Dentist..again and again..

I think dentistry chairside manner has come a long way from the bad old days but I'm still terrified of even sitting in the chair no matter how kind and gentle they are.

My daughter is the same and when she couldn't get an appointment with the dentist she regularly sees had to see another one. She began by telling him how nervous she was and he said - I don't do nerves, I only do teeth. If you want me to look at your teeth sit in the chair.
That was in a private practice.

 

At least in private practice you can 'vote' with your feet and find another dentist. But I am still astounded by that dentist!

 

Yes, my daughter was astounded too Sussexgardener.

 

Slightly off topic but still on pain and insensitive professionals ... . My Mum recently signed on with a new practice where the GPs obviously strive to be as offensive as possible. 'Goodness! You're busy this morning', remarked my mother pleasantly as she entered her GP's office the other day. 'Yes, well some people take a long time. LIKE YOU DID LAST WEEK', snapped the witch-woman. Mum has to take a lot of expensive painkillers, which she has been buying from the chemist. She asked her doctor if it would be possible for her to have a prescription and, without looking up, the doctor said: 'try Lidl'. The nearest Lidl is a very long way from Mum, particularly as she has macular degeneration and a dodgy leg. Why do people go into medicine if they don't like dealing with the public, I wonder?

 

That's just awful Clara Lou. But maybe not an uncommon experience.
It is a bit off topic but maybe one we would like to talk about.
You could open a new thread. I'm sure there would be plenty of replies.
I hope your Mum is doing well.

 

Eeek! Bedside manner needs working on methinks!

Did your mum report this harridan?

 

Then there is the Dentist Conversationalist. you are in the chair after your injection, just waiting for the injection to kick in and he starts his conversation.by this time you feel you have rubber lips then the drill starts and his assistant has the pressure tentacle extracting the moisture from your mouth hanging on your bottom lip ,( after asking you "could you hold that tube in position please".
then he asks you " where are you going on holiday this year" reply ( uggageyaue )
these dentists must go to special speech schools if they can understand that. music .

 

Mum didn't fancy a fight and I can see why. The relationship between doctor and patient is based on trust. It would be Mum's word against that of her GP and who is going to believe my Mum? The doctor can always claim that the patient is just some silly old fool who has misinterpreted things, or was unduly difficult. There is a problem with trying to move to another practice - you have to be in the right catchment area - but it seems that she has now managed to find an alternative. I just hope things are better next time. The NHS is a strange beast. Mum goes to Moorfields Eye Hospital regularly and the care she receives is marvellous; it seems that the doctors have managed to stabilise her eyesight with a brand new treatment. It's just a shame that her local care isn't as good.

It's funny going through this with someone you've known all your life. My Mum has always been such a glamorous person. She made wonderful haute couture clothes for the rich and famous all her working life and can turn a two-dimensional sketch into a complicated three-dimensional garment in her head. She can still do magic things with a roll of cloth and a sharp pair of scissors, despite her failing sight. But I suppose to a young-ish doctor she is just another person who is getting on.

Anyway, Mum must be feeling better as she did allow herself a quiet bitch - apparently the doctor had ... terrible clothes and horrible cheap shoes! Obviously Moorfields is doing its stuff!
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Got to love mum-like comments - cheap shoes!:hehe::hehe:

 

Very valid comments Clara Lou.
I think we all find as we get older that it doesn't matter what you have been, or done, or achieved in your life you are just the next wee wifie coming in the door.

 

As I get older, whether because I'm wiser (debatable), more self-confident (possibly) or just a plain old grumpy (that'll probably be the one!), but I find myself now, more willing to question what members of the medical profession/s tell me. Gone are the days when my Mother for example, would sit and take as 'gospel' any pearls of wisdom a doctor or dentist deigned to impart.

Last year, my husband (who only has one kidney anyway), was prescribed medication for a 'kidney complaint' (their words, not mine), having taken it for 3 months his kidney function had gone from 70% to 40%. 'Stop taking that stuff ..' I told him ' ... it's clearly doing nothing apart from costing £7-odd an item,' - a month later when that figure was down to 30% he finally listened to me and, within 5 weeks it was back up to 65%. Of course, the doctors congratulated themselves on a job well done, my husband just smiled and nodded, but I couldn't help putting in my twopenn'oth by saying 'Which co-incides nicely with when he stopped taking the stuff you prescribed.' The doctor's response? 'Ah!'

My dentist too has finally listened to me (or more likely just got fed up with me) - why have a check-up every 6 months when there's nothing wrong? I come when there's a problem you didn't spot 3 weeks ago, so what difference would it make if I only had an annual check-up? None apparently - apart from fewer holidays in the Seychelles!

So, like I say, it sometimes pays to be a 'grumpy' - raising a quizzcal eyebrow and saying 'Really?' works wonders, as does remembering that whilst you couldn't do their job, they couldn't possibly do yours either.

 

You're right Fidgetsmum.
They're not the Gods they used to be.

 

Watching my ex going through medical school many years ago was instructive. All of the students in his year had done well enough at school to get good grades but they were often fairly clueless in just about every other way. I don't think that enough of them had considered what it would actually mean to be dealing with patients. Some grew up very quickly and rose to the task admirably .... and others didn't. The best of the bunch had a quiet confidence about them (you do need to be reasonably sure of yourself - no one wants a doctor who dithers) which was tempered with a certain amount of humility. It's a difficult balance to get right.

Once they were let loose on the wards, the wiser students quickly learnt to be very, very nice to the nurses - as they actually knew what they were doing.