The wait was so excruciating
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
January 2, 2013 9:30pm CST
Today Paul had his very first dentist's appointment. I know that it is quite sad that his first appointment wasn't until he was six years old, but I had a very bad experience with taking Kathryn to the dentist when she was little and it has given me severe anxiety about taking him.
Well, I called on Monday and made an appointment for him to go in today as he had to have a dental check-up for school or they might not allow him to return until he had had his teeth checked. The appointment was for 3:30 so I had to pick him up early from school.
We got there and I had to fill out the new patient paperwork (not too bad). Then we sat there and waited and waited for them to finally call him back at about 4:00. They had him back there for almost an hour doing the cleaning and his x-rays and they finally brought him back out.
At that point they told me about their findings. He has no cavities (I was so happy to hear this). However, they do want to do a sealant on his six-year molars. I haven't decided yet if he will have the sealant as our dental insurance doesn't cover it.
You know, appointments with any kind of doctor wouldn't really be all that bad at all if you didn't have to wait so long after your scheduled appointment time to actually get to see the doctor.
2 people like this
10 responses
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
4 Jan 13
quite true. especally waiting with children. mine were about that age the first 3 that is. reasons being, we lived in the country then and i couldnt drive and so we seldom went to town. plus we had no insurance back in the early 60's and not much money. we finally moved to cleveland where we got social services help. etc. them first visits are scarey for them and sometimes it is a basis of how much they will go in the future
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
4 Jan 13
Thankfully since Paul's first experience was a mostly positive experience I don't feel like it is constantly going to be a fight with him to get him to go to the dentist in the future. However, that really isn't the case at all with Kathryn having had a traumatic experience during her first visit when she was right about four years old.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
3 Jan 13
That's for sure! USually when I am waiting for a doctors appointment my blood pressure goes up from stress....waiting for them to take it. LOL....I have high blood pressure so I worry that it will be too high...so they have to take it...then wait a bit then take it again! Sounds like he turned out okay though!
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
4 Jan 13
He did turn out okay. Now his older sister, on the other hand, whom I had decided was old enough to be at home alone for a little bit got extremely restless and ended up leaving the house to call me. She was expressly told to not leave the house but that she could send me a message on facebook. She simply didn't listen to me.
1 person likes this
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
3 Jan 13
waiting for me is always excruciating. i do not have patience to wait long. i do not whine but i would become very, very restless. that's why i appreciate the new phones today with the many games and applications i can play or experiment with while waiting.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
4 Jan 13
Oh yeah, having my phone with me was definitely a good thing because it did give me something to do while Paul was back with the dentist. And they do have a small playground inside the office which helps somewhat, but even that gets boring after more than a few minutes.
1 person likes this
@Suzieqmom (2755)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I ended up switching dentists because my kids' dentist was always so backed up and we would have to wait forever. I finally just started taking my boys to my own dentist. His office is very close to our house, he is very kind and does almost everything himself, and you never have to wait long. Works out better for everyone.
Thank goodness your son had no cavities--my older one had lots of cavities in his baby teeth (soft enamel) and we had to end up getting caps for him. That was an awful experience--especially because of the insurance company--but luckily now his permanent teeth are so far cavity-free.
On a related note, I am especially glad that you posted this because it has reminded me that it is time to schedule my kids' next cleanings...I will do that today!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
Well, you are quite welcome for the gentle reminder of scheduling the next set of cleanings for your children.
My daughter has pretty bad teeth as well. We've not been able to cap them yet, but I know that she does have a couple of teeth that do need to be capped. It seems that finances always come in the way of something like this.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
10 Jan 13
Our original issue with Kathryn's teeth was that the dentist that we were using at the time (we will never go back) actually precharged our Care Credit before we had even told them that we actually wanted to go through with the projected work. We had to work hard to get them to refund the money. It actually took us months and in that time we weren't even able to consult a different dentist because we didn't have room to put the actual expenses on our Care Credit card.
@Suzieqmom (2755)
• United States
10 Jan 13
I know the feeling--capping my son's teeth was VERY expensive--and, after the insurance company pre-approved the procedure, they refused to pay the bills. I had to pay them all out-of-pocket while I fought with the insurance company. Luckily, I finally won and they reimbursed us. But now I hesitate before agreeing to any expensive dental procedures, because I don't want to be put in that situation again.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
5 Jan 13
oh dorannmwin thats something which bothers me too. Why oh why dont they put enough space between appointments....... most people are early anyways so they will be glad if they will be through with the examinations sooner than expected.
