Do I need a new dentist?

[Sephus]

i didn't go to the dentist for like 3 years so when i finally did i needed 6 fillings (i think they were especially "high tech" tooth-colored fillings). the dentist also said i was grinding my teeth so he had me get this nighttime biteguard ($450 out of pocket). he also convinced me to get 3 wisdom teeth removed (two of which i was never really convinced needed to go), including one that had to be cut out surgically. i more than maxed out my insurance for 2005 and ended up spending well over a grand.

today i'm eating lunch and the face of one of my molars comes off (like 1/6 or so of the tooth). it's one of the ones i had at least one cavity in, apparently the drilling undermined the face of the tooth. (maybe his fault?)

i'm already starting to wonder if this guy is primarily interested in my money and when i went in to have him look at it, they told me they had to take an x-ray, which i didn't question despite the fact that the "hole" is completely outside of the gumline and they've taken multiple x-rays in the last six months of the same tooth. when he came in to look at me he didn't look at the x-ray at all, so after the fact i'm wondering why the [censored] i paid for that.

i've almost maxed out this year's insurance already and he wants to do a crown (another $750 out of pocket), which i'm really tempted to do because i don't want to live with 5/6 of a tooth back there. i could go to a second dentist but that means paying for another visit and he'll probably suggest a crown too anyway.

am i a sap for just taking his word for everything? he seems highly competent and i don't really know dick about teeth so when he says i need stuff, i just get it.

should i make a big deal about not wanting to pay for the x-ray if they can't come up with a good reason for me needing it? what about getting a different guy to do the crown, good idea?