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You may not know it, but your dentist's plaques hanging on the wall and his luxurious foyer won't make up for bad practice. You're paying good money to get the services you need. And in the United States, a dentist's job is a luxury. Before you get ripped off for your hard-earned money, give this article a look:

1. Dentists who delegate almost everything to their assistants.

Sure, assistants are there to help out, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll have to create dentures, adjust braces, and perform other surgical duties a dentist is supposed to do. Even at a dentist's plea and request, a dental assistant should never administer procedures on you.

Even if the procedure went correctly at the hands of the assistant, you can still sue your dentist for letting his assistant do the work; if the assistant is the one solely working on your dentures/braces, you can sue your dentist as well or seek help from dental ethics committees.

2. Dentists who take phone calls / talk to other patients during a surgical procedure on you.

A dentist should be focused, period. A procedure (or even a diagnosis/prognosis) can go sideways if the one who's administering it can't even empathize with the pain of the patient.

We've seen a lot of cases wherein a poorly installed composite filling had caused subsequent aching. Asking the patient, they unanimously said that during their operation, their dentist was also attending to an "important matter" or "had a lot of patients lined up."

Bottom line: If a dentist can't focus on you, how will he even be able to focus on solving your dental malady?

An advice to the patient: Before holding onto an appointment schedule, make sure you're an early bird in line. Dentists tend to wane off their skills during brunches and late afternoons.

3. Suggesting expensive operations for diminutive tooth problems.

There are many dentists who suggest root canals for a tooth that only needs a filling. These dentists will slam and preempt your questions with their sophism and technical talk. They often times would suggest expensive, unneeded X-ray diagnoses because they've partnered up with a radiographer, and they get hefty commissions for every patient they send in.

Unless you have a serious problem, such as a gum disease or periodontitis, try to seek the advice of other dentists. Many dentists offer free checks on prospective clients. Also, look out for newly-practicing dentists, as they are sometimes unintentionally become giddy about suggesting procedures that have nothing to do with the present condition of your teeth.

4. Manhandling you for not resting still on the dental chair.

Dentists should have delicate hands, and should always assure the patient of the potential irks and jolts that might result from the operation/procedure. A few dentists get rough with their patients when they extract teeth, drill cavities, adjust braces, and even during scaling and cleaning sessions, resulting in either unnecessary pain and bleeding of the gums/lips. If you've been under the same "care" from your dentist over the past decade, it may be time you visited another dentist who can get the job done without impaling you to cringe with his hands and instruments.