When I moved to downtown Calgary a few years ago, I decided to go to the dentist a block away. Great location, great staff, housed in a century-old home which is unusual in a place like Calgary where everything older than 20 years is being replaced by office towers. However, from my first visit, I knew something was fishy. He recommended (or should I say insisted) that I get two wisdom teeth extracted, get a sleep apnea machine, get a $2,000 appliance for bruxism, redo a couple of crowns and root canals, get some braces to rectify my bite, surgery to rebuild gum tissue, etc. I reluctantly did whatever my insurance would cover, but I stopped there. He was not amused and had the same air of reproach every time I went back for my annual checkup. Finally, I had enough and decided to switch to a dentist located in a working class neighborhood. This was the best decision I made. Funnily, I was discussing dentists with a friend who lives in an entirely different neighborhood, and when I told him how my dentist was, he told me about his former dentist who was pushing similar treatments on him. Coincidence, we had used the same dentist.
