Not sure what you mean by “reputation”. But generally I think it’s hard for anyone to like their Dentist visit. Even a “checkup” typically involves a cleaning which is invasive and uncomfortable. This is compounded by the fact that people don’t take care of their teeth so feedback from dentists is almost always poor. I don’t think Dentists have a bad rep, but I can safely say I don’t look forward to my visits 😅
The first dentist I ever went to was great. He was good with kids and adults and did his job. He was realistic about kids being kids and gave us the tools and information to make sure our teeth were healthy. I had him all the way through my braces and into high school. He then retired.
My next dentist was a horrendous, preachy, asshole who loved to tell all of his patients what was wrong with them, make people feel bad for their decisions to drink soda, and surmised that we were all eating too much junk food (which he wouldn’t really elaborate on when asked). My diet wasn’t perfect, but I had mostly home cooked meals with steamed vegetables, along with the occasional fast food lunch with friends.
He was also Mormon and I know a lot of Mormons love to get on their high horse and take pleasure in being petty, insufferable, assholes. I haven’t read their batshit book (albeit, most in that genre are similarly zany and harebrained), but there must be some discussion on how to be a bad neighbor to everyone you meet in there based on their predilictions for unfair/unwarranted judgement and exclusion. He only hired other Mormon dentists to his practice and all the dental assistants were similarly preachy and religious.
I dreaded going to the dentist for mostly social reasons and didn’t want to be shamed by being told that I had better take care of my teeth (which were fine) because my parents had spent a lot of money on my braces (and it wasn’t that much money because the first dentist wasn’t a sneering profiteer).
I ditched that asshole once I went to college and have had a couple dentists since then who were fine, did their job and didn’t give me a bunch of flak for not flossing after every meal like a fucking psychopath.
Fundamentally, I think the issue with dentists is that when you get a bad one, they make you feel bad, which is the absolute antithesis of healthcare.
Additionally, because of the arbitrary and asinine distinction in the US between oral care and basically the rest of the body, dentistry is seen as cosmetic and unnecessary, often allowing or obligating dentists to charge an arm and a leg for most of their services. We all know how prices ratchet up from initial obligations to cover higher costs into “fuck the consumer, they were fine paying the higher prices anyway so let’s increase our profit margin”.
Compound that with the ridiculous price setting and insurance rackets baked into anything close to the health sector, and you have a lot of frustration even before patients get into the chair.
If you’re not a dentist who will practice compassionate care, at least be one who just shuts the fuck up and does their job. Of course let the patient know what’s going on in their mouth and how they can better take care of themselves or treat something they’re dealing with, but chill the fuck out with the fire and brimstone shit about missing a cleaning or not flossing all the time.
Healthcare is all about bedside manner.
If you don’t have it, you’re not a good provider and your business can and should suffer (the fact that our healthcare structures are businesses and profit motivated is fundamentally opposed to effective care, anyway, but that’s the subject of another essay).
Edit: Cleaned it up a bit and added that my first dentist retired.
Additionally, because of the arbitrary and asinine distinction in the US between oral care and basically the rest of the body
You’ll be (un)happy to know that your neighbours to the north suffer from same affliction. We have universal healthcare, but teeth aren’t part of the body apparently, so that’s not covered.
Always a fun time to go to a medical professional and feel like you’re talking to a used car salesman who is trying to upsell you on a useless/unneeded procedure.
This is compounded by the fact that people don’t take care of their teeth so feedback from dentists is almost always poor
I love the way this conversation is usually “What type of toothbrush are you using again?” “Uh, the spinny one you get from the supermarket, it’s disposable so I have to buy one every month, but it seems OK”, “Ah no, what you need is the $250 Philips SuperScrubacare Plus, which has bristles on the end of the bristles, and on the end of those bristles are more bristles, and on the ends of those are little robots with tiny vacuum cleaners and flame throwers. Those really kill plaque. Also stop eating so much sugar.” “Ummm OK” “Anyway, we’re done. Here’s a cheap ass regular unpowered toothbrush. And a starlight mint.”
