Bait and Switch

Since October when I got my first root canal, and through my quest to find a dentist that actually tells you when you have cavities,  I have been to see someone in the tooth profession (dentist, endodontist, prosthodontist) 10 times. With the root canals, I can finally chew without pain. (I ate apple skins! Yay!) I now have new crowns so I have teeth to chew with. (Went with stub teeth without temporaries for a couple of weeks since they were root canalled teeth.) Today I went to get my cavities filled. So glad to be getting everything fixed!

Remember how I interviewed a few dentists so I could get one I felt really good about? Well today when I showed up for my appointment, it was with a totally different dentist. Whose flight was running late so I actually was seeing a third guy in the office.

I totally felt like I was back having a baby. When it comes right down to the actual hard part, you have no idea who the doctor will be delivering. Ugh. (In my case, midwife.)

So I said, "I didn't schedule an appointment with him. I scheduled with the other guy."
No, he doesn't work on Tuesdays.
"Well, that's weird. Because his hygenist was the one who actually scheduled my appointment."

So I got the bait and switch. Exactly what I was afraid of with a guy who is practically retired.

After some internal debate I stayed anyway. When I walked to the room, the assistant said, "So we're filling cavities on the top left side of your mouth! And then the chart says you're coming back next week to do the bottom and another appointment for the other top side!"

"No. I'm getting the whole top done today. Both sides. That's what we decided last time I was here."

She said she needed to ask if that was ok. (Well it was ok when I talked to the guy who I thought was going to be my dentist a few weeks ago and that's what he suggested!)

So I got numbed by one dentist. He was like, "Hi! Good to see you again, Angela!" And you know what? Sometimes I just go along with the story, not wanting to embarrass the person catching them pretending to know me. But this time I didn't. I was friendly, but I just said, "We've never met. It was your dad I saw before." And he's like, "Oh! Ha, Ha!"

He did agree to fix the whole top of my mouth. (Even though that wasn't the plan in the chart.) He was very jovial.

And then after I was sufficiently numb, the dentist came back in the room. Only apparently the other dentist's plane had arrived so it was this guy that came in. And he totally did the same thing! "Hi, Angela! Great to see you again! How's everything going?"
"We've never met," I said. "Because my last appointment was with Dentist #1."
"Oh, I was wondering why you didn't look familiar! Ha, ha!" Then Dentist #2 came in and joked that next the UPS man will be trying to do dental work on me. And they laughed and laughed about it like it was hilarious.

And yes, I can see the humor in it. But I didn't spend several hours interviewing several dentists only to choose one and then get "reassigned" to someone totally unfamiliar. Not to mention not have my procedure detailed correctly in the chart.

And you know what else bugs me? When I walked in to the office, the girl at the front desk was chewing and I had to wait for her to finish chewing and swallow. She apologized and I told her not to worry because I've done the same thing. (Of course, not when I'm working!) But, you know what I think now? I think it's gross. Don't eat while you're working the front desk! Be professional! Geez.