Are dentists scamming us? We investigate
NO SUCH THING
iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope
4.6 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s episode, we tackle a question we’ve all wondered: Are dentists scamming us? We dive into the dark history of dentistry, find out why dental insurance sucks, hear from someone who uncovered a dentist drilling teeth for profit, and talk to a startup founder who’s looking to upend the whole industry.
Lilly Kaplan — licensed therapist and Reality Test newsletter author — sits in for Manny this week.
Listen to: Do you need therapy? (ft. Lilly)
Our guests this week are:
- AJ Jacobs, journalist and New York Times bestseller.
- Dr. Sarah Stuefen, general dentist in Iowa and spokesperson for the American Dental Association.
- Dr. Cheryline Pezzullo, general dentist and clinical associate professor.
- Dr. Brandon Zeidler, doctor of dental surgery.
- Tyler Burnett, cofounder of Wally Health.
For links to research and more, check out our newsletter.
Have a question you want us to answer or a dentist story you want to share? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at (860) 325-0286
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Noah. |
| 0:11.9 | This is Devin. |
| 0:12.7 | Today's episode, a question that nags at me every time I sit in one of their chairs. Our dentists scamming us? |
| 0:26.3 | We dig into the dental industry's surprisingly dark history. |
| 0:30.9 | A lot of the replacement teeth were from corpses. |
| 0:35.5 | We hear from someone who uncovered a dentist drilling healthy teeth for profit. |
| 0:40.1 | How did I let this happen to me, 28 root canals? I must be stupid. |
| 0:43.5 | And I talk with a startup founder who's trying to blow up the entire industry. |
| 0:48.0 | Going to the dentist is one of the biggest scams of our modern time. |
| 1:01.0 | Okay. is one of the biggest scams of our modern time. There's no such thing. |
| 1:03.0 | No such thing. |
| 1:06.0 | No such thing. |
| 1:09.0 | No such thing. Hi, guys. How's it going? I'm so happy to be back. therapist and the writer of the reality test newsletter, Lily Kaplan. |
| 1:28.9 | Hi, guys. |
| 1:29.6 | How's it going? |
| 1:30.3 | I'm so happy to be back. |
| 1:32.0 | You may remember Lily from the Do I Need Therapy episode. |
| 1:36.8 | So we're glad to have you back for a discussion that has nothing to do with therapy. |
| 1:40.8 | I love that. |
| 1:42.8 | But Lily, But, really, |
| 1:44.5 | actually, |
| 1:45.0 | specifically we wanted you on this episode |
... |
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