Reporter’s Notebook: My Journey Through Hades and What it Taught me About Modern Dentistry

When I lived in LA, I commuted 374 miles to see my Bay Area dentist because every time I went to some fancy dental office in LA, they’d give me a “treatment plan.” They wanted to rip out my amalgam fillings and replace them with porcelain. The cost? Roughly equivalent to a down payment on house.

I’d bring the treatment plan to my once-beloved Bay Area dentist, who practices good old-fashioned dentistry (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it).

“Naaw," he'd say. "Half the time when you rip out fillings you just weaken the tooth and create more problems for yourself.”

But I quickly found out, even the most skilled dentists – and really doctors in general – suffer from another problem: They don’t listen. This, apparently, is a common problem. As USA Today says, “doctors like ordering tests better than they like listening to you.”

Back in LA, I broke a tooth 374 miles from the Bay Area, so I was forced to go to another dentist. My friend’s blatantly incompetent uncle put in a crown, that was too high, too wide, and went well below the gum line.

When I moved up to Berkeley, I went to my dentist for an adjustment, which he did, but it was still too high and I was mashing on it. This was causing a lot of pain and my tooth was coming loose. 

“Naw, I know you think you’re mashing on it,” my dentist said. “But you’re not mashing on it.”

So began a refrain he repeated over and over in the course of months: "I know you think you’re ____, but you’re not ____."

Well from here the story gets complicated, involving all kinds of experts and incompetent fools. But to cut to the chase, there’s nothing wrong with my tooth but a bad crown. My finally took it out and gave me a temproary one. 

But now the temporary is too low, so my tongue gets sliced by the surrounding teeth. Can you guess my dentist’s response?

“I know you think your tongue’s getting cut but your tongue’s not getting cut," he said. "Just sit tight for a couple months.”

A couple months! I told him I was in extreme pain. I can’t eat, sleep or talk. All, as it turns out, pretty important things in life. But all this fell on deaf ears. 

It's a common problem and it's been the subject of a TED talk by Dr. Abraham Verghese MD, who is Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

In an opinion piece for CNN he says, "I have been collecting the phrases that patients use to complain about us doctors, and it is amazing how often you hear, ‘(S)he never listened’"

I’m going to try to get my dentist to fix it one last time today.

If he doesn't, I’ve decided on Steven Kobayashi in Albany (not the power eater), who comes highly recommended. (But I am truly terrified to see anyone new.)

But if you have a dentist you love in the Berkeley or the surrounding area, who's done a fabulous crown for you and listens, for the love of God and country, do your civic duty by letting me know!

And if you care to share your dental stories of nightmare or bliss, feel free.