The Snarky Momma occasionally (okay, sometimes) reviews products on her review blog related to parenting, domestic goddess-try, and personal care. Her opinions are honest, based on her own experiences, and will be published even if she does not find the product satisfactory. She will always disclose how she got a product and whether she was compensated to talk about it. If you want to send her a product, contact her via email at tiffany [at] snarkymomma [dot] com.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
They realize they’re just CALLED pearly whites and aren’t actually pearls, right?
Scott said I should blog about this, so bada bing.
I’m not a hard woman to please. Seriously. At heart, I’m still the same country girl who grew up having to drive 25 minutes into town to go to the store, school, doctor’s office, and etc. I don’t need fancy bells and whistles as long as people know what they’re doing.
So, why is it so freaking hard for me to find a dentist office I like? There’s no dearth of them in this area like there is in Northeastern NC.
You may remember that a couple of months ago I gave my former dentist’s office da boot and went to a new one. BUT the new one wrapped me up in red tape due to being pregnant and didn’t call me back for a return appointment for two weeks. When they called me back to reschedule I gave them a certain one-finger gesture (which of course they couldn’t see with me being in my house and all). I figured I’d wait until after Em was born and then try AGAIN somewhere that didn’t annoy the shit out of me.
Well, I went somewhere on Tuesday.
Still annoyed.
Granted, I had a very thorough (though painful) exam and cleaning (gums are still impacted by preggo hormones), but I feel like they were trying to nickel and dime me. For one thing, I don’t carry money other than small pocket change (to buy yarn and candy bars) if I don’t need to. They weren’t getting a cent from me. Second, my dental insurance has this office (that shall remain nameless) on their list of preferred providers (or whatever). They’re supposed to take the insurance and not charge me anything upfront. We have full dental - no copays for prophylaxes and routine x-rays and such. Pretty much if it’s a necessary procedure, it’s covered.
Their first mistake was trying to charge me forty-something dollars due that day. I was like “For what?!” They were like “A bit of this and that.” I was like “Um, no. Is that an admin or new patient fee?” They were like, “No, it’s a little bit for the exam, a bit for the cleaning, and so on.” I was like, “Um, no. My dental insurance covers me 100%.” They were like “Okay, let me go check with the office manager.”
Yeah, they “waived” that fee.
Next they tried to send me home with an oral rinse that cost $23. For $23 there’d better be gold flecks in there, you know? Again, I was like “And, you want me to pay for that today, huh?”
And they were like, “Yeah, you really should get started on the treatment today.”
So I was like, “Yeah, well, I could come back for it later or send my husband to get it. I’m not carrying money.” (That line also works for panhandlers—remember that for the future.)
The hygienist finally told me that they could write me a prescription for it. That was preferable seeing as how I could probably get my medical insurance to pick up some of the cost.
Well, guess what? That same rinse cost $4 at the Target pharmacy.
$4. Not $23. And that’s just the “don’t need insurance because this is on our generic list” cost. (I haven’t used it yet. “FOR WOMEN: IT IS UNKNOWN IF THIS MEDICINE IS EXCRETED in breast milk.” it says. Huh.)
They’ve got me scheduled for a follow-up appointment and a consult with an oral surgeon about my remaining wisdom tooth that isn’t actually bothering me. (I don’t get why I need a surgeon for that - it’s a straight up-and-down tooth that can be extracted without sedation. The same tooth on the other side was pulled last year in one piece in about eight seconds.)
I’m kinda wanting to tell this office to bite me, too.
Look, all I want is a dentist office where I see one dentist that actually remembers me a little bit from one visit to the next. Preferably, it’d be an office where they don’t push procedures just because their corporate office tells them to. I don’t like this assembly line-style shit.
Wow, sounds like you’ve had some pretty crappy experiences. Unfortunately I get patients like you in my office all the time. You’re twirked off b.c. of bad experiences with other docs.
Don’t worry, there are GREAT dentists out there. I don’t know anyone in NC, but you should go on google and look on their websites. If their website is informative, they’re probably there to help you, not nickel and dime you.
