The American Dental Association and industry is a predatory scam and I am sick of it.
As Americans, we are outspoken about everything—except how we roll over like sheep for the dental industry. In a social media-driven world, your teeth are your literal livelihood. Yet, dental insurance covers less and less every year.
I’m 60. What dental insurance covered 40 years ago would look like a luxury today—and we thought it was terrible then. It’s classic boiling-frog syndrome; they strip away benefits a little at a time so we don't rebel.
Ten years ago, my (ex) husband and I were forced to sell our beloved home in Los Angeles that took us a lifetime to afford. Who bought it? A guy who had just graduated from dental school. He walked right into a 4-bedroom with a swimming pool, jacuzzi, workout room, steam shower, jacuzzi bathtub with built-in TV, walking closets, fresh out of school. Talk about insult to injury.
Back in 2012, PBS Frontline did a rare two-part documentary called "Dollars and Dentists." They sent an investigative journalist undercover into an American Dental Association (ADA) convention, catching dentists literally joking about how much they shake down their patients. It’s disgusting. Yet, John Oliver will cover Dollar Stores but won't touch the dental monopoly.
People are dying in this country from dental disorders. Mouth infections trigger strokes and heart attacks, but it’s never listed on the death certificate because the dental lobby has completely severed oral health from general medicine. When I tried to get disability aid for my severe mouth issues, the insurance company told me, "We don't consider that a medical condition." How is the mouth not part of the human body?!
Whenever patients object to prices, dentists cry a river about their student loans. If they actually cared about patients, they’d use their massive lobby to fight the insurance companies for us. But they don't. They just get greedier and blame us for not brushing correctly.
As I write this, I have had a fever for four days from chronic gum disease. My caregiver scheduled appointments with three different dentists using my insurance company's own search tool. In the short span between making the appointments and the day before them, all three stopped taking my insurance.
Most people don’t just fear the dentist's chair; they fear the predatory behavior of the industry. We need to rise up and push back against this racket before it literally kills us.
TL;DR: Dental health is treated like a luxury cosmetic issue instead of vital healthcare. Dentists get rich, insurance covers nothing, and patients are left to suffer and die from preventable infections.