Dr. Beth Mertz

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Dr. Beth Mertz

Dr. Beth Mertz

@bethmertz

Dental sociologist and oral health services researcher. Opinions, rage and sarcasm my own.

Alameda, CA Katılım Haziran 2009
459 Takip Edilen402 Takipçiler
Daniel Vassallo
Daniel Vassallo@dvassallo·
Took my 7yr old to his annual pediatric dentist appt last month (near Seattle) and the dentist found 4 cavities in his baby teeth, all needing filling and one needed a cap. The dentist said this had to be done with general anesthesia. Cost $2,750. We found it bizarre to have to put a 7yr old under general anesthesia, outside of a hospital, in a small clinic above a Starbucks, with full intubation and put on a ventilator, just to fill 4 cavities in baby teeth that would fall off on their own anyway. The dentist insisted the intervention was necessary because these teeth won't fall off in 5 years, and one of the cavities was almost guaranteed to become problematic. And that general anesthesia was required because of the length of the intervention. We had a bad feeling about all of this, and declined the procedure after considering the risks of general anesthesia outside of a hospital. The dentist gave my wife a lecture about how this is totally safe and they do it all the time, and that we should take some time to think about it, but we should come again after the summer to talk with them again and reconsider our decision. The dentist insisted this was the only way to proceed and that it would be very imprudent to postpone it. The entire rant made the whole thing feel even more shady to me. It felt like a Hertz rep trying to sell me car insurance at the airport. We're now in Malta, and took the kid to a local dentist for a second opinion. We thought we'd ask the dentist if we could do the fillings one by one, over multiple sessions, in order to avoid any sedation. And guess what? This dentist took a look at the kid's teeth, and couldn't find anything! Zero cavities. Perfectly healthy teeth. Not even a cleaning was required. We paid €15 and were sent home. Now, the Maltese dentist didn't do an x-ray. They said it would be an over-intervention to order an x-ray with no visible signs of decay. The Seattle dentist does an x-ray every year, and found the cavities from the latest x-ray. They never sent us the x-rays though. Is there a chance the Seattle dentist was right, or is this a classic case of violating the Hippocratic Oath for personal gain? The insistence on general anesthesia just didn't sit well with me, and smelled of malpractice in an attempt to do this procedure quickly and more conveniently (plus charge a lot more). What's your interpretation?
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Dr. Beth Mertz
Dr. Beth Mertz@bethmertz·
@JHeraudeau @acweyand I so feel you! I passed out at 8 mos pregnant with ferritin of 7. Had three IV infusions and it made me feel like a new person. Also ended up with an emergency C-section so…. Very important I got them.
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Jess-the-mess
Jess-the-mess@JHeraudeau·
@acweyand Not me 8 months and half pregnant begging for iron Infusions because I have 7.8 of ferritin, low iron and low platelets and they say but your red blood cell count is normal you’ll be fine 😅 I ain’t feeling that fine.
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Dr. Beth Mertz
Dr. Beth Mertz@bethmertz·
@JoanneSpetz I want to know why we keep asking these archaic questions. MD, DO, NP, PA, RN, DDS, DT, DH, PharmD (etc) we know are not lined up in the capitalist supermarket of healthcare - all of care is team based; long overdue for new mental models!
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Judith WV
Judith WV@1989Wildcat·
@NunesAlt Ice, piece of potato, and sewing needle sterilized with a zippo lighter. I still have a hard time believing I pierced my own ears. Three on one ear, two on the other. No infections lol.
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Brian Schatz
Brian Schatz@brianschatz·
Imagine being frustrated that too many people, in this case families and veterans, are getting food assitance.
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Dr. Beth Mertz retweetledi
Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center@splcenter·
This is the 3rd anniversary of #GeorgeFloyd’s death. #Potus Joe Biden’s executive order on policing is key to reforming federal law enforcement agencies, but Congress must pass laws for national police accountability. We need action to honor Floyd. #TheMarchContinues #OTD
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