Good luck and don’t think that all dentists are bad!
They realize they’re just CALLED pearly whites and aren’t actually pearls, right?
Scott said I should blog about this, so bada bing.
I’m not a hard woman to please. Seriously. At heart, I’m still the same country girl who grew up having to drive 25 minutes into town to go to the store, school, doctor’s office, and etc. I don’t need fancy bells and whistles as long as people know what they’re doing.
So, why is it so freaking hard for me to find a dentist office I like? There’s no dearth of them in this area like there is in Northeastern NC.
You may remember that a couple of months ago I gave my former dentist’s office da boot and went to a new one. BUT the new one wrapped me up in red tape due to being pregnant and didn’t call me back for a return appointment for two weeks. When they called me back to reschedule I gave them a certain one-finger gesture (which of course they couldn’t see with me being in my house and all). I figured I’d wait until after Em was born and then try AGAIN somewhere that didn’t annoy the shit out of me.
Well, I went somewhere on Tuesday.
Still annoyed.
Granted, I had a very thorough (though painful) exam and cleaning (gums are still impacted by preggo hormones), but I feel like they were trying to nickel and dime me. For one thing, I don’t carry money other than small pocket change (to buy yarn and candy bars) if I don’t need to. They weren’t getting a cent from me. Second, my dental insurance has this office (that shall remain nameless) on their list of preferred providers (or whatever). They’re supposed to take the insurance and not charge me anything upfront. We have full dental - no copays for prophylaxes and routine x-rays and such. Pretty much if it’s a necessary procedure, it’s covered.
Their first mistake was trying to charge me forty-something dollars due that day. I was like “For what?!” They were like “A bit of this and that.” I was like “Um, no. Is that an admin or new patient fee?” They were like, “No, it’s a little bit for the exam, a bit for the cleaning, and so on.” I was like, “Um, no. My dental insurance covers me 100%.” They were like “Okay, let me go check with the office manager.”
Yeah, they “waived” that fee.
Next they tried to send me home with an oral rinse that cost $23. For $23 there’d better be gold flecks in there, you know? Again, I was like “And, you want me to pay for that today, huh?”
And they were like, “Yeah, you really should get started on the treatment today.”
So I was like, “Yeah, well, I could come back for it later or send my husband to get it. I’m not carrying money.” (That line also works for panhandlers—remember that for the future.)
The hygienist finally told me that they could write me a prescription for it. That was preferable seeing as how I could probably get my medical insurance to pick up some of the cost.
Well, guess what? That same rinse cost $4 at the Target pharmacy.
$4. Not $23. And that’s just the “don’t need insurance because this is on our generic list” cost. (I haven’t used it yet. “FOR WOMEN: IT IS UNKNOWN IF THIS MEDICINE IS EXCRETED in breast milk.” it says. Huh.)
They’ve got me scheduled for a follow-up appointment and a consult with an oral surgeon about my remaining wisdom tooth that isn’t actually bothering me. (I don’t get why I need a surgeon for that - it’s a straight up-and-down tooth that can be extracted without sedation. The same tooth on the other side was pulled last year in one piece in about eight seconds.)
I’m kinda wanting to tell this office to bite me, too.
Look, all I want is a dentist office where I see one dentist that actually remembers me a little bit from one visit to the next. Preferably, it’d be an office where they don’t push procedures just because their corporate office tells them to. I don’t like this assembly line-style shit.
Posted by Tiffany on 07/15 at 09:52 AM
_______________________________________________________________Wow, sounds like you’ve had some pretty crappy experiences. Unfortunately I get patients like you in my office all the time. You’re twirked off b.c. of bad experiences with other docs.
Don’t worry, there are GREAT dentists out there. I don’t know anyone in NC, but you should go on google and look on their websites. If their website is informative, they’re probably there to help you, not nickel and dime you.
Good luck and don’t think that all dentists are bad!
Posted by Stephanie Aldrich, DDS on 07/24 at 03:45 PM
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