yup still whining about the dentist. gotta get it out.

i wish the dentist and his staff could somehow see and feel what i am feeling.  truly wish they could.  if they could would they up their game?  do a better job?

i tend to ride herd on less than the best practices in business.  i don't think "just doing your job" is good enough.  i have higher expectations.  I honestly think that a person should strive to give "Customer Service One" to the very best of their ability.  No, not do a rah rah rah shish boom bah rally with pom poms every time", but they should treat every patient like it's their own loved one.

and to be clear, loved ones they truly love, care for, have compassion and concern for.........not someone they've been in a decades old family feud with.

my past experience with dentals visits is that they normally do inform more.....speak to the patient throughout.  make it clear overall what is going to happen and then update you while you are in the chair.

this business is hoping to expand their business.  it's very clear....within seconds of being in the chair based on a comment i made about how we all need good dental care the dentist said he should put me on the payroll.........and me, being a feisty sort of girl said YES, You probably should!  I have good ideas and helped grow an international association, so i think i could probably give some viable input to this practice.  Not that they know any of my background, or would even think to ask.  they called me MISS RUTH.  I quietly said, just call me Ruth please.....i didn't give out a sermon based on my personal preferences ........I am not a part of the cast of Driving Miss Daisy and just hate when I am called MIss Ruth unless you are a toddler.  toddlers are exempt. 

my late breakfast is ready, so i'll head off in a minute or so........sufice it to say that i would still be in pain, but if they had done a better job i truly believe i would be more relaxed then and not feel as raggedy now.  feel like i was in a car accident.  rough.  muscles all knotted up and so hard to move.  rise, sit......and i'm cold, then hot. then cold......then sweating.

poor little baby ruth.  you've gotta rest.  keep doing salt gargles and chill out kiddo.

the dentist said he would give me one of his cards to pass out.......i said he should up his game.  i could hand cards out to say the OWLS group for instance.  then he told me they are having a green egg giveaway.  well being in wonky mode i had no clue what a green egg was or why they were wanting to give it to anyone.  later i saw the big box in their entry area and realized that it's some kind of BBQ apparatus.......sigh, felt STUPID.  but that's just how wonky rolls.

based on how it went for me i am not sure how i can give them the reviews and the marketing support they are so hopeful of.........and how can i dare let them know when i am already under contract for all this work?  i can't, not at this point certainly.  you can't complain about the cooking to a chef and then think you'll bypass something untoward not happening to you.  not suggesting that this dentist would be unprofessional, but feel he might become even more detached.  more insular during the time he spends on my poor messed up mouth. and that i cannot afford.

and then too who would appreciate hearing from some "Old lady" that his business would improve by leaps and bounds if he incorporated more info and kindess into his daily stride while doing his dentistry.  we're hot mannequins in those chairs........or giant dummies.  we're real people......i told them i run on the scaredy cat patient side and i don't feel that they adjusted their game accordingly at all.  so there we are......i don't feel i can complain......and i don't feel in good conscience that i can pass along their cards.  i don't want anyone else to deal with what i dealt with........and they don't have a clue.

the dentist never told me the tooth was about to come out.....or let me know when it was out. once again he rose and abruptly strode out of the room.  not a word.  not one word.  i looked over and saw bits of bone, tooth bits spattered in blood.  blood spatter all over the napkin round my neck.......it was a messy rather gruesome sight.  why wouldn't they lift that tray up and put it elsewhere?  i saw my blood spattered on their tools and all over the paper cover on the tray.  my tummy lurched and i prayed not to toss my cookies right then and there.  l

and then i noticed the other big mess on the other side of me........the dentist was barking orders at his assistant.......and their were opened empty plus partially opened bits of dental stuff scattered all over the place, it was a mess........more blood and overal yuckiness.  i've never seen a dental office strung out like this........i have never been to a dentist like this.....

usually the assistant and the dentist work in harmony, there is a rhythm to their work......they complement each other. the dentist isn't normally tight lipped, speaking in brusque clipped tones to the assistant. it is discomfiting to say the least.  i have stitches that have to heal.......and still don't know why they didn't tell me that they had to prep the teeth the bridge will be connected to.......so i left with a very numb mouth and then realized as i got sensation back that i had gunk and hard stuff stuck to my teeth on the right side.  plus the roughened up jagged teeth.  and this will be the state of things until the third week in October. 

so the healing from the extraction is one issue.....that we all have to go through.  and then there is living with this other mess for about a month.  normally my teeth feel smooth, pearl like......and they still do on the left side.  but the upper right feels like they bombed hanoi in there......maybe this is normal and i am so out of the loop that no one feels that i should be told.  but any other dentist i've ever been to informed me and did it in a kind, patient way (which only takes a few minutes dentist dear......)        

i wouldn't want them to ignore any of you the way they did me after i had the reaction to the novacaine.....i wouldn't want them to ignore your anxiety, your pain, your side effects, and  your overall discomfort.  if i saw you wonky afterwards i would have insisted that you stay.  i would have gently but firmly insisted that you get a ride home........this receptionist seemed put out when i said i didn't think i could make it to p/u the penicillin. 

whining is part of my way to survive right now. i am critical.  and i beyond hope that i can accept the way of their world, that their way is not my own?  what else can i do but suck it up.....i already signed the paperwork and committed to this.  ........

thanks for your info and comments about your/your family experiences with this stuff........it helps and i love y'all........thank God for friends!