
Ask HN: How to choose which dentist or doctor to believe? - tmamic
When you get a medical opinion, you have to rely on the medical expertise of doctor. You don&#x27;t have a better option. If you get a second opinion, and it is the same as the first one, you intuitively know it&#x27;s more trustworthy. But what happens when the second opinion contradicts the first one? Who do you believe? How do you rank each scenario by the &quot;trustworthiness&quot; of opinion? How would one go by valuing the trustworthiness of multiple differing opinions, as is common in dentistry?
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muzani
One instinct I've learned from software engineering and the internet is that
professionals are often wrong. The symptoms of a bad doctor are very similar
to that of bad developers. Same with bad cooks, bad contractors, and so on.

The main symptom is contempt. You ask them a few questions or mention a second
opinion, and their face turns into a scowl. Some are outright insulting,
saying that X is a moron, without having enough information to make that
judgement. Whenever I meet a doctor like this, I look for a second opinion,
and very often it contradicts.

The next is buzzword. My child had a fever for a very long time and was
hospitalized. A good pediatrician said "It could be Kawasaki disease... but it
doesn't meet any of the other symptoms". A not very good one said "It's
definitely Kawasaki disease, can't be anything else."

The third is well, passion. I know everyone hates the word, but I find a
correlation. The worst doctors I've met are often trying to do anything except
their job - they pitch unnecessary supplements, overcharge, talk about their
stock investments. The great ones try to make you healthy; they end up
undercharging, recommend cheap alternatives to their pills, volunteer for
charity organizations, waive their consulting fees, and so on.

I realize this is a very subjective and biased way of looking at it, but it's
worked well for me.

~~~
tmamic
Some people are unable to control their emotions in stressful situations. You
can't really know if someone is outraged by you questioning their authority or
by the fact that you clearly don't want to hear the truth. Or by their
inability to counter other doctors who woo patients with sweet talk, although
obviously doing poor medical job.

Some people can't suppress bad habits like using buzzwords. Maybe they have
been taught to use them, maybe they are just too good at what they do to need
worry about convincing you. Some people are great actors, and will make you
believe they are truly passionate about their job. This is what I am talking
about: [https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-
surg...](https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-
surgeons-23b0e2cf6d52)

------
sloaken
Like emteycz I check the science. I will also ask others who might have the
same issue. And depending on severity get a 3rd, 4th, or even 5th opinion.
Like emteycz said: Its your health. Of course this depends on how serious the
issue is. Often its an issue where both can have valid solutions. Or there
could be something one missed that the other caught.

~~~
tmamic
So, in order to do your job of __maintaining your health __, you need need to
do all of these jobs:

1\. Learn about the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of your health problem
2\. Assess the severity of the health problem 3\. Learn about the experience
of other people 4\. Get multiple opinions

Bonus: 5\. Learn about multiple valid solutions 6\. Find doctor's blind spots

While doing all that, you pay for healthcare, which includes all that. You pay
a doctor to know no1, do the no2, remember no3. You then pay for multiple of
them to do the same.

But then you still get to the point where you have to decide who to believe.
And it would be easy if 4 of them say the same thing. You can be pretty sure
they are right[1] because statistics. But what happens when they give multiple
differing opinions, like here [2].

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R13BD8qKeTg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R13BD8qKeTg)
[2] [https://digitalsmiledesign.com/files/Old-Website-
Assets/PDF/...](https://digitalsmiledesign.com/files/Old-Website-
Assets/PDF/How-Dentists-Rip-Us-Off.pdf)

------
emteycz
If opinions differ, I go check the science.

~~~
tmamic
Do you really do that? It feels like a lot of wasted time...

~~~
muzani
My wife does this too (she's of engineering background). It's surprising how
well this works even with a quick search. Many times even the doctors have
asked her whether she's actually a doctor.

It's also useful for having proper discussions. The doctors will discuss the
details they're unsure about, which also helps you in discussing with the next
doctor. If one doctor is very sure about one thing, and another isn't, that's
a yellow flag.

~~~
giantg2
That could be a yellow flag in either direction - a less knowledgeable person
might be overly confident, or the less knowledgeable person might be unsure.

~~~
rdtwo
Honestly for gp not sure and consults a source and a database is my preferred
option. The publication are going to be more up to date then what’s in your
doctors memory banks from med school over a decade ago

~~~
giantg2
I would like that too. It seems like none of them have the time or incentive
to do that though.

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sassycassie
I've had this happen to me b4 and honestly I got a third opinion... But truly,
u just gotta trust yourself. you know your body, so if a doctor is telling u
things that ur unsure of, u needa ditch them.

