Recently, the news that an 80-year-old man in Shanghai was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment after 9 teeth were extracted at one time in a private dental hospital was jaw-dropping. The original treatment plan of this hospital was to extract a total of 10 teeth from this octogenarian.
Such a ridiculous behavior can’t help but make people ask: Is it really reasonable for such a large-scale tooth extraction for the elderly? The hospital responded lightly: “No problem”, and the patient has signed an informed consent form. But behind this consent form, is there any misleading and helpless information asymmetry?
Coincidentally, a similar case has occurred in Yongkang, Zhejiang before. According to local media reports, an old man had 23 teeth extracted at one time last year and 12 implants. The pain continued after the operation, and the old man died of cardiac arrest 13 days later. The more teeth are extracted, the greater the patient’s pain reaction, and the probability of postoperative infection increases. Why are these dental hospitals keen on tooth extraction? Behind this, perhaps it is the temptation of high profits.
As the unit price of dental implants decreases, some institutions seek profits by increasing the number of surgeries in order to make up for the profit gap. This phenomenon of excessive tooth extraction and implantation not only violates medical ethics, but also greatly increases the risk of patients. The elderly are already weak and sick, and such tossing is undoubtedly worse. Once money “blinds” their eyes, tooth extraction and implantation become a cold “transaction”.
In order to attract patients, these institutions have taken great pains and adopted “fast-selling” to attract customers. Walking on the streets, slogans such as “implant teeth in the morning and eat meat in the afternoon” can be seen everywhere, as if tooth extraction and implantation have become a trivial matter. What’s more, “AI outbound call push” is used for indiscriminate promotion, and the phone rings one after another, which makes people very annoyed. Some advertisements even make assertions about the efficacy and safety of related medical services, and even compare the efficacy and safety with other medical devices, which clearly violate the relevant provisions of the “Advertising Law”.
Why is “fast-selling” medical care repeatedly banned? The root cause lies in false propaganda and low-price bait driven by interests. Dental diseases are common among the elderly, and their awareness of fraud prevention is relatively weak. A few attractive slogans and seemingly favorable prices can easily make them “open their mouths” and fall into the trap.
Shanghai has many famous dental hospitals, and each district has a dental prevention center, with relatively abundant medical resources. Why do the elderly still choose private dental hospitals that may have risks? This is related to the false propaganda of some private hospitals, as well as the limited access to medical information and weak ability to distinguish between the elderly. Some elderly people are afraid of or misunderstand public hospital dentistry, believing that public hospitals are crowded, queues are long, and services are poor, while private hospitals have elegant environments and considerate services. Therefore, in addition to reminding elderly patients to open their eyes, choose regular medical institutions, and improve their ability to distinguish risks, we need to do more.
Market supervision, health and other departments should jointly enforce the law, increase crackdowns, and severely punish illegal and irregular behaviors. For those institutions that promote in supermarkets, vegetable markets, and communities, their qualifications and advertising content should be strictly reviewed to ensure the authenticity and legality of the information. At the same time, supervision of private dental hospitals should be strengthened to prevent them from using the “fast-selling” medical model to defraud elderly patients.
In addition, we should strengthen health education for the elderly to improve their medical knowledge and anti-fraud awareness. The community can invite authoritative medical institutions to hold lectures and distribute promotional materials to let the elderly understand the correct medical knowledge and medical treatment channels to avoid them falling into medical traps.
Don’t let tooth extraction and dental implants become a new trick to “defraud the elderly”. The whole society should work together to create a safe and reliable medical environment for the elderly, so that they can enjoy their old age and live a long and healthy life.
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