Dentists - Self-Interested Thieves?

So some kid died after complications from wisdom teeth removal.

More accurately I should say that he died from complications from anesthesia.

Whatever.

Reading that article I came across:

Like any surgery, wisdom tooth extraction carries risks. The most common complication -- permanent nerve damage causing numbness of the tongue, lips or cheeks -- affects more than 11,000 people annually, according to a 2007 report in the American Journal of Public Health. But the surgery has also been linked to jaw and tooth fractures, brain tissue infections, life-threatening bleeding and hypoxia.


With all the risks, some dentists question whether the extraction surgeries are even necessary.
The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons strongly recommends that young adults have their wisdom teeth removed to "prevent future problems and to ensure optimal healing." But the science supporting prophylactic extraction is thin.


"Third-molar surgery is a multibillion-dollar industry that generates significant income for the dental profession," Jay Friedman, a retired California dentist, wrote in the American Journal of Public Health. "It is driven by misinformation and myths that have been exposed before but that continue to be promulgated by the profession."


American dentists and oral surgeons pull 10 million wisdom teeth each year -- an effort that costs more than $3 billion and leads to 11 million days of post-operative discomfort, according to the report.


"At least two thirds of these extractions, associated costs, and injuries are unnecessary, constituting a silent epidemic of [physician-induced] injury that afflicts tens of thousands of people with lifelong discomfort and disability," Friedman wrote.

Shocker!

Obviously, dentists and the oral surgeons they are in cahoots with WILL NEVER, EVER admit that wisdom teeth extraction is or even might be dubious.

They just make too much darn money!

Be cynical of EVERY PROFESSION - especially the *guilds* and the ones that are paid by third parties (e.g. government, banks, insurance companies).

CHECK. CHECK...for dentists.

But No Bite-Marks On My Tongue!

So the dentist last week told me that I was grinding my teeth at night.

Actually, they asked if I *was grinding my teeth*?

How the bleep would I know? I've never heard myself snore either!

But on one spot they showed me how my teeth were *level*. And on the inside of one there was faint yellow.

The yellow is from, I learned, not from plaque but rather from scraping off the enamel. Yellow is the inside color that manifests itself in the mouths of 'old coots' not because they don't brush, but because their enamel is gone - so I was informed.

So what does this mean?

It means that I was advised to wear a $325 mouth-guard at night.

Are you freakin' kidding me? For how long?

FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I bought it - although only because we had $800 in our *flex-spending* medical account that we HAD TO SPEND before the year's end - or we'd lose it.

But I'm not looking forward to wearing a mouth-guard for the rest of my life. I don't care what anyone says, those things promote halitosis.

I was just Googling and learned that teeth grinding is actually called bruxism - from the Greek for *gnashing of teeth*.

And I was just Googling for *natural remedies*. Y'all know me by now, I'm a DIY'er to the n^th: cutting my own hair, teaching my own kids, trading my own money, a self-taught golf swing, etc. There isn't a dentist in the land that's going to tell me to do *jaw exercises* to stop night-time grinding. No, just like those orthopedic quacks with the outrageously expensive inserts they peddle, dentists would much rather ring the cash register for $300+ bucks for every grinder that walks in.

I don't dispute the fact that I grind - not after seeing the up-close images of my teeth, and not after hearing that the main cause was psychological, anxiety! Yeah, I've got plenty of that. My dreams are crazy these days. My normal dreams would probably qualify as the average person's worst nightmare. Seriously.

Anyways, all I've come up with for bio-organic solutions to my grinding so far is....*relaxation therapy*.

But I do sense there is some type of jaw yoga out there that actually works. Only it's hiding behind a bevy of quackish infomercial-type products on the web. I'll keep looking.