I don't trust dentists. I've long suspected dentists of scaring patients into undergoing unnecessary procedures in order to generate more business. My suspicions were confirmed when I visited a dentist in 2001 for a basic checkup. After taking dental x-rays (another health hazard, as new research is showing), my dentist fed me a scare story about how I still had all my wisdom teeth, and that all those teeth needed to be surgically removed. I was absolutely stunned. My wisdom teeth were working just fine: no cavities, no pain, no problems. I had made an appointment for a routine checkup, not to undergo expensive surgery for my wisdom teeth. But my dentist insisted, relying on a variety of scare tactics to try to convince me to undergo this expensive -- and completely unnecessary -- procedure. His behavior was highly unethical. He was using his authority and position as "the dentist" to try to scare me into accepting a surgical procedure that I quite obviously didn't need. In fact, even he couldn't give me a good reason for justifying the surgery other than to say, "We usually remove the wisdom teeth quite early." Which means, of course, that they just order the surgery for every child or teenager who walks into the clinic, regardless of whether they actually need it.
Now, it turns out, the removal of wisdom teeth has been found to be an utterly worthless procedure to begin with. It "may do more harm than good" says the British Medical Journal, after reviewing literally thousands of case studies. So the typical dentist is really just hyping a useless procedure, and if your dentist is anything like the dentist I encountered, they're also using all sorts of highly unethical scare tactics to try to force people into undergoing the procedure. That's downright evil, and yet it's a common practice among dentists in the United States.
Folks, you need to start questioning your dentist. Don't believe everything they tell you. Most of the time, they're full of bunk, or they're just trying to sell you on whatever procedure they get paid for performing. They're not all evil -- many actually believe these procedures will help you, which is why they seem so sincere -- but they are misinformed. Their beliefs are based on medical dogma, not scientific fact. Their beliefs in these procedures are nothing more than a sort of medical pathology, where certain things are just considered "true" and never questioned even though the original basis for accepting them as truth has been proven entirely false.
In the vast majority of cases, you will be healthier and wiser by ignoring the advice of your doctor or dentist and seeking out a naturopathic doctor or other healer. In fact, it's very important to avoid allowing a doctor or dentist to even hit you with a scare story or other manipulation tactic, because most people will just go right along with their advice even when it makes no sense. People don't question medical authorities as much as they should. And dentists know it. They know that most patients will just go ahead and agree to practically anything they recommend. That makes a situation where fraud and exploitation of patients is frighteningly easy to accomplish. Any dentist that wants to generate more revenues for their office can simply start recommending an expensive surgical procedure as "standard practice" and claim, "we always take those teeth out." It might be complete hogwash, but most people -- absurdly -- will buy into it. Don't let that person be you. Keep your dentist honest. Better yet, seek out a "natural" dentist who won't use mercury fillings or highly toxic fluoride, and who will turn to surgery as a last resort rather than a "standard procedure." Don't be tricked into unnecessary (and medically dangerous) surgical procedures that can only cause you harm.
With this attitude, I'm happy to say that I now have eight more teeth than most other people -- those are eight wisdom teeth that many dentists try to remove from the mouths of everyone else. Yes, I feel wiser for keeping them. And no, they don't cause me any problems at all. Go figure.
By the way, I found another dentist who agreed to remove my mercury fillings, but only after calling me a fool for my "outrageous" belief that mercury was somehow dangerous. (Are these dentists for real?) That's what it takes to be a modern dentist: you have to be a complete idiot who has no concept of neurotoxicity, no ethics, and no hesitation twisting the arms of patients into undergoing dangerous procedures. I know this doesn't characterize all dentists, but it sure does describe the vast majority of them.