There is an implicit assumption that most professionals all meet some unified bar of competency but that is far too often not the case. Like most anyone else, dentists and doctors are out to get as much money as they can for as little work as possible, and that is the system we currently endure.

When I find someone who gladly tells me I don't stuff to pay for, I keep their number. On the other hand, it's getting more and more difficult to find an AC repair guy who isn't trying to sell me a new unit every maintenance visit.

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psadauskas 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Half of all dentists graduated in the bottom half of their class.

	▲	Der_Einzige 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Most dental schools are fraudulent institutions.
	▲	caaqil 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Truism. Useful idea: one should consider the effect of range restriction when thinking through statistical artifacts applied across groups. This becomes more crucial as you apply it to more g-loaded professions and groups.

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hackyhacky 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> I'm sure the same is true of doctors too.

Dentists are doctors.

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greedo an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I had an implant done recently. I was amazed at how quickly the oral surgeon numbed me. Literally just a few minutes after a novocaine injection and I was ready to go. After the procedure, I asked him why that my past experiences with numbing performed by my dentists all took a long time and multiple, repeated shots to numb my mouth. He paused and said there's a huge difference in skills between a dentist and a doctor...

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elmer2 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes, we've made it so someone with a doctorate in literature should still be called a 'doctor'. However, in this context, it means medical doctor.

	▲	thereader12 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Physicians stole the Ph.D title not the other way around. Both physcians and dentists have profession based degrees.

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Shiggy_ 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's cringe when people deliberately choose to misunderstand Doctor vs MD.

Common vernacular is commonly wrong, we get it. Yes, you can be referred to as "Doctor" with a PhD in Physics, English, or History.

Guess what? If there was an emergency on a plane and the staff called out for a Doctor, and somebody with a PhD in structural engineering stood up, you'd be yelled at.

	▲	scun 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		They should be trained to call for "medical professionals" or something. Anyway in a pinch you can be fairly sure that any non-medical doctor is extremely (maybe narrowly) educated, whatever that's worth. A young MD might be less appropriate.

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longerthoughts 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Found the dentist /s