Gary, great job on this story. After doing a lot of research on dental X-rays when I wrote my book on Screening, I found that there were a small but detectable increase in head and neck cancers which correlated with frequent x-raying of the jaw. Since then I have always resisted the pressure to keep getting additional x-rays, especially if I knew the dentists were on a fishing expedition and I had decent dental coverage, so it was clearly a revenue source for them. What happened the last time I went in for a routine cleaning the dental hygienist, anticipating I was again going to refuse the offer of X-rays, asked me to sign a waiver, essentially saying that if I refused the X-rays they wanted a record of that refusal, so down the road if I had any problems, they will have covered their asses. Hmmm. It was a bit disturbing. I thought of that for a bit and wondered maybe I should develop my own waiver and ask her to sign it. It would say, in the event I develop throat or neck cancer, they would be liable for their contribution to the development of that cancer by repeatedly x-raying me and not forewarning me of the small but significant increases in cancers related to the X-rays. I didn't bring such a form, but the coercive nature of the interaction left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
All I’m trying to do is to raise the quality of the public dialogue - which is so often impacted by journalism and other media messages - about health care decision-making. We’re often blind to how the sausage is made…how things that are unproven suddenly become the runaway norm. “Hey, I got my 3-month dental checkup today and they did another panoramic scan of my teeth.” Or, “Wow, they say my gums are in such bad shape that I need to keep coming in every 3-4 months.” Or, “I wonder how much that apron-shield that they use over me when I get x-rays is really doing to protect me…” It seems that the field is wide open for disease-mongering - turning healthy people into people now diagnosed with a condition/worry/reason/additional out-of-pocket costs for followup. And dental insurance - if you’re fortunate enough to have it in the US - may cover only a fraction of the overall costs. We need to give people the tools to become smarter dental care consumers. And those tools are lacking at this time.
Gary, great job on this story. After doing a lot of research on dental X-rays when I wrote my book on Screening, I found that there were a small but detectable increase in head and neck cancers which correlated with frequent x-raying of the jaw. Since then I have always resisted the pressure to keep getting additional x-rays, especially if I knew the dentists were on a fishing expedition and I had decent dental coverage, so it was clearly a revenue source for them. What happened the last time I went in for a routine cleaning the dental hygienist, anticipating I was again going to refuse the offer of X-rays, asked me to sign a waiver, essentially saying that if I refused the X-rays they wanted a record of that refusal, so down the road if I had any problems, they will have covered their asses. Hmmm. It was a bit disturbing. I thought of that for a bit and wondered maybe I should develop my own waiver and ask her to sign it. It would say, in the event I develop throat or neck cancer, they would be liable for their contribution to the development of that cancer by repeatedly x-raying me and not forewarning me of the small but significant increases in cancers related to the X-rays. I didn't bring such a form, but the coercive nature of the interaction left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
Also a lot of people don’t realize that some hygienists work on a commission schedule so that increases the pressure on the patient to get services they may not really want or need . https://azmirror.com/2018/11/26/white-gold-sales-tactics-changing-the-dental-industry/
All I’m trying to do is to raise the quality of the public dialogue - which is so often impacted by journalism and other media messages - about health care decision-making. We’re often blind to how the sausage is made…how things that are unproven suddenly become the runaway norm. “Hey, I got my 3-month dental checkup today and they did another panoramic scan of my teeth.” Or, “Wow, they say my gums are in such bad shape that I need to keep coming in every 3-4 months.” Or, “I wonder how much that apron-shield that they use over me when I get x-rays is really doing to protect me…” It seems that the field is wide open for disease-mongering - turning healthy people into people now diagnosed with a condition/worry/reason/additional out-of-pocket costs for followup. And dental insurance - if you’re fortunate enough to have it in the US - may cover only a fraction of the overall costs. We need to give people the tools to become smarter dental care consumers. And those tools are lacking at this time.
I'm delighted to have you writing again, Gary. You were missed.
Thanks, Brad. The fires are burning again.