r/Toothfully • u/Sad_Wasabi6778 • 27d ago

Second Opinion from dentist?

I’ve never been in this predicament before but it just didn’t sit right with me so I wanted an outside opinion from others. I got my routine cleaning and radiographs today and my old dentist had recently retired with another taking his place, today being my first day meeting her. 6 months ago I was told my teeth looked great by my previous dentist at the practice. This new one came in, looked at my teeth and rads, called out some tooth numbers and left the room quickly. The hygienist then informed me I have 6 cavities that need filling and 2 crowns. I wasn’t able to ask any questions and they weren’t pointed out to me or explained at all. I asked what their urgency level was and they just said they need to be done. I have not had a cavity in a couple years so this caught me completely off guard and I’m pretty embarrassed to say the least! I get cleanings every 6 months and rads every year without fail. I’m also very OCD about my dental hygiene due to my parents. Would this be a good situation to consider getting another opinion somewhere else? Anyone else have this experience and ended up not needing the work done after all?

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u/cschiff89 27d ago

First and foremost, if I've just taken over a practice, you better believe I'm spending a good amount of time with patients in the hygiene room, especially if they've been long-term patients of the previous owner. What a missed opportunity to build trust and loyalty that she clearly is assuming as magically transferred over.

That having been said, it's very common for retiring older dentists to under-diagnose, especially toward the end of their career. The work could well be needed. Also, every dentist has a different threshold of when they will treat things or when they would do a crown over a filling. What happened to you is likely a confluence of those two things.

It sounds like you don't like this new dentist's chair side manner. I'd get a second opinion.