This article really surprised me.    Perhaps not for the reasons you think. First the doctor in question does appear to be a bad apple.  Every profession or trade, for that matter has their share.  What bothers me more is that the author, Ferris Jabr, uses the case of Dr. Lund as a launching pad to spew hatred and mistrust of dentists.  A practitioner so dishonest that there is a story in the popular press questioning whether dentistry is a science or not.  Long story short yes dentistry has a solid foundation in the sciences and our methods are rigorously tested before they are put into practice.

Here are a few of his mis-characterizations: He describes a patient that had nine crowns and root canals at a fee of $50,000 plus insurance.  He is either underestimating the treatment rendered or exaggerating the fee here. Even in Manhattan the fee would be roughly half of that amount. Another patient that went to him because he had an excellent rating from 1-800-DENTIST.  Note to Mr. Jabr, 1-800-DENTIST is a paid referral service.  All of their dentists have an “excellent rating,” at least as long as they are paying for the service. Repeating the tired meme that “dentists are not real doctors.”  I cannot speak for what a journalist’s education consists of but I assure you that a dentist is at a minimum of four years after college in a rigorous program.  The first two years are often combined with medical students, taking the exact same classes. Perhaps most ignorant of all is stating “Many standard dental treatments … are likewise not well substantiated by research,” and, “Common dental procedures are not always as safe, effective, or durable as we are meant to believe.  As a profession, dentistry has not yet applied the same level of self-scrutiny as medicine, or embraced as sweeping an emphasis on scientific evidence.”  This is utter garbage.  According to the ADA and Pub Med there are over 800 dental journals alone.  (See JADA April 2019 p. 237) Only 661 in English, though.  We can discuss the types of research another day but they are not filled with recipes and card gambits.  You can view them for yourself. The one takeaway the Mr. Jabr seems to get right is that the doctor patient relationship is built on trust.  Part of the problem is that many problems have more than one treatment and these may range tremendously in cost.  A competent practitioner will encourage you to get a second opinion.  Sowing doubt and fear among people is nothing more than poor narrative journalism.  A publication like The Atlantic should know better. As a patient be your own advocate, do your own research and do not be afraid to ask questions or get a second opinion.  Do not let a small-minded journalist substitute his biases for truth. Update:  Here is the ADA response.