Nothing but the Tooth: An Insider’s Guide to Dental Health

Dentist Yang debuts with a pragmatic overview of how patients can navigate the dental care system. To find a good dentist, Yang recommends asking friends for referrals or contacting a local branch of the American Dental Association. She suggests that dental work is expensive primarily because dentists have to recoup student loan debt and the cost of new equipment, but she notes that patients can receive less costly care by seeing a dentist-in-training. Yang walks through common procedures, explaining that root canals are performed by drilling a small opening in the tooth, cleaning the canals that run the length of the tooth, and filling the cavity with a material called gutta percha. Elsewhere, she covers how to get “that perfect smile on Instagram” by bleaching or getting veneers and how often to visit the dentist—once per year is enough for most, though people who are pregnant or have diabetes may want to go more frequently. The guidance is practical, and patients will appreciate the insight into what it’s like on the other end of the drill (“treating your cell phone as a body part” and “chronic lateness” number among dentists’ pet peeves). This will make readers’ next trip to the dentist a little less intimidating. (Aug.)