No, not the novocaine! NOOOOO!!! (How evil is your dentist?)

In My Humble Opinion
21

I have to say that my dentist is pretty good. Better than my last one, but I think that’s just because he’s been out of school for only a few years, and no doubt learned all the modern painless techniques. My old dentist graduated in the 1950s, and I don’t believe that he kept up with the times. Nice guy though, and did try, but painful on occasion.

I have to say that there is something that strikes me as unethical to get you numb and hooked up to a variety of tubes and equipment, only to stop in the middle of the procedure and ask you about payment. That could have and should have been discussed before any work started–that way, if you declined based on cost, there would have been no charge (or perhaps a small one for the dentist’s time, but not as big as it would be for the necessary work). You also would have had the option to shop around for another dentist who might do it more inexpensively, or at least for one who would bill like your old dentist.

I’d recommend getting in touch with the local dental association and reporting this dentist to their ethics committee or watchdog. This isn’t the kind of thing that will get his license to practice pulled, but it is the kind of thing that the association should know about. Especially if they run a referral service, it seems to me that they would want to know about this, even if just to warn prospective patients about potentially expensive situations they cannot get out of once work starts.

Thankfully, I know ahead of time about my dentist’s payment methods–he will fill out all the forms so you can pursue your own claim against the insurance, but he will not do anything more. So I take my chequebook, pay him on the spot (although if it will be for something more expensive than a checkup and cleaning, like a filling, he tells me first, and I decide whether to proceed based on how much I can write a cheque for that day), and make an insurance claim later.

22

I’m happy to say that I’ve been going to the same dentist for close to 20 years, and I recommend him to all my friends, co-workers, and strangers. He’s GREAT! When my wife moved here and needed some rather expensive work done (and we didn’t have dental insurance and we were financially strapped), he told us not to worry about it and that he would wait until we were back on our feet. He also takes care of the teeth of my 3 kids. I feel bad, Attrayant, that you and others are having such a hard time. Good luck, and don’t give up until you find a dentist you really like!

And yes, this particular dentist has a very large practice! Is there any question why?

23

They always say “It isn’t pain it’s pressure”. Yes, like the pressure on your hand when it gets caught in a door.

And the gas. Gas doesn’t work for me. I tell them and they insist on trying it. After a half hour I still am not numb enough, but they don’t dare start novacane at that point, so I have to come back. I wish I could argue with them, but they each say “Oh the last guy was probably doing it wrong”, or “we have a newer brand of gas now”.

24

I should show this thread to my dentist, it bugs him to no end to hear of people treated terribly by a dentist. I came to Dr. Simmons when I was at the end of my rope with my own teeth. My last dentist was a horror show, and did the same sort of ‘hey, that didn’t hurt’ kind of thing that others have experienced [YEAH, I KNOW it didn’t hurt YOU!! It’s MY mouth, MsBrainDead!!]

IF you hate your dentist, find a new one, friends, co-workers, ANY recommendation is best, don’t put up with mistreatment. My own regret is not telling Dr. Monster, why I wasn’t coming back, [she refused to wear gloves too, did I mention that??? :mad: ]

25

This would probably NOT be the time to say that I’m 25 and have never had a cavity, would it? :slight_smile:

(And because of that fact, I love my dentist. 20 minutes every 6 months. WOO!)

26

Max Torque wrote

Same here. I’m not fond of pain or anything, but a) the drilling isn’t that bad, and b) I really hate the numb face for 2 hours after the visit.

27

So, insurance changed…was unhappy with the previous dentist, and I went to a new one.
The original checkup was fine, they found 1 cavity (the one I was pretty sure I had) and had me come back today.

I show up, they sit me down in the chair. EVENTUALLY, the dentist begins to drill. She finally finishes drilling - and THEN calls her staff to discuss payment options. Because I can hear it happening in the next chair over, this is standard practice for them. (It isn’t as though I was that surprised about the price, or had a problem with it, but if I had - what was I to do, walk out with a big drilled hole in my tooth?).

Of course, now, the novacaine has worn off and I find she slit a big hole in the side of my cheek (that she forgot to mention) and made the tooth bigger on the side, so that assuming the cheek does heal, I’ll cut into it every time I try and chew.

Is there a tactful way you can ask that in screening interviews? “So, do you bill before the procedures, after the procedures, or do you wait until the patient is under local anesthesia and you’ve done half of a procedure and it is nearly impossible for them to say no?”

