If cutting your own hair with your vacuum saves you money, think of the bucks you can sock away by doing your own dental work. No more waiting in a room stocked with old issues of Highlights and Muzak versions of Air Supply songs so some uppity dentist, high on his medical degree and years of training, can take your hard-earned cash.

All you need is a computer with a modem, some basic household tools and perhaps some gauze to wipe up the blood. Anyone with an Internet connection can dial up any number of sites that offer step-by-step instructions on pulling your own teeth, filling your own cavities and performing your own root canals.

Forget dental school, the Internet knows what it's doing, and who wouldn't trust unverified information about major medical procedures posted by strangers? They don't just give these Internet sites to anyone; you have to pass a rigorous screening process that checks both your ability to type your name and whether you possess $70.

Of course, some of us have learned that access to information and the ability to use that information properly are entirely different things. Though the Internet has put instructions for everything from bomb building to microwave-oven repair and self-appendectomy only a few buttons away, most people have had the good sense to exercise some judgment.

Unfortunately, this rational thinking disappears when it comes to investing online. Millions of Internet users have taken their money away from their stockbrokers and put it into Internet accounts.

While this may be less messy than removing your own teeth or building your own dialysis machine, it makes about as much sense. Most stockbrokers spend their entire day following the market while all the majority of regular people have time to do is flip through the Wall Street Journal.

Skimming a newspaper and investing your money based on that information is like leafing through Aviation magazine 10 minutes before you attempt a solo flight. You might have some short-term success, but in both scenarios, the amateur crashes a lot more often than the professional.

Unfortunately, the onset of Internet brokerage accounts coincided with an unprecedented rise in the stock market, specifically in Internet stocks. Individual investors tend to buy the stocks they've heard of, and of course, the people trading online were overly familiar with Net stocks.

This caused a short-term boom, because a large number of traders wanted pieces of a relatively small pie. Lack of availability, not profitability, earnings growth or any other accepted financial barometer, pushed these stocks to ridiculous heights, and for a while, more people kept jumping on the bandwagon.

Scarcity might be a good reason to buy a Beanie Baby or a Star Wars action figure, but buying stock for that reason is foolhardy. When stocks hit highs that have no relationship to the actual performance of the business, the professionals know to get out. That leaves individual investors stuck either selling at a loss or waiting for a recovery that may never come.

Just like you brush your teeth, floss occasionally and do some other things that aid your overall dental health, there's no harm in dabbling with online stocks. Keep a small Web broker account to chase down all the rumors you heard over the water cooler and gamble on whatever hunches you may have. But when your retirement plan needs oral surgery or your kid's college fund has to get braces, let your broker help you out.