Changing Doctors and Dentists is a pain in the ass!

When I retired, I moved one county to the North. The county I originally lived in for 57 or so years is about 4 to 5 times the population, compared to my present location.
Primary Care Doctors, Dentists, Dermatology Doctors, Eye Doctors, are in much greater numbers in my old county. (all of which senior citizens are in need of)
I just did the 80 mile drive (round trip) whenever I had an appointment rather than switching. (rural two lane blacktop roads for the commute, not much traffic)

I just switched my Eye Doctor to my post retirement location. The better half had gotten some grit under her contact lens several years ago and was quite satisfied with the local Ophthalmologist.
My Ophthalmologist appointment earlier this week went fine and now it's one less trip to my old county.

The Dentist is an entirely different situation.
A young man freshly out of Dentist School apparently came from a family with money. (20 years ago)
He bought the Dentist Office/practice from a guy who was ready to retire.
It was an easy/good way for a new Dentist to get an established practice.
A nice down payment to the old guy retiring, and monthly payments to the old guy until the note was paid off.

About four years ago something changed with the new Dentist.
He became unavailable. If you needed actual dentistry work (filling, crown, cracked tooth) it took 3 or more tries to get into the office. He would repeatedly cancel and reschedule.
The routine stuff, cleanings/x-rays/fluoride are all done by the staff in the Office and they did good work.
So I stayed.

I heard multiple excuses from the Office staff why the Dentist rarely showed up in the Office. (pending Divorce, Sports Injury, Stomach Bug, and many many more)
I heard on the street it had been self administered narcotics and he was now in a diversion program, but have no way to verify.

The Office staff continued generating the income that kept the doors open

When you actually endured 3 or more cancellations trying to see the Dentist, and did get in to see him, he continued doing excellent work.

Several weeks ago I cracked a tooth, called the Office and they had an opening the next morning.
When I got up to get showered and leave for the drive to the Dentist Office, they called and said he wasn't coming in and the appointment was cancelled.

Today, I called the Dentist Office and told them to FUCK OFF! I told them whatever the Dentist's issues were, I was done and they wouldn't inconvenience me or family members ever again.
And I called about two hours before my step-daughters cleaning appointment. I hope the Office has some down time today and lost revenue.
Fuck them!

I have an appointment with a new Dentist in my new county in several weeks.

I have fired a few health care providers for crap like this. Things like late cancellation on their part, habitually keeping me sitting on my ass in the waiting room for an hour past the appointed time, failure to communicate, etc.

I have no need to put up with that shit. They would not take it from me, why should I take it from them?

quote:

And I called about two hours before my step-daughters cleaning appointment. I hope the Office has some down time today and lost revenue.
Fuck them!

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would guess he is in a treatment program for alcohol and or drugs.It happens. That whole situation could have been handled much better. THe office certainly had some idea of when he would return. You will find out with time. Good luck.

That's not good.

I was in private practice for a bit over 30 years and cancelled the day maybe 5 times, tops. There were a couple of major blizzards that shut almost everything down, a kidney stone and one bout of norovirus. Other than that, all days off were scheduled in advance and never booked with patients.

That's is crazy, I would not tolerate that bullshit at all.

My dentist (the practice) is the same that I've been going to since like 8th grade so 35+ years now. The original dentists (two brothers) who founded it retired and sold it to a young guy about 12-13 years ago like in your situation but he has been really great and expanded the facility and the service is amazing.

I did drop a cardiologist, he was German like thick accent German and did not have a great bedside manner and had something against salt, like to to point of harassing me each time I went that I needed to stop using any and all salt of any kind. I don't have high BP and other than the random Afib, I don't have any heart issues and was kind of confused about his anti-salt stance. I moved back to one my Dad has seen for years and she has been really good.

We've been going to the same doc (GP) for 30+ years. He is a great guy, but there were some bumps in the road.

Like most practices, they have rules where the reserve the right to bill you for missed appointments or late cancelations. But, for a while, on every visit, the doc would be 30 or more minutes late. The nurse or receptionist always had the same excuse, that he got held up by a "patient emergency".

After this happening about 4 or 5 times in a row, when he finally came in after keeping me waiting 45 minutes, I said "Did your patient make it?". He says "What?". I told him that the "patient emergency" excuse was getting pretty old. I said I understood his time was valuable, but I valued my time too. If he was going to keep me waiting every time, I reserved the right to deduct $$ from his bill for my wasted time.

It's possible that I was not the only patient to complain. To his credit, he got a lot better after that.

Yes, I get to meet the new GP Doctor sometime in early summer.
Can't wait...
The old guy that is retiring is a great Doctor. A genuine country Doctor.
One that flies helicopters, plays with tractors and other cool stuff.
I'm going to miss him.
His replacement is new, young, and from Canada. British Columbia.
What could possibly go wrong here?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would guess he is in a treatment program for alcohol and or drugs.It happens. That whole situation could have been handled much better. THe office certainly had some idea of when he would return. You will find out with time. Good luck.

It certainly reads like active addiction.

You're a patient man. I have fired dentists for much less.

As far as long distance dental travel, I might have the distance record for Sigforum. I lived in Anchorage 5 years and really liked my dentist as they were punctual, friendly, and skilled. About a dozen of us moved to Canada to manage an oil & gas project and became expats. I started hearing horror stories from my coworkers on how bad the expat dental program was and a cleaning in Calgary was $500 to $600 CAD out of pocket. I traveled to Anchorage quarterly so I kept my dentist in Anchorage the entire time I lived in Calgary. My last day in Anchorage, I'd have a 7 AM dental cleaning and then drive to the airport for my mid-morning flight.

quote:

The routine stuff, cleanings/x-rays/fluoride are all done by the staff in the Office and they did good work.
So I stayed.

I heard multiple excuses from the Office staff why the Dentist rarely showed up in the Office. (pending Divorce, Sports Injury, Stomach Bug, and many many more)
I heard on the street it had been self administered narcotics and he was now in a diversion program, but have no way to verify.

The Office staff continued generating the income that kept the doors open

Is that even legal for hygienists, dental assistants, etc. to be seeing patients without the dentist in the office? It looks like a lot of states don't allow a hygientist to supervise dental assistants.

quote:

s that even legal for hygienists, dental assistants, etc. to be seeing patients without the dentist in the office? It looks like a lot of states don't allow a hygientist to supervise dental assistants.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All about the money. Expertise has little to do with it. Look at the rules for NPs. Big moneymaker for docs with very little work.