My doctor doesnt make appointments its just first come first served or should be, but I am also hanging around there for two hours sometimes before its my turn and the morning is half gone till I get home.
Considering that I take a day off work for appointments its also not very good timekeeping there.......
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
True, there are some kinds of doctors where it would work very well to be first come, first served but there are other types of doctors where it would be terrible.
Tom has an appointment with his oncologist in the morning and I am afraid that we will be there for a long time because that is how it tends to be with them.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
7 Jan 13
Now the office that Kathryn and I went to after our car accident was like your doctor's office in that it was a first-come, first served office and I actually have to admit that I liked that because I could go in right after school when Kat got home and our wait really wasn't all that long.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
7 Jan 13
sounds good with the first come first served until you take into consideration that my dear doctor does injections and such first in the morning before the "normal" everyday stuff starts. So I get there at 7:30 when his helper arrives and maybe I am the fifth or sixth person for the morning but still I dont get out earlier than 9:30 most of the time. Sigh.
@liviaslife73 (238)
• United States
3 Jan 13
I can certainly understand why you would be so nervous about taking your son to the dentist after what you experienced with your daughter, but I am glad you finally took him. Sorry they made you wait so long but I am not at all surprised by this. The thing is that whether it's a Dentist or a Doctor they always want you to be on time & even get upset if your late, but if you do arrive on time they then have the nerve to make you wait 30 to 40 minutes before they even get around to seeing you. I agree that the whole experience of going to the Dentist or Doctor for that matter really wouldn't be so bad if they just didn't make you wait for so long.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
4 Jan 13
It is just that I not only got there on time for the appointment, I was there twenty minutes early so that I could fill out any paperwork that they needed. With that said, I think that it is horrible that they make people wait as long as they do when they have so much staff working. I seriously counted 20 assistants and hygenists and five dentists in the office.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72206)
• United States
5 Jan 13
My daughter didnt have her teeth cleaned until she was 6 either. I took her when she was three and they said they didnt clean their teeth that early so I was like well that was a waste of an hour drive and so I didnt take her back for awhile. I didnt realize how much time had passed until I reported my husband for using heroin and the case worker asked if my daughter had her teeth cleaned and I said not yet and she said that its a good age to have it done seeing that shes in school. So I took her and she gets them cleaned every 6 months now. My son just turned 5 in October and it was around then that he got his teeth cleaned for the first time.
I am really glad to hear that your sons teeth are free of cavities. I think its really a good idea if it isnt to much to have sealant put on your sons teeth. It protects those teeth from getting cavities. They stop putting sealant on when they are around 12 I think it is. Its just an extra defense against cavities. I dont know if my daughter had sealant put on or not yet and shes 8. I only recall her having cleanings done. I will have to ask aboutit the next time I take her to an appointment. She has medical assitance through the state so hers would be covered I think.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
7 Jan 13
Yes, I would think that her sealants would be covered for her teeth if her dentist felt that she needed them. I'm going to be calling tomorrow to find out how much it costs, but I'm really not sure about them at all. My brother and sister-in-law had them on my niece's teeth and they said that they will never do it again because she has two cavities now.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
7 Jan 13
The waits can be annoying. Sometimes it's not the doc's fault. Somebody will call up and say they are coming in for one thing, and then hit the doc up with 10 things. I suppose in the case of the dentist, they run into problems and have to do extra cleaning or take extra xrays or something.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I just wish that it would be possible to take these variables into consideration when they are scheduling doctor's appointments so that hold ups wouldn't be too terribly crippling for the patients.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
9 Jan 13
My son is having some extremely dry skin so we've scheduled to see a skin specialist last week. The appointment was for 11:45 in the morning.
Considering that it's just the start of the year, and I've been busy at work, I couldn't really take the day off. So, I just had planned to come to work, then pick him up at home at around 11 and be at the doctor before 11:45. We'll it was almost 1pm when we were seen.
Not only was it so excruciating to wait, but it totally messed up my day at work because it was about 2:30 when I was able to go back to work.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
That is something that hasn't been an issue for us since I do stay at home so that I am available for the children and to take them to their appointments. If I was working I would have been downright upset about how long the appointment ended up taking us.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
4 Jan 13
While you are right, I would think that a dentist's office that caters to children would realize that children (and often times their parents) have very little patience and for that reason the wait time should be minimal.
