Thursday, October 9, 2008

Ow. Ow. Ow. I SAID OW DAMN IT!

So I went to the dentist today. While I am a huge fan of the lovely smooth, slightly minty, thoroughly clean feeling you get after a check up, I've decided that I kinda hate dentists. They are the used car salesmen of the medical industry. About a week ago my crown fell off my tooth. Well to be more specific my $500 crown rotted off my tooth. They're not supposed to do that right? Since this happened at 5am on a Friday morning it was quite difficult to find someone who could fix it. What's up with dentists taking Fridays off? Why should they always get a 3 day weekend? Anywho I was able to find someone fairly close to my house that was open and could see me asap. Here's where the used car salesmen bit comes in. All I wanted was someone to pull my tooth. It was pretty much gone so there was no fixing it. Just yank that bad boy and let me get on with my day. "No can do ma am. You need to see an oral surgeon to take care of that, however while you're here maybe we should set you up for a root canal, a few fillings, a deep cleaning and some invisalign braces." Look buddy don't try and work me and my insurance over, just do what I ask and we'll see about the rest of that stuff that you think i "need". Since they couldn't help me they refer me to an oral surgeon who won't be open until Monday. So I spend that weekend with fragments of tooth that keep scrapping the side of my mouth. Not so much fun. First thing Monday I call and they of course don't accept my insurance. WTF? Why refer me there then? I make a few more calls and I find a surgeon that does take my insurance, doesn't require a referral and can see me in a few days.

The appointment today was pure hell. Dr Kootman had about as much personality as a bedpan, never once looked me in the eye and didn't like my slightly inquisitive nature. I'm sorry but if you're removing something from my body I'm gonna have a few questions. Biggest one being how much pain is this gonna cause and how bout we make sure it's as little as possible. He said he could take care of it right then and there though so let's do this. After a few shots of local he leaves me to numb up and get ready. Now I always try and have a book and my ipod with me. These are like security blankets for me they keep me calm. I put on a little Augustana and try to relax. Well Dr Jackass comes back in and starts chiseling around the tooth. OW OW OW. K so I'm not a DR but local kinda means it should be numb and not hurt right? As this is not so much the case can I get a few more shots please? Well I'm told that "the patient really shouldn't tell the doctor what to do". Really? Guess you're in for a surprise then jackass cause it hurts and you need to fix it before I kick you in the nads. I get a few more shots and a few more minutes to get numb. Round two is no better than round one, he starts chiseling, then yanking and then tells me he need to drill into the bone. OW OW OW I SAID OW DAMN IT! Bastard doesn't want to stop! Says he needs to just finish and get the tooth out. Julie don't play that. I literally have to hit his hand away from my mouth to get him to stop. Now I realize this probably won't endear me to the good doctor but I could care less. I'm in pain, shaking, crying and he's looking at me like I'm a lunatic. I finally get myself collected enough to finish but it still doesn't fill great. After he's done he writes a quick prescription for Loritab and hands me a instruction sheet and leaves the room. No are you ok, do you need anything nothing. After I'm able to collect myself I leave the room to pay my bill. To think it only cost me $187 to be treated like crap. What a bargain! Now my mouth hurts and the Loritab is making me nauseous. I hate dentists.

1 comment:

Camb said...

Julie! That sucks. I hate dentists too. I would have kicked him in the nads.