I find the disposable ones are overall cheaper and the batteries last about as long as the brushes. Unless you are inclined to replace your head often as such people may be than they might be a better option.
They are more like vibrating brushes and reality is quite simple in design. Less complex then the replaceable heads that have moving parts and seals etc. After using both, I find that work just as good and both are noticeably better than non electric brushes.
In my experience the toothbrush handle and motor and batteries are fine to keep for years. The disposable part is only the head, the physical cleaning bits.
You’re right, I totally agree. Sorry I misunderstood. I don’t have a clue why people would want an electric toothbrush that is also manual and must be thrown away soon.
Most of the disposable toothbrushes don’t have the ability to replace the heads. Some of them do, as the GP mentioned, but most don’t in my experience.
The ability to replace the heads is not the same thing as actually being able to find the heads in the store that sold you the toothbrush.
The entire assembly costs typically something in the same ballpark as a head replacement anyway.
Most of these disposable systems are cheap in every sense of the word (cost and build quality) and not really intended to be used for a long period of time.
From a consumer standpoint, they make a lot of sense. From an environmental standpoint, not so much. How did we get here? Well, Sonicare would probably argue they make a superior brush and therefore can charge more which may or may not be true. More likely the volumes involved combined with the “Upscale”/“Downscale” marketing associated with each brush makes it genuinely much, much, cheaper to create an all-in-one unit that’s only supposed to last a month compared to the alternatives.
Not sure what you mean by “reputation”. But generally I think it’s hard for anyone to like their Dentist visit. Even a “checkup” typically involves a cleaning which is invasive and uncomfortable. This is compounded by the fact that people don’t take care of their teeth so feedback from dentists is almost always poor. I don’t think Dentists have a bad rep, but I can safely say I don’t look forward to my visits 😅
The first dentist I ever went to was great. He was good with kids and adults and did his job. He was realistic about kids being kids and gave us the tools and information to make sure our teeth were healthy. I had him all the way through my braces and into high school. He then retired.
My next dentist was a horrendous, preachy, asshole who loved to tell all of his patients what was wrong with them, make people feel bad for their decisions to drink soda, and surmised that we were all eating too much junk food (which he wouldn’t really elaborate on when asked). My diet wasn’t perfect, but I had mostly home cooked meals with steamed vegetables, along with the occasional fast food lunch with friends.
He was also Mormon and I know a lot of Mormons love to get on their high horse and take pleasure in being petty, insufferable, assholes. I haven’t read their batshit book (albeit, most in that genre are similarly zany and harebrained), but there must be some discussion on how to be a bad neighbor to everyone you meet in there based on their predilictions for unfair/unwarranted judgement and exclusion. He only hired other Mormon dentists to his practice and all the dental assistants were similarly preachy and religious.
I dreaded going to the dentist for mostly social reasons and didn’t want to be shamed by being told that I had better take care of my teeth (which were fine) because my parents had spent a lot of money on my braces (and it wasn’t that much money because the first dentist wasn’t a sneering profiteer).
I ditched that asshole once I went to college and have had a couple dentists since then who were fine, did their job and didn’t give me a bunch of flak for not flossing after every meal like a fucking psychopath.
Fundamentally, I think the issue with dentists is that when you get a bad one, they make you feel bad, which is the absolute antithesis of healthcare.
Additionally, because of the arbitrary and asinine distinction in the US between oral care and basically the rest of the body, dentistry is seen as cosmetic and unnecessary, often allowing or obligating dentists to charge an arm and a leg for most of their services. We all know how prices ratchet up from initial obligations to cover higher costs into “fuck the consumer, they were fine paying the higher prices anyway so let’s increase our profit margin”.
Compound that with the ridiculous price setting and insurance rackets baked into anything close to the health sector, and you have a lot of frustration even before patients get into the chair.
If you’re not a dentist who will practice compassionate care, at least be one who just shuts the fuck up and does their job. Of course let the patient know what’s going on in their mouth and how they can better take care of themselves or treat something they’re dealing with, but chill the fuck out with the fire and brimstone shit about missing a cleaning or not flossing all the time.
