Why not just ask him to buy one? Or get a second opinion. You really
can't lose by talking to your present dentist and ask him to reassess.
SP

I had the same kind of thing going on with my dentist.   I went in with sore
teeth that I even told him about and he kept telling me everything is fine.
I finally went to another dentist and he did find all kinds of problems with
the very teeth I was suspicious of without me even telling him.   I only had
2 worked on at once, but by now, it's not sure if the crown on the tooth
that actually had cracked will work without the  root canal.   If the other
dentist had paid attention when I told him YEARS ago that I couldn't chew on
it, that tooth could have been fixed with a better chance.    If your
dentist is missing things that even you suspect, get a second opinion fast,
before your teeth end up further gone, like I did.    I had been telling him
for years that when I bit down on that tooth, it felt soft like it wouldn't
hold up to biting on something.  Later, when it actually cracked and I told
him that if I so much as got a rice krispy between it and bit down, that the
pain was so sharp I would scream out, he just said, "sometimes teeth act
like that".   Now, if only I had had a good dentist when it was just feeling
like it wasn't going to hold up.   Oh, and it had  filling, which had rotted
out more under it.
    It was that tooth that is wearing a temporary crown that bugs me enough
that I came here to here opinions about, which I'm very grateful for.
   I had just had another cavity/problem free checkup from the other
dentist, and I KNEW I had more than one problem which he dismissed, even
after I told him I couldn't chew on it, or why does this area look like
blah, blah.    I came home from that appointment and got a magnifying mirror
and looked in my mouth _again_.   Yea, still there, the old silver cavities
that looked chipped around the edges on several teeth that he didn't even
mention anything about.   I remember him saying the word 'watch' to the girl
to write down about several teeth.   Now I have to wonder why they are
watching them, what for?  For them to need to be pulled?   Because they sure
didn't bother to fix anything, just waiting for them to get WORSE.    So, I
went to the other dentist, first thinking of the tooth that made me scream
when I bite on it by mistake, with a little plastic prod that he told me to
softly bite on, he found the bad crack in a few minutes.    I was really not
surprised to hear the news.   Then he said, but... it would be good if you
came in for a complete workup..because I really can't tell you all the
problems I'm seeing at this time.   You know, I really wasn't surprised
again.     It is true that I dislike the woman who runs the office for her
zeal in pushing you to try to get it all done at once, but nevertheless, I
believe all those things are wrong, because I was seeing them in the mirror
myself before I ever saw him.   SO!   What I mean is, if you know something
is wrong and he's missing it, don't wait, like I did, because the problem
keeps getting worse over time.

The fluoride is NOT involved, AFAIK. Deep in the pits and fissures is
the only area of the tooth (apart from the interproximal, as you said)
that isn't effectively covered by fluoride. So that is where the caries
starts. So fluoride has had the effect of forcing the bacterial to go
deeper into those fissures to survive. I don't really think that
fluoride has altered the bacteria to any degree, but I don't know that
for certain.

Cheers back at ya, PM!
SP

Nope, good guess but wrong. Dentists are aware of the triangular
shaped carious lesion that occurs when what you describe happens.

This is why we take bite-wing x-rays ... to detect exactly what you
described.

Joel

Maybe that _is_ the problem: maybe they're married when they should be
seeing mistresses and lovers in secret. So they're in a love spat, and
so they're not communicating. Maybe they're secretly part of an
underground terrorist organization bent on fluoridating water based
interior house paints...

Ya gotta consider these things...

SP