28

Oooooo, an anti-dentist thread. Love those.
My regular dentist, Dr. (can you believe I forgot his last name? He’s just been “Ev” for years) Cohen, is a jewel. Great with getting needles into without pain.

Now, Cohen’s (former) perio man was an unmitigated disaster. I had to have some work done underneath a crown (things were getting pinched). Everyone in the office knew that I don’t numb easily - I made sure it was in my chart. But this joker apparently didn’t take that seriously. Gave me the novo - told him it wasn’t enough - gave some more - and, well, he started. I spent the next 20 minutes in agony, screaming.

He didn’t notice.

Afterwards, I asked him why he didn’t notice my screams. Well, he wasn’t really paying attention, and why didn’t I just tap him on the arm or something?

BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT A DOZEN VERY SHARP OBJECTS IN YOUR HAND AND MY MOUTH, DUMBFUCK!

God he had his head up his ass. Fortunately, within a few months the partnership fired him, and as it happens I haven’t needed any more perio work.

Oh, and to top it all, there was a billing problem as well. The difference is that Dr. Cohen went out of his way to work something out with me - I’d been told a wrong price, and we agreed, in essence, to split the difference. That’s one of the major reasons I continue to see him.

29

Ugh! I am currently in the process of looking for a new dentist myself. I admit, i’m a wuss when it comes to dental work, but that’s because I have a high tolorence to local painkillers. The reason i’m looking for a new dentist, is that about a year ago, I went in to get a wisdom tooth pulled, and it went downhill real quick.

Well, after a few shots of Novo, the dentist still decided I wasn’t numbed enough, and I concurred, so he shot me up some more. Well, after about 15 more minutes waiting, he decides he’s gonna yank that bad boy out.

He grabs the pliers, and starts to do the dirty deed, and WHAM!!! Pain like you wouldn’t believe. Well, being in my numbed state, and not being able to coherently verbalize what I wanted to say, I said something like,“heybb bab fribbum HURB!”

He then looks at me with a calm look on his face and says,“Relax, you’re just expecting it to hurt, it’s all in your head.”

Well, I, being the stupid person that I can be at times, think, ya know, he may be right. So I let him back into my mouth to try and get this tooth again. Well, needless to say, the pain was even more excruciating this time.

After much screaming, the dentist stops what he’s doing and again looks at me and says, “I’m telling you, it’s all in your head! You shouldn’t be feeling anything.”

Well, I let loose a string of obscenities that, if I had not been numbed, would have been a work of art in form and style. But due to my mouth and lips being numbed, you can imagine what it truly sounded like. Basically I told him that the pain that I had in “in my head”, was as much as the pain he would experience in his head when my fist contacted his family jewels if/when he attemted to pull that tooth again.

Well, something in my eyes must’ve convinced him that I was serious (come on, you know darn well it would be VERY hard to take that threat serious when it comes out like, “eimma gomma showb youub whub myab payme imma heab ish libe whem eyem pumf youub imma mubs”)

Well, he put me back in the chair, and took another X-ray, and came back in 10 min later apologizing up a storm. Seems there was a small abcess on the tooth that was eating up what novo DID get to the nerve. So yes, I was right, I felt EVERY bit of it.

And this was a dentist that “Caters to Cowards” too. heh Next time I go in, i’ll just have them put my butt under :smiley:

30

Am I the only one here who demands the gas? Nitrous, that is. Gas is my friend during dental work. First they gas you up. Then they apply the novocaine. Yeah, the shot sorta hurts, but at that point, you don’t care. You have The Gas.

They then proceed with the dental work. When it’s done, they take The Gas away, and I am sad…

Needless to say, I love my dentist. She doesn’t hesitate to give me good drugs when I grind my teeth too much, she has walkmans and a selection of tapes to listen to while she works on you, and she gives me her home phone number for emergencies. She’s wonderful!

31

So, a month after the weird “we don’t fill your tooth until you prove you can pay situation” I get the payment notice from my insurance company and find that the idiots overcharged me by about $60. SIXTY DOLLARS. I’ve already paid. At this point, I’m a bit pissed.

And I call them, and tell them that they had overcharged me. The guy on the other end of the phone looked me up, and said “Oh, yes. 59.something” They KNEW that they had overcharged, and weren’t planning on telling me or doing anything about it - just keeping my money. He now says that he’ll send me a check.

I now need a new dentist. Again.