Dental work. Something that has plagued me for several, if not a majority of, years of my life. I’m not particularly scared or apprehensive of going to the dentist, but it seems like the past few visits have been nothing but terrible news about my teeth are going to rot and fall out within the next year or so. Or…something like that!
Had to get another filling today stemming from my first visit with a military dentist. They took x-rays on my first visit back right after I came on active duty, and unfortunately found two cavities among other “high-risk” areas that are called caries. Since then, I’ve had to return infrequently due to my training schedule that took me to Colorado to get fillings and flouride applications. I guess it’s easiest to just explain military dentistry as a double-edged blade. On one hand, they will drill absolutely anything that resembles a cavity. On the other hand, they will also give you all of the treatments and anti-cavity items without a second thought about it, for free. So naturally, if something is free, I’m definitely going to be taking advantage of it!
These two cavities that I had to get filled, one in October and one today, in January, had apparently been in my mouth for quite a while. I had previous x-rays from my old civilian dentist back in Virginia, and I always got told my teeth were pretty dang good from him (though I did get drilled once from him). I guess civilian dentists just find it better to skip over the smaller cavities if they don’t get bigger because it actually costs a pretty penny to get them filled. Somewhere between $150 and $300 dependant on how deep it is and where it is on a tooth (easy top access, or in between two teeth).
So in conclusion, I guess it’s best to have a military dentist, even if they enjoy practicing on you for every little deficiency in one’s mouth, but don’t expect the cuddly words about how good you’re [not] brushing from dentists who are on your payroll!
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- Are Dentists overtreating your teeth? (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
