ONE conspiracy theory that roams the internet is that mainstream medicine and dentistry is somehow trying to deceive patients and make them unhealthier. Reasons for this being put forward are that health care professionals are out for monetary gain or that scientific believers are not seeing the “real truth.”
This type of thinking is leading to some concerning ideas being put out on the internet. DIY treatments such as making your own toothpaste, pulling your teeth out and even doing your own fillings are being suggested on sites such as YouTube.
Having practised dentistry for 20 years and been to more hours of postgraduate lectures than I care to count up, I can let you into a secret… the dentists are actually sitting around discussing how to provide the most predictable dentistry, as expediently as possible for the patient, carried out in a tooth and body healthy fashion with the best scientific research underpinning their thinking that is available at that time.
Dentists want their patients to be healthier. They actually really like seeing teeth treated in as minimal a way as possible, stable mouths and happy smiling patients.
To imagine that after watching a YouTube video for a few minutes makes someone able to perform their own dentistry is completely unrealistic and potentially damaging. These tutorials are getting hundreds of thousands of hits. The videos showing how to do your own filings are suggesting that you will save a lot time and money by doing your fillings as the products are relatively cheap.
Some videos are even suggesting people file away the decay or put acids on their teeth before using bonding agents to stick on some “whatever” filling material. This is extremely worrying as potential for damage to the teeth, gums, bone or jaw joints is on the cards.
Some of the people doing the videos are acting like it's kind of brave doing your own dentistry; as if they are gutsy for doing it. They say that they understand the consequences of their actions. I suspect that if their teeth were to end up damaged that the reality would be different – I have yet to meet anyone who is happy with having damaged teeth or a health complication.
So, however appealing or persuasive these videos or written testimonials sound, please discuss your ideas with your dentist before embarking on potentially irreversible DoItYourself procedures.
