After about a $500 round of procedures I supposedly needed, a dentist I've
been going to through my DMO plan has me on a schedule of 3 month cleanings
that they refer to as "perio maintenance cleanings", saying I have early
stage periodontal disease. My DMO picks up a portion of the cost of 2 of
these a year, so I end up paying around $36 and then $83 or thereabouts on
alternate visits.

After a couple of these cleanings, the technician announces - "Dr. so-and-so
has done research, and has found that a microbial rinse will help reduce the
bacterial colonies." They want to start tacking on this $30 rinse to my
cleanings. I remember they did one of these as part of the above mentioned
$500 worth of things they did, somehow virtually none of which was covered
by my plan. This rinse consisted of a quick splash of maybe a tablespoon or
so of this stuff.

To be honest, I'm on the fence regarding this dentist already. They've made
several billing "errors", wanting to charge me for a composite filling they
said my plan wouldn't cover (turns out it was covered), overcharging me on a
couple of different procedures then instead of crediting my credit card as
they said they would, they decided to instead apply it to office credit. One
wonders whether these errors were really errors. I wonder how many patients
have been similarly overcharged and just took them at their word on it.
Further, I keep getting an "infomercial" regarding one product or another as
part of my visits.

I was struck by how this technician's delivery came across as literally
scripted, like a telemarketer. Not "your condition requires this" or the
like but "The Dr. has done research..." as if to paint the picture of him
spending his off hours doing ground-breaking research, and eureka, he's
discovered the benefits of a microbial rinse. It clearly isn't new to him
since they did one already but they didn't seem to feel it was imperative as
part of the perio cleanings before, but now suddenly they want another $30
for this fancy mouthwash.

How long do the effects of a microbial rinse actually last and how much
additional benefit is there beyond the perio cleaning? I really have to
wonder if this guy's "research" was with his accountant, looking for new
ways to pad the bill. I'm not in a particular hurry to be merely
contributing to this guy's "I want to retire early" fund.

As an aside, I went to another dentist for a second opinion, he seemed to
feel that I'd be fine with a perio cleaning every 4 months. Unfortunately,
this dentist isn't on my particular plan.

Thoughts, insights, opinions will be appreciated.