In 2013 a dentist coined the term “Creative Daignosis” to describe a growing trend in dentistry. This is a direction that ethical and honest dentists find disturbing. Dr.Camm described patients coming to his practice for a second opinion after being diagnosed with needing as many as 10 fillings. Dr. Camm repeatedly found that there was little or no treatment needed. Dr. Camm is a Pedodontic dentist. His patients are all innocent young children.

Here in my practice I have seen a similar disturbing trend. Lured in by advertisements for $59 cleaning exam and x-rays, the patient is immediately told that they can’t participate in the special because they have gum disease consisting of many 4-5 mm pockets throughout their mouth. Instead of the $59  special they will need gum therapy for $1200 and another $3-4,000 worth of work to repair small crack lines or old fillings.

These patients sought a dentist for a second opinion and were able to see precisely what was going on in their mouth via the live video feed from our microscope. We were then able to realize that they were not suffering from the problems suggested in the “Creative Diagnosis”.

Lesson # 1. It is very expensive to provide high quality Dental care. If you seek out inexpensive dental offers be fully aware that you will have a price to pay in terms of poor quality work, poor quality materials, poorly trained staff, “Creative Diagnosis” and over treatment. Therefore, you need to make sure that you find a reputable dentist or orthodontist for any dental treatment or procedure such as wisdom teeth extraction you need.

Live Microscope View from Hughes’Views on Vimeo.