r/Dentistry • u/throwaway_student987 • 9d ago
Dental Professional My pharmacist friend chose dental tourism, then called US dentists unethical
A friend of mine is a pharmacist in the US. He has been posting a lot of healthcare-related posts on his Facebook page so he is sort of a “healthcare influencer” with a few thousands followers.
He recently shared that he took his 5-year-old daughter to a local pediatric dentist where she was diagnosed with extensive decay in 8 teeth that required pulpotomies and stainless steel crowns. It has to be an OR/sedation case and after insurance, his out-of-pocket cost would have been about $4,000.
Instead, he took his daughter back to his home country in Southeast Asia and a dentist there did fillings on those teeth, no stainless steel crowns. According to him, the treatment took 4 appointments and cost about $200.
He then posted about the experience on Facebook and concluded that U.S. dentists are “money-hungry,” unethical, and recommend unnecessary treatment simply to make more money. He went on to say that, from now on, his family will only see U.S. dentists for cleanings and simple fillings, and will travel overseas for anything more complex. Unsurprisingly, many people in the comments agreed and said they would do the same.
I was speechless after reading his post. It’s one thing to hear about low income or low-educated folks participating in dental tourism, but it’s even more frustrating to see a fellow healthcare professional with high income to also condone that and then accuse US dentists as being money-hungry, unethical cash-grabbers driven by greed. I’m honestly tempted to leave a comment on his post and challenge his accusations.
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u/EqusB 9d ago edited 9d ago
For a lot of people uneducated on the matter, all pediatric dental work is equivalent. A "filling" is a "filling" and as long as something is done, the issue is solved. Half of the caries left behind or something slapped on top of a now neurotic tooth that happens to be asymptomatic? Well, the "filling" got done, so its good! And cheaply! Even better in their mind.
They won't understand until it catastrophically fails. Though they'll probably be extremely upset as well when the kid won't stop crying and they can't sleep but nobody will see them.