Did dentists in the past butcher teeth for financial reward?

When I was around 10 or 11, I had wayward incisors. One grew up towards my nose so far that there was a bit of a lump by a nostril. The one on the other side went AWOL as well. The bottom two grew inwards. I had what was call pioneering surgery, with bone from the front of both upper and lower jaw removed in order to take out four of my incisors. Far from being pioneering, no dentist I've had had ever seen anything like it, so it appears to have been experimental. And a failure.

I've been learning 3D software, Blender, and I was using my face as a model. I set up a couple of mirrors and discovered that in profile, my top lip went backwards and my bottom lip was the same but less so. This is 65 years or so since the procedure. No one has ever said anything. My wife said she noticed but never had the opportunity to bring it up. In 52 years? I mean, I have spoken to her on occasion.

I've had two other teeth removed, both for abscesses. Other than that, full set (minus 4 of course).

Interesting question to the Dentists: Amalgam filling have a significant mercury component. I know mercury is not very good for you. I recall seeing an Xray many years ago of a sheep that had been given amalgam fillings where the mercury was a radio tracer and the signal was spread throughout the body. Any further evidence that mercury amalgam fillings present a ton issue?

And in answer to the OP, Absolutely definitely. I recall as a child in the 70s being sent to the dentists across the road from my Dad;s office, One day I came home with one side of my face completely done, the next weekend it was the other side. Before that no issues. Ive always been mad about it. Apparently we couldn't make a fuss because he was one of Dads clients!

The amount of kids (and adults) I see who swear blind their teeth are fine while actually they have loads of caries that just can't be seen by looking in a bathroom mirror is... a heck of a lot.

I wouldn't trust any 12yr old to diagnose dental decay, much less rely on a memory from 40/50yrs ago lol.

If you ate a lot of sweets then the chances are decent that you did actually have multiple cavities that would need restoration each time you went in. It's not actually the amount of sweets you eat that dictates decay but more the frequency - people who nibble and graze through the day invariably have aa multitude more issues.

Lastly the entire point of check ups is to pick up problems before you know about them, hence why a good practitioner's patients will largely have fillings done "even though I wasn't having any problems".

The alternative is to only visit a dentist once you already have pain, that's fine but be aware at that point it's 50/50 whether the tooth is still restorable via a regular filling and a large amount of the time it will now need a root canal or extraction because by definition pain means the cavity is so deep that the nerve is involved. Up to you at the end of the day.

So they weren't around in the 70s and 80s then?!

Another year on, the supposedly worn filling that was not replaced is not giving me any obvious problems.

The cheesy, cosmetic treatments enthusiast dentist no longer works at the practice either.

I will be having a checkup soon.

As above, it's not the amount of sugar in food, it's the frequency.

We see lots of decay in people who have 'low sugar' diets simply because they spread out their food. Similarly see a lot of decay in people who avoid refined sugar entirely but do eat a lot of fruit spread out for example.

No doubt there was a lot of unnecessary dentistry done in the 70s but relying on your 43yr old childhood memories to diagnose isn't really realistic, again, the aim of dentistry is to diagnose and restore decay ideally before you're even aware there is a problem.

At one end of the scale you have people complaining fillings are done when 'they didn't have any problems!' and at the other you have people complaining that the dentist 'only wants to take their teeth out!' (because they don't attend check ups).

Both my sons, in early 30's no fillings, sister's husband went to a different dentist, 65 years old now, no fillings and discussions revealed diet was roughly the same.

45

Had a couple of very minor fillings (white) in the late 90's by a previous dentist that later went awol from the practice.

Mentioned this to my dentist on my last check up and she looked perplexed.

I argued they were done, and she checked my records. Nothing, and on closer observation I could see nothing (I don't generally make a habit of checking inside my mouth to see whether fillings are still present, so hadn't clocked it)

When I asked why my records didn't show the fillings she just shrugged her shoulders and said it was a long time ago, and she wasn't there at the time, and didn't know the previous dentist (the practice itself has changed hands since too, which muddies the water even more)

I've since made a promise that if I ever see the chap who did it, I'll extract two of his teeth in return. No preference which ones, just the first two that drop out will suffice. Reality is he'd be in his 70's now and I wouldn't recognise him, so the best I can hope for is he's either dead, or alive but suffering with some crippling incurable condition involving his genitals. .

Nothing compared to some of the stories on here, genuinely feel sorry for those that have suffered and continue to do so. For the record, my 2 kids have no issues whatsoever, and they eat far more sweets than I ever did. However, they've both had the benefit of sealants that are used nowadays, and we supervise their brushing and make them use disclosing tablets every so often to show them any areas they're missing. As others have said, it appears to be less about volume of sweets/fizzy drinks and more about frequency.

I hope your blindness over what I wrote 'no doubt there was a lot of unnecessary dentistry done in the 70s..' doesn't apply to what you stick in your mouth lol.

You know what you ate but as above you may not fully appreciate the science behind it, and in the 70s nor did dentistry. It's frequency of intake over the amount of sugar. So what you ate isn't nearly as important as how often you ate.

But so many factors involved, yes your dentist could well have been on the make but equally, you got older, your eating patterns changed, you got a job so no time to snack between meals, you moved to a flouridated area, you started flossing etc etc.

And I'll stand by the fact that not withstanding your dentist might have been a fraud - a 10yr old can't diagnose if they actually needed treatment, let alone now relying on 50yr old memories.

It's kinda like the amount of people who swear blind that their dentist had one knee on their chest to pull their tooth out, I've never done it, never seen it done, never spoke to anyone who's done it, never figured out how it's physically possible unless your 7ft9...

Holy moly I didn't even seen the post above mine
Kids teeth come out with a flick of the wrist, why would anyone need a knee on a chest? Was he made of tissue paper?