Things My Patients Wish They Had Done Differently

After years of practicing dentistry, I have heard a lot of regrets. Patients sit in my chair and tell me things they wish someone had said to them earlier. Things they wish they had listened to when I told them the first time. I am sharing them here because if one person reads this and avoids making the same mistake, then this was worth writing.

Delaying Treatment

This is the most common one. A patient comes in, I tell them they need a root canal or a crown, we discuss it, and then they leave and never come back — until months later when they are in agony. The antibiotics I prescribed helped. The pain went away. They assumed that meant the problem went away too.

It did not. The infection was still there, sitting quietly, spreading slowly to the neighboring tooth. By the time they come back, we are no longer dealing with one tooth. We are dealing with two. Sometimes more. The treatment that would have cost them one procedure is now multiple procedures, more money, more time, and significantly more pain than they experienced the first time around.

When I tell you to come back, it is because the antibiotics are managing the infection, not curing it. The tooth still needs treatment. Please come back.

Not Doing Proper Research and Not Listening to Their Dentist

Social media has made this worse. Patients come in having already decided what procedure they want based on something they saw online, and when I explain that it is not suitable for them, some of them go elsewhere to find someone who will do it anyway.

I had a patient who wanted a cosmetic procedure that her teeth genuinely did not need. I advised against it and offered her alternatives. She did not want to hear it. She went to another practice, paid significantly more, and years later she was unhappy with the results. She came back to me and said she wished she had just listened the first time.

I also want to address something patients may not feel comfortable saying out loud. Some people have come to me, seen that I am young, seen that my prices are fair, and decided that must mean I do not know what I am doing. They went elsewhere, paid five times more, assumed that the higher price meant higher quality, and came back with results they were not happy with and money they could not get back.

Price does not always reflect quality. Research the dentist, not just the quote. Look at the work they have done, speak to their patients, and if something does not feel right, get a second opinion. But get that second opinion from a qualified professional, not from a product review on an online shopping platform.

Ignoring Teeth Grinding

Patients tell me their partner has been grinding their teeth at night for years and they assumed it was normal. Like snoring, they thought it was just one of those things some people do.

It is not normal. Bruxism, which is the clinical name for teeth grinding, causes real and permanent damage. It cracks teeth, wears down enamel, and puts excessive strain on the jaw joint. Some patients come to me with cracked teeth that could have been protected years ago with a simple night guard, and instead they now need crowns or extractions.

I will also say this about snoring... if you or someone in your household snores heavily, please get it checked. It can be a sign of sleep apnea, which is a condition that affects more than just your sleep. Both your dentist and an ENT specialist can assess this. Do not ignore it because it seems harmless.

Accepting Tooth Loss as Inevitable Because It Runs in the Family

I hear this more than I would like to. A patient tells me that everyone in their family loses their teeth eventually... their grandmother had no teeth, their mother lost most of hers, and they have just accepted that this is going to happen to them too.

Nobody stops to ask why. Why does this keep happening in their family? Is it a shared dietary habit? A genetic predisposition to gum disease? An undiagnosed systemic condition being passed from one generation to the next? Nobody investigates because it has been normalised.

Tooth loss is not a family tradition. It is a sign that something needs attention. If multiple people in your family have lost teeth, come for a checkup. Do a blood test. Find out what is actually happening. Conditions like diabetes can be passed down through generations and directly affect dental health, and most people do not connect those dots until significant damage has already been done. You do not have to follow the same path as the generation before you if you have information they did not have.

Dental Tourism — Cheaper Then, Expensive Later

I understand why patients consider going abroad for dental treatment. When the price difference is significant, it is hard to ignore. But what people do not factor in is what happens afterward.

When you come home and something needs adjustment, or you are unhappy with the result, or a complication develops, you are not flying back to that country to have it fixed. You are sitting in a South African dentist's chair asking us to deal with someone else's work, often without records, without X-rays from before the procedure, and without any understanding of the materials or methods used.

The follow-up care and maintenance has to happen here. That was always true. The patients who regret dental tourism do not regret it the day they come home. They regret it six months or two years later when something goes wrong and the cost of fixing it far exceeds what they saved by going abroad in the first place.

Skipping Phases of Treatment

This happens most often with periodontal treatment. I give a patient a full treatment plan with specific appointment dates, explain exactly why each visit matters, and they attend the first few sessions and then stop coming because they feel better.

Feeling better is not the same as being healed. Gum disease does not declare itself cured because the symptoms have settled. The scheduled appointments exist to monitor healing, catch any regression early, and make sure the disease is actually stabilising and not just quiet. When patients skip those appointments they go backwards, sometimes significantly, and what could have been managed with continued treatment now requires more intensive intervention.

If I give you a treatment plan with dates, please honour those dates. Stop coming when I tell you we are done, not when you personally feel ready to stop.

Gold and Silver Teeth for Cosmetic Reasons

This is something I see more often than people might expect. A patient decides they want a gold or silver tooth for aesthetic reasons. To fit that cap, the natural tooth has to be filed down significantly. In cases where the original tooth was healthy and had no decay, we have now permanently altered a perfectly good tooth for a cosmetic choice that the patient later regrets.

Years down the line, that patient wants the gold tooth removed and replaced with a proper crown. The tooth that once needed nothing now needs significant restorative work, and the cost is considerably higher than it would have been if they had left the tooth alone. The regret in those conversations is palpable. Please think long and hard before modifying a healthy tooth for cosmetic reasons, and always speak to your dentist first.

Filing Their Own Teeth and Buying Grills Online

Yes, this happens. Patients file down their own teeth to correct a shape they do not like or to smooth out an edge that bothers them. Enamel does not grow back. Once you have filed it away, you have thinned the protective layer of your tooth permanently, and the sensitivity that follows is something they have to live with.

The online grills, the fake gold, silver, and diamond covers bought from cheap online stores are equally damaging when patients attempt to glue them onto their own teeth using incorrect adhesives. I have had a patient who nearly lost a front tooth because of this. The damage caused trying to remove an improperly bonded grill was severe. What they thought they were saving in cost almost cost them their teeth entirely.

Using Toothpicks

Patients are often surprised when I explain what toothpicks actually do to teeth and gums. They are called toothpicks so patients assume they are designed for dental use. They are not. They are too thick, too sharp, and too rigid for the spaces between teeth. Regular toothpick use widens the gaps between teeth over time, damages gum tissue, and can splinter, leaving fragments lodged in the gum.

If something is stuck between your teeth, use floss or an interdental brush. I have videos that walk through exactly how to do this correctly. The toothpick habit is one of those things patients dismiss because it seems harmless, and then they sit in my chair and wish they had stopped years earlier.

Every single regret on this list was preventable. That is the part that stays with me. In almost every case, the patient had an opportunity to avoid the outcome and either did not have the information, did not listen, or convinced themselves it would sort itself out.

I share these stories not to shame anyone but because information is the only thing that changes outcomes. If you are unsure about a treatment plan, get a second opinion. If something feels wrong, come in. If your dentist has told you to come back, come back. And if something you are about to do to your own teeth sounds like it might not be a good idea, it probably is not.

I am here to help you avoid this list, not add to it.

Do not wait until you are sitting in my chair with a regret. Book your appointment at Smilez Dental Surgery today. Call us at 013 692 8249 or visit us at Tasbetpark Center, 8 Boekenout Street, Shop no. 3, Witbank.