Just pull the effing tooth…
Sunday, June 7th…The Pain Begins
So on Sunday the 7th one of my teeth finally called it quits and let me know it was finished with me. My dentist is actually really cool but she really wasn’t cool with extracting the tooth and wanted to see if it could be salvaged. I mean…with a smile like this a missing tooth seems all-important right?
However, I am absolutely the biggest pain in the rear if you try to tell me the process to save the tooth takes 1-2 sessions and is 10x the cost of extraction. I wish I could shop based on bedside manner. 😉
Sorry…I love my teeth, I take care of them obsessively (which wasn’t always the case obviously- see the pic of me to the left!)..but I am so not cool with yet another medical bill that I’ll be spending the next ten years paying for…I can live without the tooth..it’s a molar and not in the visible region of my smile.
So anyhow, Dr. Christian is awesome, she didn’t railroad me – she just made it clear she wanted the tooth saved, her office was cool, no hassle, and didn’t waste my time (which is the number one way to make me go postal in a doctors office – waste my time). After the exam, they gave me an abundance of everything I might need in documentation and two referrals. One for a Dr. Ne in Highland Park and another for Dr. John Wallace, whose practice was like two blocks from my place. I decided to go to Dr. Ne first, it’s smack in the middle of Highland Park…I am thinking top-notch. Not making that mistake again (Can’t believe I opted for HP over my normal good taste in stomping grounds 😉
So I called…and yes, I should have totally seen this as a sign…they couldn’t work with me until the following Wednesday…a week and a half away. Still..I listen to my conscience and heed the doc’s wishes..and wait. Now keep in mind I am next to useless at work when on painkillers. I perpetually say what’s on my mind and have no regrets about my actions 😉 Not a good combo when fixing $10k-$20k servers all day. Suffice to say I only took my painkillers once and that was enough to ward me off. So bottom line…I was living with the pain. (I have an awesome tolerance for pain, the problem is I talk about it…well…constantly.)
Wednesday, June 17th…The Day Tony Considers Strangling A Dentist
A week and a half later I secure the time off and go to the Dr. Ne’s office. Now remember me making a reference to wasting my time? These guys are professionals at doing just that. ..made we wait…for an hour. So, Grumpy (<-Me) finally gets told to come on in and sit down in the nice chair so they can get rolling with XRays. “You mean these?” holding up XRays. “Oh no…we’ll need to do ours, they’ll be better.” Telling someone versed in the physics and usage of the equipment you’re trying to pass off as “better” is only a viable option if you’d bothered to ask what model and software “the other guy” used (they didn’t ask). In this case, it was the same make of X-Ray machine…but older. Worse still, the software rendering was worse at Dr. Ne’s office. Also keep in mind…sitting in my hand…are the X-Rays I had from Dr. Christian so they wouldn’t need to waste time. So **woohoo**…I got to see a blurrier version of an X-Ray I’d already seen…then I am told that their XRays are better again…and then I meet…Mr. ICantRememberHisName.
Man this guy is a prissy little one, he bitches about a mistake the assistant made on my paperwork (to the assistant, in front of me), looks at his xray and finally clues in that I am about an inch away from showing how creatively vocal I am when blown off and/or ignored. The ensuing conversation last a whole 30 seconds, ending in him telling me that he doesn’t do that kind of work, and then leaves me to his assistants.
Synopsis: Made it to appointment on time, made to wait a full hour before seeing someone that wasn’t the dentist I’d made an appointment with. Substitute was a poor one. We didn’t get along. Unbelievable how pissed off that d0^c#3b#g made me. Went home, took two Lortab…and slept. now I am blogging about it.
Friday, The Day of Saving Graces.
Sometimes, you run into a setup where people aren’t so bad. Genuine smiles, good humor…you know…NORMAL. 😉 Because there are like a thousand specialists in every field of medicine here in Dallas…it’s pretty important to make sure you’re sending the right message, and having a bedside manner that doesn’t make people think you’re where they came up with Dr. House’s bedside antics helps a lot. Better yet – I suggest takings some lessons from Dr. John Wallace. Now these guys already knew I’d had a bad experience prior, but it’s been a pretty long time since I met a doc that went out of his way to make you chuckle….a lot. He kept the tone so humorous during the extraction that my concentration was 120% on not laughing my ass off rather than on whether or not he’s going to take half my skull with a piece of pliers 😉 The staff was pretty funny, although the cute little gift bags..I thought I was being punked when that got handed to me. 😉
Bottom line…two thumbs-up and 5 stars to the fun bunch at Dallas Oral Surgery Associates, Dr John Wallace & Staff. Highly recommended…and now on my blog for the world to read about.
To be honest, I think they should get more kudos than I am giving here but don’t want to overkill on it. 😉
Thats enough…need to get cracking on the book…Ciao!…and thanks again to the good Doc & Company 😉
-Tony
