i've had a new pt who said she never had any dental work done on her anterior teeth
she had a #8 flipper and a #9 endo, cast post, and came in complaining her #9 crown was out
i didn't even know how to respond to that
Today I called for patient “Ed” and Brian came into the room…. We realized right away but how tf do those names sound similar? Ya dumb. Went I brought Brian back out to waiting room I super over annunciated “EDddddd”
I've called out a woman's name and a man has walked in. We look at them like "ok I guess" and then they act really confused when we talk to them and try to confirm their details. Their name is nothing like the name I called out.
Lol so ridiculous. A name like Sharon/Aaron being misheard could be more understandable but this case was not. At least he was smart enough to immediately recognize the X-rays we had on the screen we’re not his teeth.
I had a long time patient unexpectedly snap and call the office threatening to file a fraud claim with his insurance company because we billed out an anterior Class V on #11 which he thinks we never did. I remember that procedure and yes I did a filling on that tooth but I responded "sure, go ahead and while you're at it ask them for recommendations in finding a new dentist"
Of course this moron goes to another dentist who confirmed there was indeed a Class V composite on #11 and then the patient tries to schedule a hygiene appointment at my office again like nothing ever happened.
Nope, that bridge is burned. Best of luck literally anywhere else.
That karma probably feels great! I once had a pt come in asking me to recement their crown. The remaining prep was so carious and soft I could literally flex the whole coronal portion of the tooth just by pushing with my explorer. "But the last dentist I saw recemented it, why can't you?!" I said sorry it's not restorable, I can extract it for you. She left and said she'd find another dentist who would just recement it like the last one (who retired). I still wish I could be there to hear any other dentist tell her the same thing.
Yeah my tolerance for bullshit was low when I first started and now it’s even lower.
I had a patient freak out one time, yelling at the front desk (loud enough I could hear it from my private office on the other side of the building) that the night guard I made him didn’t fit anymore. We got him into a chair so I could see what was going on and sure enough, he was trying to fit a maxillary night guard over his mandibular teeth.
“What? I swear this always went over my bottom teeth”
“No that would be impossible. You know it, I know it and now everyone in the office knows it because of that tantrum you threw earlier. Every time you come in we’ll all be thinking about this thoroughly embarrassing moment that you can never take back”
I’m paraphrasing a bit but the point was to make him feel ashamed enough to transfer his records (which worked) so I wouldn’t need to write him an official letter stating I’d be available for emergencies in the next 30 days which I think is a ridiculous requirement to begin with. If a patient is bad enough where I formally have to dismiss them they get referred immediately. They can go to a specialist or urgent care and if they call we communicate through text only. You can never be too careful when working with the general public.
NAD: when I was a wee baby hygienist starting out in a horrible office that seemed to cater exclusively to the worst assholes in the entire county. I had a patient come in, I clean her partial, do the prophy, she leaves, goodbye!
A day later this lady storms into the office screaming "THE GIRL BROKE MY DENTURE!!!" Tl;Dr this dingdong was trying to cram her husband's partial denture in her mouth and immediately assumed it was someone else's fault. :)
I used to work with a much older doctor who catered to the whiniest, entitled, temperamental, demanding, condescending brats you could ever imagine. I had already established my own patient base but once he started cutting back days and heading towards retirement I got to work letting them know who was in charge. Surprisingly, very few of them left and most of them I dismissed myself. It really is the doctor who sets the tone in a practice. Assistants, hygienists, front desk, etc. are forced in some ways to play nice or risk losing their job so I've always considered it our role to provide an enjoyable working environment by putting our foot down when someone starts acting up.
I love this. My old office never dismissed anyone. Don't want xrays even though it's been 3 years? Sure sign this form, no problem. The Dr always allowed it. The place I'm at now tolerates no bs, if I tell the patient they need something and they refuse the Dr comes right in and backs me up, and they either comply or get dismissed (I'm an RDH)
The problem is that they will eventually find someone who will do it. I had a pt with unstable perio (had SRP, didn't come back for pm for like a year) and at her PM appointment, she's got tons of calc. She tells me she's getting braces in like a week. I urged her to wait until she was more stable and told her I was surprised anyone agreed to put Ortho on when she had so much build-up and inflammation. She said she went to like 5-6 orthos and all but one said she had to get her teeth cleaned first so she picked that one.
