SO Upset! What would you do???

ChenChen

ChenChen

O.G.
Jan 23, 2007
3,606
30
#1
I'm SO upset! My tooth has been bothering me for the past month and a half, and my dentist HAD originally scheduled me for an appointment on January 25th! His secretary/receptionist had already cancelled my appointment and rescheduled 3(!!) times, because according to them, I can only see that ONE dentist, and he keeps taking time off, but I finally got an appointment with him for today. Come today, March 14th, I go to the office at my scheduled appointment time, and my dentist is NOT THERE AGAIN!

His receptionist didn't even have the common courtesy to call me and tell me that I didn't have to take the day off work (yet again), and when I told her that I had already been cancelled on 4 times, she actually said, "And so what? I've had to reschedule some people 6 times." Um, excuse me, so that means I had to take "only" 4 days off work so that makes it okay?? Then she just let me stand in front of her for 20 minutes without even acknowledging my existence! My tooth started hurting so much I actually started tearing up (I think it's also because I'm under a ton of stress with my work and classes lately), and a dentist assistant happened to come out and take pity on me, and I finally got to see a different dentist in the office. :crybaby:

Sorry for the long rant, but what would you do? I think I'm going to change dentists, because I just can't take this horrible customer service and constant appointment rescheduling anymore! My mom thinks I should write a grievance letter to my dentist and the insurance company regarding the terrible treatment (especially from the receptionist), so is that a good way to go? I'm in desperate need of advice, and I'm so upset! What should I do?
 
#2
I would change dentists too. Also, I'd bill them for your time off of work. I love how they can charge you if you don't cancel within 24 hours, but they're free and clear to do it whenever they please.
 
#3
If you have insurance, and you are using a network provider, call your insurance/managed care company immediatly and tell them you not only want a new dentist ASAP but you want to speak with someone in provider relations to report the very unprofessional issues at the office.
 
#5
Can you tell them you will bill them if your tooth gets worse because they keep rescheduling you? That's horrible of the receptionist to treat you that way and like I don't think I could have held my tongue. Another poster mentioned billing them for your time off. I don't know how you'd go about doing that, but it sounds like a GREAT idea!
 
#6
That is horrible!! My dad has been having teeth issues and they always get him in in a day or two ... the specifically leave times open in the morning for emergencies. You should definitely complain about it to whoever will listen, especially the receptionist!! That is just horrible. I can understand it happening once but FOUR or SIX times?? That's just wrong. And like kpanda21 said, what if your tooth gets worse? You said this has been going on for a month and a half, I would be worried about it spreading or getting worse. :sad: Sorry this had to happen to you!
 
#7
Definitely change dentists. Recently i've been having problems with my wisdom teeth because of my jaw lining and they were thinking of doing all these procedures that I felt like there shouldn't be doing and they've always used mercury fillings on me which I wanted them to stop doing but even though I said please use composet or porcelain fillings instead and they say okay, i'd open my mouth and there's a spot of silver!! So I contacted a specialist about my wisdom tooth problem and told me the only thing I need to do was to get back on a retainer (which I was using when I was a kid) to push my teeth back forward and my wisdom teeth would be able to grow in fine and then we can just take them out, instead of this crazy procedure my current dentist was thinking of doing.

So I contacted him and asked him what was his opinion on what the previous dentist had said that I had different options. And of course you never get in touch with the dentist and only their assistant and I guess me asking for the opinion came to a compelete shock to her and she didn't know what to say so she took it into offense. She later on said that this (new) dentist that i've been talking to didn't know what she was talking about and basically said everything minus actually saying she was stupid (when she is one of the top dentists in my province) and basically went out saying that she wasn't even on the clock anymore so she didn't have to talk with me and hung up on me.

For the next few days I tried to contact my dentist (mind you, i've been going there since I was a kid) and she would NOT let me talk to him and she insisted that he didn't want to hear my '*****ing' and that if I wanted my records to be forwarded to a new dentist then good luck because it wasn't going to happen.

Little did she know, I had my dentists cell and home phone number. I called him, left a message, and a few days later he got back to me.

I told him what his 'assistant' is reflecting on him and that he shouldn't have to have someone who's perceiving him after 30 years of hard work, like that.

Long story short - I got my records forwarded and am at a new dentist and I LOVE IT.

I've never loved the dentist before but I absolutely love going there now! Everyone is extremely friendly - and especially in the dental industry, it should definitely be expected.
 
#8
Irishgal said:
If you have insurance, and you are using a network provider, call your insurance/managed care company immediatly and tell them you not only want a new dentist ASAP but you want to speak with someone in provider relations to report the very unprofessional issues at the office.
Click to expand...

In total agreement!
 
#9
Irishgal said:
If you have insurance, and you are using a network provider, call your insurance/managed care company immediatly and tell them you not only want a new dentist ASAP but you want to speak with someone in provider relations to report the very unprofessional issues at the office.
Click to expand...


I agree!! 100 times over!! That is terrible and unprofessional of a business. If they lose clients, maybe that will be a wake-up call!
 
#10
Definitely follow the advice of Irishgal. Please don't delay in finding a new dentist and ask your current dentist to send your dental records to the new dentist's office, too.
 
#11
Thanks everyone for the support! I'm definitely going to change dentists and let my insurance provider know what's going on. I doubt the receptionist would be willing to transfer my dental records after the way she already treated me, but we'll see. You've all me feel a whole lot better about this situation though!
 
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