This is very long, and I apologize for that, but I have no Idea what to do after this visit and I want to know if others have had a similar experience.
The ortho seemed very knowledgeable and confident in his work and I know its best to trust the professionals, so I asked the necessary questions and allowed him to do the rest. He is a traveling Ortho employed by a dental company and he goes back and forth between locations at a chain of dental offices to do orthodontic treatment.
For my consult, we discussed the course of treatment and I was satisfied with that. Top braces first, extraction of two top teeth, then two extractions on the bottom, and bottom braces and keep those on for 2.5 years. He also assessed my bite, the popping in my jaw, and thesevere misalignment with my jaw where it goes to the side whenever I open ( will probably require maxiofacial surgery, not his diagnosis) I went in to have them put on, and the assistant was very abrupt, short with me and all around pretty unpleasant to deal with. I made a few mild jokes about my teeth when appropriate to lighten the mood but she wasn't having it. She took x-rays (the kind that go around the head) and photos, and when I commented on the position of my jaw ( which looks like the before photos of pretty much every maxiofacial surgery before and after with an overbite on the internet) she said " Nope, thats just the way your face is". Then she put me in the chair and did impressions, and said Ill have to wait in the waiting room fr an hour while they put someone elses braces on, the come back and have mine put on. I brought my mom with me for the occasion and she was waiting in the lobby so that was fine.
I used the bathroom and came back and she said " Go get your mom, you have to hurry" and I noticed she was putting brackets in a little chart thing, so I went and got her. Sat back in the chair and asked if she was putting them on now, to which she said " Yeah, that other person is done so we'll start yours now, no sense in waiting".
So I was excited, she put the glue on and stuck them on, re-positioned them and said the ortho would be back to fix them, and place the wire. So I waited and he returned, asked how I was doing, and cleaned up the glue ( apparently not that well as all but 3 of my top teeth are currently glued together) and during the course of doing so remarked ( after having previously met and discussed treatment with me) " Oh, I remember these teeth" WHAT THE HECK?!
I should hope he remembers them, hes fixing them! The thing was in my mouth so I couldn't say anything, I just sat there and let him cure the glue. He apologized for not coming in earlier when he was supposed to so I could ask questions, and said when he came back to place the wire, he could answer them for me. He got up and left, and the assistant came back and placed the wire instead of him (????) (only on the top left portion of my mouth ( which I'm confused about because he needs to move my mid-line to the right) and left the right wire-free as one of those teeth is going to be extracted in order to make space, and let me pick out the color for the bands. I picked it out, and she told me to sign and fill out the paperwork ( which she was strangely annoyed at me for not doing earlier even though the only time I was given to do it was when I was literally lying in the chair with her hands in my mouth) and tried to get me out of the chair pretty quickly. The ortho never came back to answer my questions. I asked if she was placing bands on today, and as if to make me feel like an idiot stated " No, not today" in a snarky tone. Okay. During the course of the entire visit, she and another assistant were arguing ''playfully'' with one another, which I'm all for a relaxed atmosphere on the job but It came off as very unprofessional as they were make jabs at each other in a mean way.At this point they are trying to schedule my extraction, my next visit to finish the top braces, and my 6 week appointment. I get to the front and the front desk woman (who has been a royal pain, and extremely rude every visit I had before) and she asks if I'm paying, I say yes, take out my $1000 down, and proceeds to ignore me for every person in line behind me as another woman starts asking which days are good for an extraction with the Dr who's name is not on my extraction form, ( after many questions I figured out that was what it was for because she didn't even state the extraction was what she was asking for.) She even stated she didn't know what she was scheduling me for and had to go back to the ortho to ask. They kept mixing up 6 week and 6 months for another appointment so I had no Idea what they were talking about there also, and at one point, there were 5 people behind the front counter literally arguing with each other about what was happening until they each settled on which appointment they were each going to work on. It was the most disorganized, bizarre mess Ive ever witnessed in a medical facility. The entire time I'm just sitting there quietly holding my money waiting for them to figure out what they were going to do. I inquired about one of the appointments because it didn't line up with what they had outlined for me during my initial visit, and the assistant who put my brackets on comes out of the back and very condescendingly says "Well, I figured since we went over the paperwork with you, you would get what is going on". I'm in total shock at this point so I just say " Okay". And since I didn't have a chance in the chair to ask, I pull out my toothpaste and ask if it is okay for me to use that brand with my braces ( Its not a typical toothpaste, its an herbal, brown, fluoride free toothpaste called Vita-Myr with clove) as I didn't know if it would react with my brackets, and asked if I should switch. She shrugs and says
" I don't know, I guess we will find out".
I'm not a confrontational person at all, so I didn't say anything but I was so mad. Excuse me, I am paying $4700 for my braces and I will have to pay for new ones if something goes wrong. Is it so difficult to go get an answer or at least say you'll check into it and suggest using a normal toothpaste until you find out? I get my appointment cards from a front desk woman who says
" We don't normally handle the scheduling for the orthodontist but I guess we'll have to today", pay my money and leave. Maybe I'm just concerned, or was put off by the terrible attitudes of the staff, but I'm worried that my ortho doesn't know whats going on. I really want to go get a second opinion before I go and get a tooth pulled and get too far into the treatment. I already signed all the paperwork, so I'm not sure what to do if it doesn't go well.
I don't know If I'm overreacting but I felt incredibly mistreated there by all parties involved. I work in the service industry, so I know there are scheduling problems and I'm totally fine with that, but they didn't keep me up to date on what was happening, were not organized, and made me feel like I was an idiot for asking questions. I make wedding cakes for a living. Its an emotional time for the client, they are nervous, they want to put their trust in you, its an expensive item, and they just want to feel like they can set aside their worries. As a professional in my field, its not only my responsibility to make sure the product is perfect, but to allay any fears the client has. I would expect the same treatment from a medical professional in charge of literally rearranging someones face.
I don't expect to be treated like a queen, heck I don't care about bedside manner at all really but I want to be able to place faith in the person in charge of my health ( especially when I take such good care of my teeth. Several hygienists remarked at how great my teeth and gums are despite my severe crowding.) and that experience has made me very distrusting.
If you made it through all of this, thank you so much.
Indeed, you're forking over big money to have permanent changes made to your FACE. I'm not sure exactly what I would do but would definitely ask any/ all of your questions at your next appointment if not before by calling the office manager and voicing your concerns. Unfortunately there are folks out there whose only concern is collecting your money. I experienced this with a quack dentist sometime ago. Good luck and get answers. There's a difference between being confrontational and just expecting respect.