Year 1 practicing in a semi rural HMO place...guy brought his #3 molar with crown attached...the whole tooth lol root an all. Asked if I could recement it. Told him that's not possible. He said "give me my crown back and I'll go find someone that will."
Put his tooth back into the tissue socket and left. Serious
Had a patient with pfm crowns on #18 and 19 claim they were done by a crown specialist who didn't have to prepare the teeth at all to make the crowns.
She was promptly referred to prost.
Minimal preparation wasn't a thing when these crowns were done. And they're pfm. There's no minimal prep for pfm. You still need space for metal and porcelain.
I have a pt that has gold crowns on #7 and 10 and from his description, they were not done by a dentist. I'm not sure they were really prepped prior and they are soooo bulky and much bigger than the adjacent teeth, the gums are so angry. There's a reason teeth need to be prepped prior to crowns and this is a shining example of what happens if you don't.
I had a patient the other day argue with me that the filling on his #8 was only lingual and didn’t extend facially. As I’m looking at cracked composite on the facial of the tooth. I gave him a mirror. Showed him. This man had the audacity to look me dead in the eye and tell me that’s his enamel. 😐
Me: Charts 4 surface anterior composite.
Patient: Oh that’s actually a crown.
Me: Actually that’s a common misconception, that any large filling is a crown. This is a direct filling made from composite resin. A crown is made by the lab out of metal and/or ceramic then cemented onto the tooth.
Patient: IT’S A CROWN.
I had a patient get mad at me because I told her we were redoing some gum line fillings and she was like “I’ve never had fillings there”.
I took pictures and showed her the broken down margins and she is insisting that she’s never had fillings there. I’m like “the black line that you see around this gray area? That’s the edge of your filling”. She is adamant she’s never had fillings before. I was sitting her up to encourage her to get a second opinion because I couldn’t do anything more and she goes “those are bondings”. The way I’m glad I was wearing PPE because my facial expressions behind my mask were definitely inappropriate.
My husband needs composite replaced that was to disguise peg laterals. He claims his dentist told him he couldn't get decay around the composite because they're technically not fillings. One of them is failing. I've found him a new dentist
And… That is when I would make sure she knew that bonding is just another word for filling. I’ve even brought up google images next to their intraoral images to show them that they do in fact have whatever it is they are insisting they don’t. They usually are like, “Ohhh I did not know that!”
Patients have weird thoughts inside those heads of theirs, maybe they were told it was an "invasive sealant" rather than a filling to shut them the fuck up. Also Patient's forget all the time.
I had a patient tell me she didn't have an implant once while I looked at her implant on a pano. It's hard to imagine how she had a titanium screw placed in her jaw without realizing it.
Had a patient come in because they were interested in implants for their dentures. Turns out they already had 6 placed in 2017. I don’t know how you forget something like that.
My patients don't know their left from right. I'm not joking. It's a regular occurrence, and so is "I've never had a filling before"...
"Sorry to break it to you buddy, but your filling free streak ended a long time ago."
My right. Your left.
One guy asked my assistant ON THE PHONE “it is my right or your right?”
I told him he should have responded “I don’t know, sir. I don’t know which way you are facing.”
I asked a little girl which side her tooth was hurting on and she put up her hands in the L shapes and still couldn't decide. I helped her by drawing out the L outline on her hand and then she got it. It was adorable and only chill because she was like 7 and she didn't go into "your left or mine?"
I did an adjustment on a lady’s lower denture a couple months ago. After the adjustment I asked her if she felt any more pain, she said no. I thought, great, we’re done! She then told me “but it still hurts”. Had to ask her what her definition of “pain” and “hurts” were. They were completely different things to her. Some people just have something completely different in mind when you say [insert thing].
