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Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

(arstechnica.com)
352 points keithly | 2 comments | 14 Oct 24 21:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.677s | source
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krackers ◴[14 Oct 24 21:56 UTC] No.41842434[source]▶
Other outdated yet still routine dental practices include polishing of teeth during checkups for any justification other than cosmetic reasons
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jebarker ◴[14 Oct 24 22:03 UTC] No.41842519[source]▶
My bugbear with dentists in the US (after living my first 30 years in the UK) is that they all continually hassle me to have my wisdom teeth removed. Said teeth have never caused me any problems and are all through the gums. I can only assume it's dogma or an opportunity to bill insurance for costly unnecessary surgery.
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electronbeam ◴[14 Oct 24 22:05 UTC] No.41842546[source]▶
I was told they get harder to remove when you’re older
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doe_eyes ◴[14 Oct 24 22:16 UTC] No.41842660[source]▶
It's one of these areas where people (including medical professionals) hold strong beliefs, but then it turns out that there are other highly-developed countries where this is not routinely practiced, and the outcomes aren't necessarily different.

Routine wisdom teeth removal is not a thing in most of Europe. Another random example are colonoscopies and routine flu vaccines (except for the elderly).

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1. macNchz ◴[14 Oct 24 22:33 UTC] No.41842859[source]▶
I've generally assumed the simplest explanation is that many of these weakly-supported procedures are regular, consistent income streams for the people who perform them in the US: my four wisdom teeth (that were causing me serious issues at age 19) cost $2k to remove nearly 20 years ago, and I know colonoscopies are billed to insurance in the thousands. There's not much incentive to move to cheaper tests or wait-and-see, when you can just do it to everyone who reaches a certain age by default.

Presumably flu shots are good business for the manufacturers, though I'm not sure about the science. After having the flu as a healthy late-twenty-something a while ago, which was...intensely horrible, I've chosen to get it ever since.

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2. kalleboo ◴[15 Oct 24 03:13 UTC] No.41844553[source]▶
It's not always true though. My dentist in Europe pushed me to get my wisdom teeth removed early "because you're going to need to get them removed eventually anyway" at a government clinic with no profit incentive.