Do Dental Services Make Us Sick?

Do you trust your doctor? How about your dentist? If you trust one and not the other, why? If you're open to it, I want to start you down the dentistry-is-bad rabbit hole.

Do you ever feel like certain things pop up in your life for a reason? Like something that might’ve seemed like a one-off occurrence or outlier takes on more meaning later on?

I’ll give you an example: I recently had a negative experience at the dentist’s office. I’m not really one to let things go. So I’ve been thinking about it a lot ever since.

But then I was bored and scrolling through Tubi a few weeks later when I encountered this documentary called Root Cause. A week after that, I started listening to episode #134 of Doc Malik’s podcast, featuring Marina Carew.

The theme of harmful and exploitative dentistry keeps appearing before me lately, and I think it’s for a reason.

My Initial Awakening

I used to love going to the dentist. Unlike my doctor’s appointments where they’d see me for a whole two minutes, ignore most of what I said, and almost always push a prescription into my hands at the end of the visit, dentists seemed to like me. They’d tell me I had great teeth and to keep on doing what I was doing.

There was one small hiccup. I was 25 years old and had dental insurance for the first time in my adult life. I went to one of those chain dental practices for a cleaning. At the end of the appointment, the dentist somberly told me that my teeth were full of cavities and insisted I get at least three of the worst ones filled that day.

That wasn’t the only stupid, fear-driven medical decision I made during that time in my life. And just like the LEEP and subsequent Gardasil vaccination, I deeply regretted getting those fillings.

A year later, I learned at a new dental office that I never had cavities to begin with (it had something to do with the shape of the fillings and teeth under them). Not only that, but the fillings had been improperly done and were loose. So I had to have them redone.

It wasn’t until 2020 that I started getting bad reports from my biannual dentist appointments.

In January 2020, my new dentist told me that I had severe gingivitis and would require a deep cleaning every three months for the foreseeable future. Of course, the procedure wasn’t covered by insurance, but it was mandatory in order to receive normal dental cleanings and treatment.

There were a number of reasons why I didn’t follow through with the treatment plan.

First, the dentist told me I had a hole in my jaw and teased me for five minutes about the fight I’d been in and how I must’ve lost if I was that ashamed to talk about the hole in my face. (There was no hole, for the record. They just did a shitty job with the x-rays.)

Then, he wanted to know why I had braces cement all over the front of my teeth. I explained that it’s been there since the orthodontist removed my braces when I was in junior high. He didn’t believe me and pestered me to tell him the truth about when I had braces and who did the hack job removing them.

Lastly, I went home and looked up the deep cleaning. A lot of what I saw suggested that deep cleanings actually mess with the health of your mouth. Since you’re pulling back the gums, you’re opening them up to even more germs and plaque. So you really do have to get a deep cleaning every three months for the rest of your life once you start down that path.

I went to a new dentist in 2021 and made the mistake of recounting the deep cleaning advice from the previous dentist. They said the full mouth cleaning wasn’t necessary, but my bottom teeth needed it. I, again, declined.

The following year I went to another dentist and didn’t say a word about the deep cleanings. And guess what? They made no mention of gingivitis and proceeded with the regular cleaning.

Last year, I had another hassle-free cleaning. Mostly. The dentist came in to check on me and took a look around my mouth. She began to pitch me on whitening and aligners. I said thanks, but no thanks. Then she said:

“But don’t you want a better smile?”

To that, I said “Nope”. She scoffed and then stormed off.

Fast forward to last month when I’m at my 2024 dental appointment. My insurance wasn’t taken by the office I went to last year, so I figured good riddance. I don’t need to be shamed for having a flawed smile anyway.

This new place seemed nice. The staff were super friendly and helpful. And the x-rays (though I always insist on not wanting or needing them) went quickly.

The dentist then comes in and tells me my gums are a mess, I have full-blown gingivitis, and that I need a deep cleaning every three months for the rest of my life. He tells me to go to the front and make an appointment for a cleaning. I assumed he meant the regular cleaning for which I’d originally made the appointment.

Nope. The receptionist tells me with a cheery face that I need to make an appointment for a deep cleaning and then a separate one for the regular cleaning. The cost of the deep cleaning is $600 and I’ll need to pay that every three to six months in perpetuity because insurance won’t cover it.

It’s like I’d come full circle in this dentistry hell.

It’s Time We Started Asking Questions About Dentistry

I haven’t seen a regular doctor in years. I knew before COVID there was something really wrong with the medical practice. But it did take a while for me to get rid of that gut instinct to make a doctor’s appointment the second something seemed off. It was just habit.

I’ve finally reached that point with dentists. Truthfully, it should’ve happened a long time ago. But it was just one of those things I was conditioned to do since I was a kid — twice a year, make an appointment for a cleaning. No questions asked.

But now I’m asking questions.

For starters, why is there so much inconsistency in dentists’ findings? Why can I go from one dentist to the next — not changing a thing in my dental hygiene or routine — and receive completely different treatment plans?

Secondly, why is it that, in recent years, dentists all seem to want to recommend procedures and add-ons that insurance doesn’t cover (or not fully)? Like:

• Deep cleanings

• Whitening

• Aligners

• Mouth guards

Are they really that hard up for money that they can no longer be profitable from basic dental services and procedures?

Thirdly, why do we have all this extra shit done to us now? For instance, I don’t ever remember having x-rays until maybe the last 10 years or so. Or the fluoride rinses at the end of appointments. Or the light they flash in your mouth, claiming it can detect oral cancer.

Is it all a scam? And if all these extras are a scam, then is modern day dentistry a scam in general?

After watching Root Cause and listening to that Doc Malik episode, I feel almost certain that the answer to those questions is:

YES.

I’d strongly recommend watching the documentary and listening to that episode yourself. Many of the things revealed in them are shocking.

For example, root canals cause a shit ton of harm to the human body. And, according to Carew, a lot of other dental procedures like amalgam fillings and extractions wreak havoc.

Whether or not you believe in the concept of meridians in the body, it sounds like there’s merit to these arguments. For instance, when you allow bacteria to thrive in a dead tooth, it’s of course going to make you sick. Perhaps not in the most obvious of ways (like a painful tooth), but in other ways. Our bodies are really smart machines and are always sending us signals when there’s something wrong. Why would it be any different with this?

I also think the fact that Netflix was forced to pull Root Cause off of the streaming platform is very telling. Articles from sources all over the web refer to it as pseudoscience and misinformation. You find the same type of lockstep when searching for the following:

“Do root canals cause cancer?”

Final Thoughts

Who knows how valid these claims are. But if dentistry is any bit as corrupt and profit-driven as the medical industry is, then the claims likely hold a ton of weight. I’ll let you decide if you want to go down that rabbit hole yourself.

As for me, I will not be seeing a dentist again. Save for any serious emergencies, I see no point in seeing a dentist who’s going to tell me my teeth are perfect (and, if that’s the case, what’s the point in going?). Or who’s going to try and sell me on expensive services or appliances I don’t need and hold my regular cleanings hostage until I do.