I absolutely feel like I'm at a used car dealership getting the upsell. I told them that. 1st the x-rays, then the dentist's tsk, tsk, tsk. Then handoff to their "finance" person to explain everything the insurance doesn't cover but it can be financed.
Or when I went in for a cleaning and the hygienist is now tsk, tsk, tsk. And explains to me that I need this special protective rinse that my insurance doesn't cover, that'll be an extra $50, but the $35 cleaning is covered. Thank you No Vested Interest for giving me an opportunity to discuss something non political.

I just had a bunch of small fillings done and now I'm being told I need two crowns. They maxed out my insurance for the year and they cannot give me an appointment for a cleaning until July of 2025 but they want me to have the two crowns done ASAP.

Is something wrong with this picture?

Years ago, I bit into a nutshell and cracked a filled molar. It hurt like hell and required a root canal as well as a crown. I have since come across nutshells a few times and have not cracked that or any other crown. Every filled tooth I have either cracked or was on the verge of cracking, so I asked my dentist for crowns, and the insurance company agreed they were necessary. None of them required root canals, likely because there was no trauma involved.

It's possible that some dentists are up-selling, but I don't think mine does that. We go years needing nothing but checkups, cleaning and X-rays. Once they did my X-ray too soon, so it wasn't covered by my insurance. They just wrote it off rather than charging me for their mistake.

I tend to go to older dentists who work alone (plus staff). Maybe that makes a difference, I don't know. I do know there's a place around here that does something fancy with crowns and you don't even need a temporary one, etc. I can't remember the name of it. It requires a very special machine. I'd say if a practice has that machine, they'll want to use it.

Gotta keep that cash flow coming in. There are investors to satisfy.