A Plug for Professionals

I see a lot of mouths every day. Some are in good condition, some are in not-so-good condition. I saw one the other day that was impressive. Not so much in a good way, but impressive...
I wish I had some pictures to post, but I don't. Plus, I don't have his permission to use any, so....
Anyway, the real issues he had were with previous dental work. Now when someone has beautiful dental work in their mouth, I normally will say something like, "Wow! That's some nice gold work there!" If they have "bad work" I don't say anything about the work--I don't know what the circumstances were surrounding whatever work was done, I assume the previous dentist did their best--but I simply state what I see that needs to be fixed. Well, in this particular case I was astonished at how badly some of his fillings had been done. They had very blatant mistakes that a first-year dental student could see and would know are very, very bad. Frankly, these kinds of mistakes lead to worse problems further down the line. As we were talking during his appointment, he told me that he used to go to Tijuana to get all of his dental work done because it was cheaper, but now the traveling is too expensive.
I need to tread carefully here--I know that other countries have good healthcare. I feel that the United States health care is of exceptional quality. I know that accessibility is an issue, but that's another post (or four).
In particular, dentistry south of the border is reputed to be, admittedly cheaper, but second (or fourth)-rate.
Which brings me to my point: If you're going to have something done, have it done by the right person!
If you're going to hire a plumber, hire a professional plumber! Not your neighbor who took a plumbing class in college! They may be able to fix your leak, but they might cause three more in the process.
If you're going to get a marriage counselor, go see a professional marriage counselor! Don't entrust your relationship and your psyche to your neighbor who went through a divorce and is willing to pass on what they learned from their experience to you for free. Pay the money and get the proper help! Besides, you never know--they may have ulterior motives...and it's likely that they'll cause more damage.
Don't go to an overweight personal trainer if you're looking to shed a few pounds. Reading "You, On a Diet" is not sufficient quailfication...
Likewise, if you're going to go to a dentist, go where you know they have strict regulations regarding what qualifies someone to perform dentistry! It's too easy to mess things up even for a professional, let alone for an amateur--and in a lot of cases if things aren't done right, they can end up leaving you in worse shape than you were in to begin with, like my latino friend with the fillings.
I know these are fairly extreme situations I bring up, but this has lots of application. Someone may seem qualified but might end up causing you more problems and grief in the process of trying to help you. I'm all about getting the right help from the right person.
I'm just sayin'...