Philosophy
Patients have a right to all relevant information about procedures before giving consent. Have you ever found out later, after some treatment was done and paid for, that you actually had other choices that your dentist never mentioned? It is considered to be the ‘standard of care’ in dentistry to give options, but only the options most dentists give! There is no reason for dentists to tell you about anything other than what most dentists would offer as choices. (Except perhaps ethics, of course.) Dentists have economic pressures on them that sometime leads to you getting to hear mostly about options that have the best profit margin for that practice. Another tactic is to mention disfavored options in a negative manner, or frightening. In some cases, options are not given because they are procedures that are not enjoyed by that practitioner. As long as you sign an ‘informed consent’ it is assumed that you have heard all you need to hear, and have made a ‘free’ choice.
It is important to use your own judgement when seeking advice, even from professionals. There is plenty of ‘disinformation’ on the internet, but it is also a great place to go to get all points of view on questions about dental procedure and materials.
I post articles about the controversies in dentistry, and discussing all sorts of options available to you so you can look them up. I will also be elaborating on the present situation in healthcare, where there is conflict of interest inherent in the set-up, between providing a service and running a profitable business. This is true for most services, but particularly abhorrent when it occurs in the health care field.