A man who takes your money

He's a lot different from most salesmen.  Because when this guy tells you you need something for $1,000, or maybe even $2,000 or more...you trust him.

Really, you don't want to fork over that money without thinking about it, consulting other people, looking at other prices.  But this person has spent time with you, and you want to trust him.

Plus in this kind of situation, it's really hard to ask around.  In order to get other estimates, you have to go through it all again, forge a new relationship, or at least do a one-time thing for $100 or more.

So you put your trust in this person, paying thousands of dollars just on his word and his demeanor.

Who'm I talking about?  A dentist.  For the kind of money we pay, there should be an easy way to get a second opinion.  But to go into another office, take another round of x-rays, pay money, seems so hard.  You can, of course, bring your x-rays from your original dentist, but then if you go back to him, he may now know you've been shopping around.  And he's going to put his sharp tools in your mouth.  You want there to be some trust.

If someone opened a dentist's office that catered to people looking for a second opinion, they could make a fortune.  It's such a pain to get a second dental opinion, but we DO pay these guys a fortune.  We wouldn't willingly fork over $1,ooo or more to any other professional without doing some research.

There really isn't a lot of research you can do on your own mouth, though.  If you go on the internet and try to see what procedures cost, it won't necessarily apply to your situation.  

A lot of times, a dentist will tell you that you don't need the surgery that the other dentist said you did.  So this new one earns your trust.  But how are you to know if next year he'll say you need the same thing?

Just something I was thinking about today.  (And no, it's not because I'm facing this situation right now.  I actually have already forked over plenty to my dentists.  Sigh.)

Maybe there should be a rate-my-dentist dot com.  There probably is, but it hasn't reached critical mass.