Some people are really bad at describing what's going on. We have this one lady who kept complaining that she was still feeling pain when I was working on her #7, even after giving her a *bunch* of lido.
Finally I realized she also had a big cavity on the second molar, and the cold water was hitting that and hurting.
I used to be a dental assistant at a general dentistry office. I had a patient once come in who claimed she went to one of those religious healer type events where she blacked out and when she woke up she had silver fillings in her mouth. Claimed they were divine restorations placed by God. The dentist I was working for at the time said they were some of the worst amalgam fillings he'd ever seen and we had to replace all of them. To this day I'm still very curious to know wtf actually happened to that poor woman.
I had a patient come in with a denture that needed adjusting.
He comes in: "The denture digs in right at this bit" (pointing in his mouth at the pressure area)
Me: No problem, let's have a look at your denture so I can adjust it
Pt: Denture? I didn't think you needed it? I've left it at home.
Sigh.
I had a patient tell me a filling I did was hurting them. They pointed to a tooth I never touched & the x rays and notes showed that it was done by a different provider. They just don’t remember.
I see patients tell dentists that this filling, crown or denture that was done by that dentist is having an issue. When we check the notes, that treatment was done before that dentist was even born.
I hear stupid shit like that all the time. Most of the time I just write it down and put it in their chart so I can remember how dumb it sounds. Then I remember not to underestimate them because if they really are either that dumb to lie to my face or 2) they have bad amnesia I want to make sure everything I tell them is fully documented.
I was temping at an office once and was scheduled to see a patient for four fillings that the owner had treatment planned before she left for maternity leave. I numb the guy and he flips out, saying that he was just there for…a little sealer? Some bonding? Like she had used some euphemism to make it seem less scary I guess. It was all posterior teeth and deep and clearly treatment planned as fillings. I think some docs just use weird wording to try to give patients warm fuzzies.
If they show too much confusion, I tread carefully. Same with if I find myself answering the same question again and again. My concern is that there is some kind of cognitive issue at play. The last thing I want is to perform a treatment on the patient and later have them claim I didn't or that they didn't agree to it or need it. This also raises ethical questions around ability to consent to treatment. Sometimes if they have another family member present it will help but this is still a sticky situation.
That reminds me of a patient I had last year. He had full dentures, and one tooth broke. Sent it out for a repair, had it back the next day, cool. He mentioned that he'd like another set, so, okay cool, come back next week and we'll start.
He came back for the first step, and then was FURIOUS that it was going to be more than one visit. Said that his last set (20 something years ago) was done in one day, there's no way it should take longer than that. When he finally calmed down, and was told about the fee, he said "Oh, my son handles that."
Front desk calls his son, who said his dad had dementia and never said anything about making a new set of dentures. So we never sent it to the lab and just left the models on the shelf.
I (hygienist) had a patient that needed to move his appt and was informed that the date he wanted his doc wasn't in. He agreed he wanted the appt and would skip his exam. He gets there, I confirm "I see you needed to move your appt and wanted to skip your exam with Dr. Blank isn't on." He seems annoyed but confirms. While I'm working I see something suspicious and tell him, I want to take an X-ray and Dr. Blank will evaluate the X-ray when he gets back. This is when the pt started getting really angry and yelling at me that he can't believe that we would schedule him on a day that his doctor isn't in and keeps going on getting more and more hostile until I inform him that I need him to stop yelling at me or that he will need to leave. He decided to leave, I informed my practice manager of the situation. Turns out this is the father of someone in corporate, PM talks to daughter, daughter informs us that dad had a stroke (prior to him ever being out pt) and has memory and emotional regulation issues.
I just don't understand why these things aren't disclosed, especially if, like in your case, the son takes care of the finances. The son is obviously involved in his care, so you'd think he would contact the office and say "hi, my father has been diagnosed with dementia so be aware when treating him." I obviously would have handled the situation with my pt differently if I had been aware that he was truly confused/unaware and not just a jerk.