Healthcare is all about bedside manner. If you don’t have it, you’re not a good provider and your business can and should suffer (the fact that our healthcare structures are businesses and profit motivated is fundamentally opposed to effective care, anyway, but that’s the subject of another essay).
Edit: Cleaned it up a bit and added that my first dentist retired.
You’ll be (un)happy to know that your neighbours to the north suffer from same affliction. We have universal healthcare, but teeth aren’t part of the body apparently, so that’s not covered.
Always a fun time to go to a medical professional and feel like you’re talking to a used car salesman who is trying to upsell you on a useless/unneeded procedure.
Exactly what I want from my medical “professional” lol.
If I’m not haggling them or any other business/provider down to a price that barely doesn’t make me cry, I haven’t had a fun day.
/s
Stay strong, neighbor. You sound like a good one.
Edit: Just Anglosphere things lol
I love the way this conversation is usually “What type of toothbrush are you using again?” “Uh, the spinny one you get from the supermarket, it’s disposable so I have to buy one every month, but it seems OK”, “Ah no, what you need is the $250 Philips SuperScrubacare Plus, which has bristles on the end of the bristles, and on the end of those bristles are more bristles, and on the ends of those are little robots with tiny vacuum cleaners and flame throwers. Those really kill plaque. Also stop eating so much sugar.” “Ummm OK” “Anyway, we’re done. Here’s a cheap ass regular unpowered toothbrush. And a starlight mint.”
disposable electric toothbrushes???
Yeah, most supermarkets have them where they have regular toothbrushes. Usually aimed at kids. At least in the US:
Some examples:
https://www.amazon.com/Oral-B-Pulsar-Medium-Bristle-Toothbrush/dp/B003CP12QG/ https://www.amazon.com/Arm-Hammer-Patrol-Spinbrush-Toothbrush/dp/B07J9W7TP7 https://www.amazon.com/Spinbrush-Proclean-Battery-Powered-Toothbrush/dp/B001J4ID5K
Wow, why though? Why not just let the user change the batteries or charge them like normal electric toothbrushes?
And why would you buy these instead of a normal re-usable one?
💵 💵 💵
I find the disposable ones are overall cheaper and the batteries last about as long as the brushes. Unless you are inclined to replace your head often as such people may be than they might be a better option.
They are more like vibrating brushes and reality is quite simple in design. Less complex then the replaceable heads that have moving parts and seals etc. After using both, I find that work just as good and both are noticeably better than non electric brushes.
In my experience the toothbrush handle and motor and batteries are fine to keep for years. The disposable part is only the head, the physical cleaning bits.
Well that’s not really disposable then, that’s just a normal electric toothbrush.
You have to replace the cleaning bits, no toothbrush head is good to use for more than like 2-3 months.
You’re right, I totally agree. Sorry I misunderstood. I don’t have a clue why people would want an electric toothbrush that is also manual and must be thrown away soon.
There are two problems here:
Most of the disposable toothbrushes don’t have the ability to replace the heads. Some of them do, as the GP mentioned, but most don’t in my experience.
The ability to replace the heads is not the same thing as actually being able to find the heads in the store that sold you the toothbrush.
The entire assembly costs typically something in the same ballpark as a head replacement anyway.
The entire assembly often costs less to replace on a regular basis than the heads for, say, the Sonicare - $24 for 3 heads at the time of writing, compare this to the $10 two pack of disposable brushes, $8 per unit (plus the cost of the rest of the system) for the “right” way, $5 per unit for the disposable route (all inclusive.)
Most of these disposable systems are cheap in every sense of the word (cost and build quality) and not really intended to be used for a long period of time.
From a consumer standpoint, they make a lot of sense. From an environmental standpoint, not so much. How did we get here? Well, Sonicare would probably argue they make a superior brush and therefore can charge more which may or may not be true. More likely the volumes involved combined with the “Upscale”/“Downscale” marketing associated with each brush makes it genuinely much, much, cheaper to create an all-in-one unit that’s only supposed to last a month compared to the alternatives.