Went in for a crown the other day. The dentist got called away to a different patient midway through. Anesthesia started wearing off. Dentist took her time with the other patient. I was fairly tensed up by the time she got back. I was doing my best to balance being polite with limiting how much the pain affected me. The longer she was gone, the less I was able to pretend I wasn’t in pain. My strategy for pain management is tensing inwards, and I hadn’t raised my voice or cursed. I was waiting for my turn.
A friend who works there later told me that the dentist said I scared her and she thought I was going to harm her. I can’t seem to make sense of that. I can’t think of what threatening behavior I displayed, unless dentists getting attacked by patients is just a thing they have to deal with.
Sorry but there is a lot of bizarre takes in this thread. I work in healthcare - the issue here is she LEFT you during a procedure to deal with another patient after comencing your procedure. What!? What other patient - she had already started a procedure on you and had anaethetised you and then left the room? And then by the time she came back and continued the procedure she got to the point where she couldn’t provide any more anaesthetic?
The whole thing sounds like a mess. If for example she is running multiple rooms at the same time then that is frankly bad practice and greed.
Your friend’s feedback that you “made the dentist feel threatened” is also bizarre. You’re the one in the dentist chair, mouth open while someone is approaching your with drills and metal work. If she felt “threatened” then she should have abandoned the procedure completely - not leave and come back. Patients can be very anxious and tense - thats normal and either you know how to deal with it or you don’t. As a health care professional on the occasions you can’t deal with it, then you don’t proceed - stop, make it safe and get someone else to do it. This was an elective procedure to fix a crown - why on earth would she then proceed with a procedure after having felt “threatened” - it doesn’t make sense.
That dental practice sounds like a joke to be honest. Either your dentist is inappropriately treating multiple patients at the same time or she is indecisive - feeling threatened, walking off for safety but then coming back and completeing the procedure makes no sense and just made everything worse. You’re hardly going to be less tense with this dentist after that experience.
Find another dentist.
I fully believe the dental profession attracts a lot of sadists and freaks. Truly, I have had some horiffic experiences.
I think the previous generations were conditioned to accept it, because the technology and techniques were much more uncomfortable. My parents are impressed as long as the dentist isn’t intentionally injuring them, lol.
The best thing I did was switch to a practice for people with dental phobia, and they literally don’t do anything special except be very gentle, and make sure you’re well anesthesized, and communicate everything, and check in with you frequently, and give plenty of breaks. Like every dentist should do.
People should feel free to be picky about what kind of dentist they see! You can actually have comfortable dental procedures these days!
My dentist is great, could almost fall asleep. Took me 20 years between seeing one and it was only because i broke a tooth and had to do something about it. Glad i did. Wish i had gone sooner. If only for a cleaning
They doing a local or general anesthesia?
I’ve only needed local anesthesia so far, but they also do general anesthesia there.
It’s a one dentist small practice. She left and gave the assistant an assignment that didn’t require her supervision. The procedure didn’t stop. Well, it did when I wasn’t able to proceed and then we waited for her to return.
Not sure how long we waited the first time or the second time. I only know a crown and a filling took 4.5 hours of chair time. And then I waited for 50 minutes curled up in my car in a grocery store parking lot waiting for the tylenol/advil to kick enough that I could pay attention to driving home.
I would love another dentist now, but that might have to wait. The crown feels like some of its resin extends into my gumline which is causing swelling and pain. I was told no other dentist would help me because it would mean assuming liability for someone else’s procedure.
I have an undignified aversion to going back to this particular dentist though. Hopefully my body can block out the memories of the sensations soon.
Talk to a lawyer right away. This is screwed up and the lawyer may well take your case paid on contingency (eg, if and when you win a malpractice suit.)
Good luck. 4.5 hours is an eternity in the chair and the work sounds shoddy.
deleted by creator