Why do doctors n dentists wear face masks?
155422
To protect us from their germs and bad breath, and to protect themselves from ours.
437773
Veneers are a thin piece of porcelain that cover the front of your tooth.  They are bonded to the front of your tooth after the dentist preps the tooth first.  Prepping the tooth is when the doc will take a very small amount of tooth structure off of the front of the tooth to make it easier to bond.  The easiest analogy is they are like fake fingernails, the fake fingernail is very thin, it is placed over the top of your existing fingernail, and then is glued into place.  Veneers are a good alternative to people that have small spaces that they want to close without going through braces. Cost depends on where you live.  At my office we charge $1200.00 per tooth.  Costly, but to many recipients well worth it.
1162271
There are some dentists nowadays that put their patients under anesthesia even for regular check ups and cleanings. You should look into it in your area, they work especially for people like yourself.
764525
Divers use saliva to defog their masks because of it's inherent viscosity and convenience.\n\nSaliva is not a good lense cleaning solution per se. An alcohol based solution cuts through grime much better.\n\nHowever, In the water saliva prevents fogging by existing as an aqueous film on the inside of the glass.\n\nThere are mechanical devices which can do the same thing -- but saliva is typically there when other things aren't.
1073420
yes...doctors of dental science (DDS)\n\nsure they are respected, generally pretty highly\n\nand many of them make a pretty good living\n\neven if they had the knowledge to treat other than oral diseases, they would be professionally and legally limited to the treatment of diseases or conditions affecting the oral cavity (mouth)\n\ndentists would not be licensed  to treat systemic diseases or conditions affecting the rest of the body\n\nthen there are the specialist dentists that specialize in treating various oral conditions
639880
My dentist make my upper and lower teeth fit better by grinding off a little of the enamel on the edges of a few teeth. I saw a lot of improvement immediately.\nNot every dentist has had the special training necessary to do this procedure.
547483
Go and buy boxes of medical grade face masks.  This is about the only good idea I know of.  I will if it gets too serious, but right now the media is hyping it a little too much.
614419
I'm a dentist.\n\nNo, we are not con men.  You are just a very untrusting patient and a cheapskate who doesn't want to pay for necessary work.  Gold fillings, caps, and "all sorts of stuff" exist because people need them.\n\nThe problem with many patients we see is that they seem to think that they are perfectly capable of diagnosing their dental needs, and that when we dentists make a diagnosis different than their own we are trying to "upsell".\n\nWe, as dentists, put up with patient ignorance and stupidity more than any other type of doctor.  We spend more time with you than your primary care physician does.  We listen to your useless, meaningless descriptions of "how much my tooth has been hurting" more than any other kind of doctor, and you patients put the kinds of unrealistic expectations on us that you wouldn't dare put on your physician.\n\nYou really don't understand what it is we do.  We take your diseased mouth and fix it so that you can eat normally instead of gumming your food, or worse, dying.  That little cavity we diagnosed and treated would have progressed into an abscess that could kill you.  Trust me, I've seen many patients admitted into hospitals for infections so extensive that they had to be intubated in order to protect the airway.  And when a tooth is sensitive after we place a filling in it, you blame us as if we damaged a pefectly healthy tooth.\n\nThere are thousands of fillings out there, placed by me, that are chomping down on food in thousands of peoples' mouths.  Few if any of these patients give a second thought about the fact that they've got dental work in there.  But if it wasn't there, they'd certainly miss it.  What we do is truly amazing, yet unappreciated.\n\nOur job is exceedingly difficult.  It's why dentists are more prone to suicide.  A recent study showed that 68% of dentists wish they were in another profession.  We stick with it out of a sense of obligation to our patients.  Despite the fact that you drive us nuts and often treat us like sh*t, we are concerned for your health.\n\nMake no mistake about it, though, we record our treatment recommendations as well as the fact you ignored them.
523317
Almost no dental insurance covers cosmetic dentistry. It is viewed as "elective" and not necessary for your health. There are some exceptions:\n\nIf you have an orthodontic benefit, it will pay some towards braces. If not, you're out-of-pocket.\n\nIf a tooth in front has decay or is compromised, your dental insurance may pay to get it replaced with porcelain.\n\n\nOther than that, cosmetic procedures are your responsibility. Insurance is meant to pay for health concerns, not vanity. If you want a beautiful smile, you should have it. Get a job, work hard, and pay for it like everybody else.
