I had a tooth removed today.
Yeah, ouch. I am having issues talking right now because of the pain/swelling and frankly? I am having issues enjoying anything about this day. It was a bad experience and I need to step back from the situation, ask for your thoughts, and re-evaluate.
The farthest back tooth on my top left side has been hurting me for a long time. My dentist in KC told me years ago how I needed to have a crown put on in order to prevent it from cracking or breaking. Of course I didn't want to shell out the $100ish at the time, so I kept putting it off.
He was right, and it eventually cracked. See? Here's the picture.
{crack is on bottom, the white thing in-between is food, ha!}
Every time I tried to eat anything it was painful because food would get lodged up in the crack. I had to use my waterpik after I ate anything and particles of my tooth would come out, because the tooth was so weak and just literally falling apart.
A couple months ago I went to a Dentist here in town that, of course, wanted to fix it. {this was before it was painful} He gave me an estimate to have the work done and it was going to be about $1200 out of pocket. Not going to happen. My Mom suggested I just have it pulled... it's the farthest back tooth and no one will ever see it obviously.
Fast forward a couple months and now with the constant pain I was in, I knew I needed to either A.) shell out a bunch of money to have it fixed or B.) have it pulled. If you know me or our financial situation at all, you know option A just wasn't happening. So I made an appt with a different dentist in town that came highly recommended by friends of ours AND my pediatrician.
From the moment that I sat down in the chair this morning they were trying to talk me out of having it pulled. The dentist even made numerous comments about it, but the most annoying one was, "so every time you have a tooth problem you're just going to have it pulled?" He sent in his office manager to talk to me and give me all my financing options for having it fixed instead of pulled. The hygienist asked me at least 2 times "are you sure you want to do this?"
I finally broke down in the chair. Obviously I did not want to have to pull my tooth. But lady, I cannot afford it... $70 vs $1000? What part of that do you not understand? I get it, I realize that obviously it would have been more ideal for me to keep this tooth rather than having it pulled. But I just felt like they were completely insensitive to the fact that I simply stated that I could not afford any more medical expenses and so rude to ask me over and over and over again. Seemed like a money-thirsty dental office and I'm seriously annoyed about it.
How much is too much... I mean, how many times do you have to tell someone "no" before they stop bothering you? Reminds me of when you shop at Old Navy and they ask you 7 million times while they're scanning your clothes if you want to open a credit card.
Am I over reacting or is this "complaint worthy" to you? I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
:( I'm sorry Megan. Definitely complaint worthy in my book. I don't think you are over reacting, I think they were out of line.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely out of line. we had a similar experience last year & I had mine pulled. Haven't missed it a bit!
ReplyDeleteTotally out of line and definitely complaint worthy. Sue their filthy butts! Ok maybe that's too much...but still. Uncalled for.
ReplyDeleteNot cool! I am with you, very unprofessional and complaint worthy for sure. I am sorry they made you feel that way! That is no fun.
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration and would probably let them know in a polite manner. However, you are young and I would give them the benefit of the doubt that they are concerned that you not have a mouth full if missing teeth. My hubby has 6 crowns all of which have come completely out of pocket as we have had no dental insurance (we use a medical credit card that as long as it is paid within a year no interest is charged). I would maybe make the point of the fact that you appreciate the concern for how your mouth will look you simply her made up your mind and would have appreciated them being more respectful. Sorry it has been so rough and the pain of course does not help. Jody
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry, Megan! We did something a little similar lately-James had four cavities, two pretty deep, that had to get filled because neither of us had been to the dentist in like 6 years...it was so much more expensive now, we wished we'd just shelled out the money way earlier...I guess that's a lesson learned!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're overreacting. I just think if you do complain, you need to do it UNemotionally to be taken seriously. So if that means give it some time so you're not going to cry, etc. You can do it!!! Sorry this happened!
So sorry Megan. What makes me angry is the ridiculous costs of everything there. That you have to even be in that situation and make that decision is not right. I can't tell you the number of medical procedures, exams, births, surgery etc. all at probably under 100 Euros! Did I mention that 3 hours in an American ER cost me 1,200 dollars.
ReplyDeleteI should mention that taxes are a LOT higher here but I am happy that we can get the medical care we need without going into debt.
Sorry for writing all that but this subject irritates me a when I see people struggle to get care they need.
They should have just offered it for free or a major reduction if is was so important to them.
All done. Feel better. (: Much love. Debbie
It's not like your ridiculous enough to request to pull teeth you can see :) a tooth is broken, it's unseen, clearly not vital to continue eating, breathing, or living. I think once for them to give you an option rather than what you might have previously thought about is fitting but to go on and on, unacceptable. My vote gets a complaint! (especially since I'm having a back tooth cause me pain at the moment too!)
ReplyDeleteActually, I think I'm probably going to be the only person on here who has mixed feelings about this. (Please don't hate me, everyone!) I can totally see where you're coming from as far as wanting "no" to be enough one time. However, coming from the medical profession, I know how frustrating it can be when you see people make decisions for their health based only on money and in the end are worse off because other things end up going wrong down the line as a result. A lot of times in the health care setting we try to explain to people WHY certain things are important to do a certain way, but they shut us out because they already have their mind made up about what is best (I'm not saying this is you, I'm just saying this happens).It gets SO SO SO frustrating! From where I stand, NO amount of money is worth your health. (once again, your situation may be different because I don't know WHY they were wanting so badly to fix it rather than pull it) Maybe they were concerned about pulling it because of a higher risk of infection, gingivitis, or other problems down the line since it's so far back? It may be worth writing a letter over if you truly felt you were mistreated (such as if they spoke to you in a condescending manner when they were trying to encourage you to go the other direction), but I probably wouldn't take it much farther than that.
ReplyDeleteOkay off my soapbox. Sorry to be the odd man out on that one!
They probably felt obligated to suggest over and over that you not have it pulled to cover their own behinds--to protect them from being sued by someone down the road who says, "But they didn't TELL me...." Obviously, not saying that YOU would do that, but I have no doubt that some people would.
ReplyDeleteStill, frustrating! And yes, I think I might make a written complaint.