October 26th, 2007 Leave a comment Go to comments

Emily had a dentist appointment today, and she was SO brave. She had expressed to us some anxiety over the water they use to rinse off the toothpaste. She told us it was too cold, so I wonder now if she has sensitive teeth.

In the office, she was clearly afraid, and she cried, but she didn’t try to stop the dentist from doing what she needed to do, event hough she obviously wanted to. Emily was able to express that she wanted “regular” toothpaste (meaning her usual brand and flavor), and then (without them asking) that she used silly strawberry, and she asked if what they had was mint, and if the floss was mint. She hates mint. She told them about the water being too cold, and they wound up wetting a little paper towel and wiping her teeth off. She was much relieved.

The dental hygienist was very good about calming her down. Emily asked about X-rays and the dental hygienist said she didn’t have to have them today. Great! I had prepared her for that, and even showed her what they do (she’s had them before, but still) but if she doesn’t have to have them this time, then that’s fabulous!

Afterward, I went up and thanked the lady for doing such a good job…and then she asked me to sign a waiver saying that we hadn’t had x-rays today even though it had been a year and she was due for them.

WTF?? I get that Emily’s anxiety level was very high, and I told her I understood why she’d told Emily we weren’t having x-rays, but I pointed out that the anxiety level wasn’t going to be any lower next time. I also noted that Emily had a high rate of cavities.

She offered for us to do them today, but I wasn’t going to drag her back in for X-rays after she thought she was done and had put her jacket on. Now that’s trauma. But I also expressed to her that we couldn’t wait for the next appointment in six months. And that I needed to be sure insurance would cover it, since it was a separate visit, AND that we were going to do it on a day with no school, since we weren’t going to miss another one because of this error. I said it a little more nicely than that. A little.

I repeated that I understood why she’d said that, and I appreciated the desire to calm her down, but it wasn’t really doing her any favors or making things better in the long run. So anyway, now she has an appointment for x-rays only at noon on a no-school day.

I get where the dental hygienist was coming from, but it was the wrong decision. If she’d asked me first, I would have told her that. It makes me wonder if she skimped on other dental care in her desire to get Emily out the door. I’ll never know.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:
  1. October 26th, 2007 at 14:30 | #1

    I hate getting xrays because the hard plastic things they place in my mouth really cut me up. I also hate the flouride paste, I’m always terrified of swallowing. Poor Emily.

  2. October 26th, 2007 at 14:30 | #2

    I hate getting xrays because the hard plastic things they place in my mouth really cut me up. I also hate the flouride paste, I’m always terrified of swallowing. Poor Emily.

  3. October 26th, 2007 at 20:50 | #3

    If it were me, I’d have taken the cop out and said “If it’s ok with your mom, we can skip them this time.”

    Then you’d have to be the bad guy.

    And yeah, ditto on the hard plastic thing. Though I’ve had it go both ways. Some techs can put it in great, but I had one guy, jeez, who just couldn’t get it in there and tore my gums to shreds. Well figuratively speaking.

  4. October 26th, 2007 at 20:50 | #4

    If it were me, I’d have taken the cop out and said “If it’s ok with your mom, we can skip them this time.”

    Then you’d have to be the bad guy.

    And yeah, ditto on the hard plastic thing. Though I’ve had it go both ways. Some techs can put it in great, but I had one guy, jeez, who just couldn’t get it in there and tore my gums to shreds. Well figuratively speaking.

  1. No trackbacks yet.
You must be logged in to post a comment.