881798
I used to work in ER registration and was exposed to everything.  My only answer was maybe we built up an immunity to some diseases, or we just were to work conscious to get sick.  The doctors do get sick, but they also have quicker access to treatment than the average person does.  And they also have   samples of the latest, most effective  meds given out by medical sales people.
373160
It is most likely because of the sick people, germs in the air, and various medicines or chemicals they have there. Have you ever had any of those medicines that smell horrible when you're about to swallow them? thats the most probable reason i can think of. Doctors' offices have many different chemicals in them for major or minor surgeries and just taking care of people
919494
Not very often - for sure. Dentists and all other medical professionals are licensed, and carefully monitored ... they are not going to risk their careers for a couple of extra bucks from you.
888283
This is one of those dodgy things that "everybody knows." And not just the uninformed public, either--dentists themselves believe it. Since the 1960s dental journals have been carrying articles with headlines like "The Suicidal Professions." Dozens of studies have looked at suicide not only among dentists but among health-care workers in general. With few exceptions, research over the past 40 years has found that dentists (and doctors) take their own lives at a higher-than-average rate. But how much higher? To hear some tell it, you'd better not leave these guys in a room alone.\n\nDentists' odds of suicide "are 6.64 times greater than the rest of the working age population," writes researcher Steven Stack. "Dentists suffer from relatively low status within the medical profession and have strained relationships with their clients--few people enjoy going to the dentist." One study of Oregon dentists found that they had the highest suicide rate of any group investigated. A California study found that dentists were surpassed only by chemists and pharmacists. Of 22 occupations examined in Washington state, dentists had a suicide rate second only to that of sheepherders and wool workers.\n\nBut the sheer diversity of results has to make you suspicious. I mean, which is it--dentists, chemists and pharmacists, or sheepherders and wool workers? (What, the bleating gets to them?) And what about psychiatrists? One school of popular belief holds that they have the highest suicide rate.\n\nRead the studies and you begin to see the problem. Suicide research is inherently a little flaky, in part because suicides are often concealed. Equally important from a statistical standpoint is the problem of small numbers: dentists represent only a small fraction of the total population, only a small fraction of them die in a given year, and only a small fraction of those that die are suicides. So you've got people drawing grand conclusions based on tiny samples. For example, I see where the Swedes think their male dentists have an elevated suicide rate. Number of male-dentist suicides on which this finding is based: 18.\n\nBut you aren't reading this column to hear me whine about the crummy data. You want the facts. Coming right up. All we need to do, for any occupation of interest, is (a) find a large, reasonably accurate source of mortality statistics, (b) compute suicides as a percentage of total deaths for said group, and (c) compare that percentage with some benchmark, like so:\n\nPERCENTAGE OF DEATHS DUE TO SUICIDE\nU.S. white male population 25 and older (1970): 1.5\nU.S. white male dentists (1968-72): 2.0 (85 of 4,190)\nU.S. white male medical doctors (1967-72): 3.0 (544 of 17,979)\nU.S. white male population 25 and older (1990): 2.0\nU.S. white male medical doctors (1984-95): 2.7 (379 of 13,790)
705311
Probably happens when you shower. The germs are getting into you mouth and causing cavities. I would avoid all showering and washing above the neck if I were you. And try to avoid the dentist at all cost, it is a well known conspiracy that they are injecting you with cavitie forming micros's so they can collect more of your money.
1029712
Dont take this wrong, but coming from a dental assistant, dentists get hit up all the time to take on charity cases.  The money that they make doesn't all go in their pockets.  They also have salaries to pay to their staff, so they can not take on every request for free dental services that they recieve.  My dentist does take on alot of cases like this or accident victims, but after awhile he has to finally say no, because there are alot of people asking the same thing as you. Best advice I can give is to have a family member or friend write a letter telling about your disease and give any examples of the great unselfish things you do and send it to all the dentists in the area.  My dentist would be more apt to accept a case like this if a family member wrote the letter and not the person wanting the dental work.
978696
maybe the question you should ask is "why do I have to wear so many masks in order to be noticed"  "Why do I need to be adored"  "Whats wrong with me"
694719
i highly suggest you mention it to the referring dentist and i would also let the director of the oral surgeons office know as well, but know that all offices have their off days:) a good reason for having all the doors open is for their safety! i know you have heard of surgeons groping their patients when they are sedated?! well that's why the doors are open and also if their is a problem the nurses can hear and see.\nnot to mention they should have sent you information ahead of time explain your options and given you a post op instructions explain gauze, ricing exc.