Yesterday I had a dental appointment for a cleaning and a filling which was scheduled six months ago.

I show up for the appontment and I’m told they don’t have my cleaning scheduled.

(Some background - this was a vacation day for me and the dentist is a 45 minute drive from my house one way. Also, i have been seei g this dentist for 8 years).

Then the dentist walks in and starts on about doing my filling. Note - this person is not my regular dentist. He is the father who owns the practice but his son is my regular dentist. They say my dentist is busy so the father will be doing my filling.

I say: What about my cleaning? Will that be done today also?

He says: No, we don’t have you booked for that.

I say: I booked this six months ago specificLly wanting both servces done in one visit.

At this point he starts getting annoyed that I’m questioning this.

He then makes an excuse about the scheduling people being busy over rhe holidays as to why my appointment as messed up and he says I’d have ro reschedule the cleaning appointment but he would do the filling right now.

Now I’m irritated about having to come back again for another appointment to get a cleaning I already scheduled.

I ask if there is any way I can have the cleanng done today?

He says: There might be a cancellation in an hour and if so, they can fit in my cleaning.

I say: Is that guaranteed that I will have the cleaning done or just a possibility?

My thoughts are he should get me in for both services to correct their error and avoid making me go through the trouble of making another appointment at my inconvenience. I’m also not wanting to have this dentist who is at least 70 years old and angry at me working on my teeth, so if they won’t do my cleaning during this visit I’d rather reschedule both procedures again and enjoy my day off.

He then gets visibly more agitated and says he can’t guarantee to have my cleaning done if the other patient shows up but again he can do the filling now.

I say: If you can’t do both today, I prefer to reschedule both for the same day at a later date.

Now he’s pissed, and goes into a mild rage.

He says: My time is valuable, and I have time for you now.

I say: What about my time? Either way I need to reschedule and I prefer to have both services done at the same time?

He says: I can do rhe filling now or not, but I won’t reachedule you.

HMmmm, I wasn’t expecting that. Now he’s pressuring me and neither option is good but I don’t want this guy working on my teeth in any case, but certainly not after this exchange.

I say: I prefer not to have only the filling done today without the cleaning.

He almost cuts me off and says: I’m dropping you as a patient. Leave my office immediately.

WTF??

I would contact the son (if you like him enough) let him know what happened then give a REAL nice review on yelp or google.

Take your money some where else.

Talk to the guy who's actually your dentist and tell him what happened. Then find another dentist.

Its too bad you don't live in my area. I'd send you to my dentist. My dentist is awesome. He once came in on a Saturday when my son broke a tooth. Also, when my Mom was visiting from Virginia, he saw her as a walk-in and patched up a crown, and didn't charge her, just said to have a nice visit. He's awesome, and his practice is booming. It also helps that he does meticulous work.

Sounds like your dentist is not so good at customer service. Hope you can get it worked out. Good professional service is hard to find, and a jewel to be cherished when you do.

^^^^^ What happened after I left?

Called the wife and told her what happened - she also had a previous bad experience with this douche. I had to convince her to go back and see the son, who has always been nice and provided great care.

So my wife calls them and asks for the office manager and leaves her a voice message to call her back but had to tell the scheduler why she was callling.

I also call later and ask to leave a message to my dentist (the son) on his voicemail. The scheduler asks why and I explain, and then acts like she tries to transfer the call to the voicemail twice but claims she has to give him the message. I ask her to have him call my cell.

My wife calls and says the father called her (not the office manager). She starts trying to explain how long we’ve been seeing the son, etc etc and he cuts her off to say that I (me) lost confidence in the practice and that’s why he dropped me. He didn’t want to hear anything from and just kept repeating the rehearsed line.

I never got a call back from the son.

My guess is the father controls everything/everyone there and the son is biding his time until the father finally retires.

I will be posting some reviews and filing a complaint with the dental board.

