« Goodbye, Hair, Goodbye | Main | In a rare showing of political consumption... »

August 01, 2007

Hey buddy, those things are attached!

I have issues with my childhood/family dentist. I have for a long time. He's older, he's a bit know-it-all-ish at times, all his patients are members of the Jewish community here in the cities--a community I generally can't stand--which means that visits are full of tense hellos, he sometimes gives me minor grief about refusing novacaine (in the form of a tsk), and when I get caught not flossing enough, he sometimes makes me feel about two inches tall. He has one evil hygienist who I can't stand. He's the dentist my entire family uses, so he's all up in our business all the time. He charges more than average. For years, I've been saying it was time to find a new dentist.

Today I went to another dentist, a dentist endorsed by multiple wonderful people, because I've been in a little pain and hell, it was time. How'd it go? Well, let me put it this way. Tomorrow, I'm calling my childhood dentist to make an appointment to go back to him, even though he's not covered on our insurance.

For one thing, my appointment was done over three hours ago, and my teeth hurt. I mean, OW. Seriously, OW. They hurt even when I just sit and do nothing, and forget about chewing. Not going to happen. I've never ever left a dentist appointment in pain before. For another, he was incredibly impersonal. He made a lot of small talk, but whenever I tried to ask actual questions, they got brushed off. I eventually stopped asking, figuring that I'd either never be coming back or I could make Lauren call and ask later. His assistant was flat out mean to me and VERY rough with my mouth (hence the PAIN) and didn't once say, "I'm about to ____" or "sorry I just gagged you." Lauren had an appointment in the next cube over, and her hygienist, who did most of her appointment, was totally different, gave her options, let her know what was going on, etc. The one thing I hate more than bad service is inconsistent service. If I went back to them, I'd always be wondering if it was going to be miserable or fine.

Then onto some bigger issues. They could NOT comprehend that for me, no novacaine means NO NOVACAINE. I do not do needles. I even explained to them that the last time I had a shot, IV, or blood drawn other than via finger prick (ie, no needle) was when I was eleven, and at that time, I was gassed, and I still freaked (read: started flailing and screaming) when they put the IV in. I told them I've done every filling I've ever had without novacaine, and they were still like, "Um, no, I don't think so, you'll want novacaine." Not even, "Let's talk about this, let's consider options before we make a final decision." He also wrote me a scrip for a sedative for before I have a tooth pulled (yeah, I have a dead baby tooth that's gotta come out, which prompted the whole visit) without asking me ANYTHING about my preferences about drugs. Now, it just so happens that it's... not my preference, but I'm okay with it, IF it were a good solution (trust me, a little pill is not going to make twenty years worth of a phobia abate for even two hours). But what if I was on other meds, or what if I didn't believe in them, or... I don't know, maybe I'm just looking for things to be angry about. Oh, and then we got to talking about the issues with my top teeth, which I know are vast. But my plan has always been braces to fix the gap between the two middle, a bridge where I'm missing a tooth, and a cap on my "peg" tooth, all of which would actually correct the problems where possible. This guy wanted to "fix" it with veneers, which is a purely cosmetic solution and would cost a lot more and seems very unnecessary to me. Take me back to old school, thanks, no quick fix solutions here.

What it comes down to is 1) VERY poor communication, 2) impersonal service, 3) not much understanding or compassion, 4) did I mention I'm in tear-inducing pain?

Lauren, on the other hand, loved it there. She loved the hygienist. Of course, as opposed to the dentist himself, the hygienist told her what she was doing every step of the way (I heard her), asked/warned her about pain, and didn't mutter under her breath about Cher for five minutes straight (okay, that part was kind of funny).

So me and my dead, cracked, painful baby tooth will be returning back to my childhood dentist, who I suddenly have a great deal more love for, even though these things won't be 80% covered by insurance with him. Right now, all I want to do is run right to his office and give him a giant hug and beg him never to ever, ever retire, and then give him my life savings. Since I can't, this rant will have to suffice.

Posted to Miscellaneous at August 1, 2007 02:36 PM

Comments

Posted by: Becky at August 1, 2007 03:14 PM

Posted by: Rebecca at August 1, 2007 03:21 PM

Posted by: Koby at August 1, 2007 03:55 PM

Posted by: Carly at August 1, 2007 09:40 PM