(Throwaway account)

I can only say, avoid dental chains at all costs and only go to trusted dentist owned clinics if possible.

I'm from EU and I got a yearly review + professional cleaning in a chain for my first job more than 15 years ago. The first time I used it they diagnosed me 4 or 5 caries that needed treatment, they said it was just a "beginning" but that it should be treated soon.

I ignored it and left it untreated for 1 year. My family never had problems with caries and before that time I was going to a public dentist who never identified any problem.

Next year I used the professional cleaning again but I went to a different clinic. They identified again 4 caries but in completely different teeth! Since that day I don-t trust any dentist that need an insurance to get patients or is managed by a profit-oriented chain. Note that in my country a lot of dentists don't work with insurance but that might not be the case in other places.

It's not like the dentists shouldn't earn good money, but they the ones that have their own clinic earn more than enough to not have to scam their patients. And even these can be greedy, but at least they are not pushed by a manager with monthly goals, so the chances are lower.

Fast-forward I met my now wife who is actually a dentist. 10 years later after my fake 5 caries she didn't find any.

When she finished her studies, she had to work for a few chains as well. What she saw there is terrifying.

The 1st job she was fired after 4 days because she was asking for autoclave sterilized material for every patient. First they tried to push back saying that ultrasound and chemical was enough, but she was having any of it.

Later the same week, she had a family with 3 kids, and she also requested sterilized tools for each of the 5 patients. They were telling her that sharing tools with the same family is totally fine. She was ready to leave the job the next day but they were faster and fired her. I guess she was starting to raise ideas to the young assistants.

After that she still worked in a few more places before she could find the right family owned clinic first and later start her own clinic.

During this period, she saw multiple malpractices and the authorities are not checking anything until somebody is badly hurt: Non-graduated dentists doing full-licensed dentist procedures, low quality materials and tools from Aliexpress that shouldn't be used for any medical procedure, patients coming from other clinics where after checking the history of x-rays she could see the dentist "planted" the root canal treatment (difficult to 100% proof of course), dentists invoicing for things that they didn't really do, and the list goes on...

Just please, be very careful when choosing your dentist. Some people can save tons of money and a lot of teeth if they have a knowledgeable and honest dentist.