Do you avoid the dentist due fear or finances?

Here, in Poland, where our dental service is near 100% privatized, there were few cases of dentist scamming patients by "fixing" healthy teeth. Even when it's all legit, prices are a scam on its won. So yeah... I only go when it hurts me. And I mean, when it hurts A LOT XD

But let's be real, what normal person would wake up and say "I should look in people's mouth for a living".

Ignoring issues because you don't trust a dentist's motives is going to end in a lot of issues you could have avoided. If you're not sure about a specific dentist, go see another one and compare notes. Most people aren't aware of their dental issues until they've gotten completely out of control. At which point, you'll be spending much more money, will likely be in significant pain, and the procedures will be far more invasive.

As far as how often you brush annd floss, you also need to look at what you're consuming. Drink soda? You need to brush more often. Eat a lot of sweets or citrus. Same. And so on.

Here's another option: go to the equivalent of a teaching hospital (clinic/center whatever), medical students are always looking for people to practice on, and you get the procedures for free ;)

It's usual to go to the dentist once a year, then you do dental hygiene (the cleaning lady) twice a year, so what she said sounds like normal practise, no matter how good someone's teeth are, especially since they can perfectly remove stuff like hardened dental plaque which just happens normally (at least based on my experience).
The main thing is to find someone that you like though, then you'll feel better about all of it, even your finances since they're going towards the right thing.