I would talk to your dentist if that's even going to be possible after what happened, your word against his fathers and I would definitely leave a review of your treatment and tell everyone you can about what happened. I could never go back to them again just thinking about how they treated you.

Don't dentists have one of the highest suicide rates? Sounds like this clown is well on his way.

quote:

Originally posted by xmod:

I will be posting some reviews and filing a complaint with the dental board.

You definitely have every right to be upset, but this is not a Board of Dentistry type of complaint. They don’t have any authority to deal with scheduling disputes or rude treatment.

^^^ what about patients rights and denial of care? Don’t I havd a right to see my own dentist and not a fill in if I don’t want that?

If the father is a partner or owner of the practice, he's the king of his domain. Once he says it is over, it's over.

If you want the most mileage, hit him with the google review feature and get your wife to do likewise. Don't exaggerate anything, state your case and that you won't accept rude treatment by a condescending "professional," and that you advise going elsewhere.

If your dr. youngdentist is paying attention, he will have an immediate link that calls attention to his or the office manager's account settings, saying they just got hammered online. Trust me, it matters a ton, and if they have any sense it'll help cut through the fog and get them to listen to you.

That’s good advice. I have already moved on to another dentist. I do want them to hear/see complaints.

It would appear the father hasn't yet caught on to what century it is, now. He keeps behaving this way and he'll find out--the hard way.

The dental practice appears to be a family business. Most dentists I know are not skilled in conflict resolution. Many have the personality type of a surgeon.

The best solution here is to find another dentist and consider it a learning experience. The Dental board does not care about this sort of behavior and I would personally not bother with social media. Telling your friends should provide some satisfaction.

quote:

Originally posted by xmod:
^^^ what about patients rights and denial of care? Don’t I havd a right to see my own dentist and not a fill in if I don’t want that?

Yes. You can refuse care from the substitute. If he had performed work against your wishes, you'd have a BOD complaint. Scheduling errors do not rise to that level.

Yep, very poor and unprofessional service indeed.

I also schedule my cleanings WITH my exams. I refuse to make two trips for piddly services. Its good he dropped you from the practice, because if I were you I wouldnt step foot in that practice again regardless.

There are too many kind and competent dentists to put up with this nonsense.

I can't imagine what it would be like to wake up and know your day will consist of hovering over and working in other people's mouths. Teeth may be the poorest element of the human body and those who choose to deal with them are among the noblest of medical professionals. A good dentist is an absolute gift.

I was referred to an endodontist some years back and found a family-run practice -- a youngish guy, an older guy and a lot older guy -- kind of like the Mandelbaums on Seinfeld. The oldest one did my work and couldn't have been much clumsier. He seemed unsure, regularly banged other teeth with his tools and I had a sense the others were keeping sidelong eyes on him. It appeared to be his practice based on how the others treated him. I'm good with dentists, I was kinda scared that day.

Leave a shit review on every site available.

see if there is a University with a dental college in the general vicinity.

we pay 1/2 the price by going to the U of Iowa dental college.

I try to treat every business as I'd like to be treated. I've had people who were displeased for a variety of reasons, and most will complain directly to me. I'm very attentive to their complaints, even if I personally see them as spurious, because the next step will be a trial by the court of public opinion, and he who has the most outrageous story often wins there. Additionally, Google will flat out prevent a business from responding to a bad review at times, which is maddening if the complainant is mixing truth with lies. I've lived through these, and at times even consulted an attorney because what they were saying was documented with records and video to be 100% false and inflammatory. Won some (meaning they removed the review) and lost some.

Trust me, tell the truth and it will be sufficient to get your story heard. If they never contact you to resolve it, the practice is blind to modern business acumen and will fail. After you post it online, just let the whole thing go, and you'll feel better immediately. Life's too short.

^^^^^^^^^

Not a bad option if you have time. The work will be excellent (under tight supervision), but the pace will be VERY slow. No way in heck the OP is going in for cleaning and fillings in a one hour appointment.