How Lindy is dentistry?
To me, going to the dentist is a bit like going to a used car salesman, and asking, “Hey, do I need to buy a car?” So many people I know who went to dentists have had their teeth filled, extracted, and generally messed with. On the contrary, I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen dentists in my life, and I am doing just fine. I suspect Nature has her ways.
Yesterday, I went to have my teeth cleaned. The hygienist went above and beyond her duty in cleaning out plaque, to the point where I was seriously worried some perfectly good tooth enamel were going away. (Why do you think our teeth is so sensitive these days? It may not be simply due to decay from so much sugar). Afterward, she recommended that I follow up for “deep cleaning,” where, to the best of my understanding, they would have to basically tear my gums apart, clean things out, and let the gums reattach themselves stronger(?) to my teeth.
Now, tell me, why the hell would I do that, and how is this Lindy? Did our ancestors have “deep cleaning?” I doubt they even cleaned away their plaque very much. Now, granted, some dental problems were serious to the point of causing death. By all means, go to the dentist (or doctor) when you are in an emergency. But when our ancestors survived without dentists, they were probably just fine (except for a little pain here and there). When I asked my mother, who is a highly experienced general practitioner, about “deep cleaning,” she immediately advised against it, judging from her years of experience. I suspected as much, but now I am even more convinced. Not to mention that “deep cleaning” does not come cheap: it will cost my insurance $400, while I will have to co-pay $100. As if that wasn’t enough, they also wanted to extract all four of my wisdom teeth. Since they were so insistent about it, this makes me even more suspicious.
This is a little microcosm that demonstrates why interventionism is generally a bad idea, especially in more serious and large scale affairs such as warfare. Sometimes, leaving things alone is the best course of action. Do you see other animals lining up to go see their dentists? Complex things have a way of working things out by themselves, especially something that has evolved over millions of years, if not more.
