Darrell broke a tooth a few weeks ago and it's been causing him a lot of pain. He went to our dentist here in town and was told he'd need a root canal (which we figured). They said they wanted to refer him to another dentist to do it. Okay, fine. They sent Darrell home with a prescription for antibiotics and painkillers, and an appointment with the new dentist that was two weeks away. Two.Weeks.Away. He had to get refills on the scripts because the pain wasn't going away and was even causing his ear to feel like it hurt, too. It's been keeping him up nights and really, really bothering him.
So... Finally, his appointment for the root canal was yesterday. He gets there and the dental assistant girl wants to do a bunch of stuff to check the tooth. She starts tapping each tooth, wanting to know which ones hurt. Well, duh, the one that's broken with the root exposed is the one that hurts. But that's not enough experimentation for her. Next, Sadie the Sadist sticks a cotton swab with really cold stuff on it into the broken tooth. Darrell was about to rip the chair's arm off, it hurt so bad. He's sitting there thinking, "Why do they have to do all this crap? Just get on with fixing it." The girl finally determines that Darrell does, in fact, need a root canal. Darrell was getting confused and frustrated and thinking, "HUH? Didn't we all already know that? That's why I'm here!"
When the dentist finally came in, he went on and on explaining to Darrell what they would do to the tooth. Darrell was trying to be patient and let him know that he had had a root canal before, and knew what to expect (in other words- Just flippin' get on with it, already!). Next, the dentist walks out, the dental assistant girl says, "Thank you. They'll schedule your appointment up front," and Darrell is thinking, "What the %&*#?" He gets to the window, wanting to know what is going on, and was told this appointment was just for an evaluation and they now need to schedule an appointment for the root canal. Oh, and that will be $132.00, thank you.
Darrell was not happy. Poor guy- telling himself for two weeks that this is the day it will be fixed, just to be sent home still in pain- AND getting charged 132 dollars to have a cold Q-tip stuck down into your pitiful little stump of a tooth.
They got him back in this morning (only because they had a cancellation) to do the actual root canal. Another $437.00. AND he still needs to go back to our regular dentist to get the crown put on. They only did a temporary one today.
I'm ready to go all redneck and whup me five-hunnerd-n-sixty-nine dollars worth of dentist buttocks.
10 comments:
Dentists are SO FRUSTRATING! Hate to say it, but wait until you get the bill for the crown. Mine was $800.
Medical type offices/practices just make me go "grrrr" in so many different ways, and for so many different reasons. I'm glad to hear he was at least able to go back in today. But why does one dentist have to do the root canal and the other one have to do the crown? What the frap? Are dentists starting to break their work down into specialties now? You go to the family practice dentist for a cleaning, and the filling guy for the fillings, and the root canal guy for the roots, and the crown guy for the crowns, and the gum guy for the gums, and the cosmetics guy for the chipped tooth (that doesn't expose any root, just looks bad because it's one of my husband's front teeth)? That sounds as tedious as . . . as . . . as going to the doctor.
Oh man, I would be so ticked! Hope at least it doesn't hurt him anymore.
Wow, that...well...sucks. I am in need of a root canal. I got this news a couple of weeks ago at a cleaning. I've been putting it off b/c I can't find a babysitter. Now you've got me a little worried that it's gonna' break off or something. Ok, making the appointment next week...(my regular dentist is going to do it.)
He had to wait two weeks? I had to wait more than 6 weeks to get an appointment with my OBGYN, and I"m not a new patient. And people are worried about waits in there's some sort of nationalized health care. We already have it!
btw, I've had five root canals, so I can sympathize. And last time I broke a tooth (popcorn!), I had to get an implant. That made the root canal and crown seem like a bargain ($3000 versus $1000 for root canal and crown).
wow! So sorry. I would have been very mad too.
This is a true story--Everytime we add another child to our family Oliver ends up with a root canal. He just had one on March 6th and our adoption was final March 13th. Oliver has had 5 root canals!!!! He says no more children-he does not want to have another root canal done!
Wow, just reading about the pain he must have gone through makes me cringe.
How frustrating to have to come BACK for an appt. after waiting 2 weeks. I hope he is feeling better now.
I wouldn't have been that patient with them!! I would have FLIPPED on them, I fear!!
well chelle I can tell you that you for sure didn't want your dentist here in town to do that root canal, he did Michaels and we had to hava a specialist "fix" things for him! And we had to pay for everything again!!! I am moving all of our family to a dentist in another town altogether! That consultation should have included time scheduled to get the flipping root canal done and it should have been scheduled as soon as the antibiotics were in his system good, that dosn't take TWO WEEKS!! Really irritates me...poor Darrell and you and the rest of the family that had to listen to him moan and carry on!
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