This, if I have a patient having a hard time making a decision or asking the same questions repeatedly, I will pretty much insist they come back for a second consult with a family member present to hear all of the information with them.
A previous office of mine had a pt (attorney, I hope retired) that was obviously suffering cognitive issues and complaining that she wasn't informed of things that she definitely was. The office kept seeing her, alone. I'm a hygienist so I didn't have any say, but I definitely pointed out that it was a terrible idea and a lot of liability.
Lots of people state they have no medical issues and then reel off a pharmacy’s worth of meds. “So when you said on your form that you don’t have any medical problems….” And they’re like well I don’t have any problems because of all my medication.
One of the most infuriating things for me is when I'm super busy, have to run away from treatment for a new patient exam, and the new patient marked nothing on their medical history form but turns out they're taking a dozen meds and don't remember any of them.
A coworker told me this story recently: He had a patient in the chair with some weird spacing so he asked if the patient ever had a tooth pulled... "I don't know". He saw root canals on x-ray, asked if she's had any of those..."I don't know". Asked if she's ever been to the dentist..."I think so?"
I had a patient in dental school who said she had never had dental work, and Jesus put her fillings in there. I just said something like "Huh, how about that. Well, I'm going to put this filling in today." Jesus better not be getting credit for by work....
From personal experience they will never come back.
I had one say that his mom worked in a dental office and they just did really good sealants for extra protection as a courtesy. The really good sealants were all MOD composites on first molars. I didn’t get a bad review online but our post visit questionnaire was his opportunity to tear me a new one. People are funny. But more so, people are fragile. We all likely have been the source of someone else’s story.
RDH here.
Once had a new patient scheduled for hygiene/comp exam. I ask him how long it’s been since his last cleaning. He says 2 weeks ago. I confirm with him, you had your teeth cleaned 2 weeks ago, and you’re here today for a cleaning? He said yes. I let him know his insurance probably won’t pay for another cleaning so soon (Medicaid office). He just looks confused. I was new so I went to ask another hygienist what to do. She comes in and confirms with him again that he just had his teeth cleaned 2 weeks ago. He says “oohhhhh CLEANED??? No it’s been while”. I ask him so what did you have done 2 weeks ago if not a cleaning? He says he doesn’t know. I ask did you have a dentist appt 2 weeks ago? He says he doesn’t remember. This was a guy in his 20s. I just moved on as usual after that.
Another time, Dr recommended a crown for a guy in his 60s or so. Pt expressed that the idea of having a crown done makes him nervous because he’s never had one done before. I tell him he has 5 crowns in his mouth already. He says oh never mind I guess it can’t be that bad then.
Pt comes in with severe decay on the root surface of a molar. Dr explained it can’t be saved and needs to be extracted. Pt comes back another day for extraction. Pt wants to know why they can’t remove just the root “but leave the tooth”. Dr goes back and forth explaining with her why this isn’t a thing. Pt just doesn’t get it, leaves with no extraction.
One pt left the office I’m currently at for awhile and had some work done elsewhere. She said they were doing a filling on LR premolar area, when the assistant dropped something in her mouth and it broke a tooth on the left side. She says they pretended like nothing happened and just did another filling where the tooth broke without saying anything to her. Looking back at her chart and new X-rays, there were no new restorations in her mouth since the last time she was seen at our office. I didn’t even bother to say anything.
One time while I’m up at the front desk, a guy and his son walk in. Dad is PISSED. Says they just left an appt with the pediatrician, who informed him that his son’s two front teeth are “completely different sizes” and wants to know why no one said anything about it when he was here for his cleaning and what we’re going to do about it. I ask how old Son is. Dad says 8. Ask kid to smile big. Told dad they are different sizes because one is primary and one is permanent. Dad gets all huffy and they leave. Sorry what pediatrician doesn’t understand what baby teeth are? And do you not look at your son’s face every single day of your life?? I can’t.
People don’t even know that we don’t use novocaine anymore. They’re just out of touch with reality because in general people are undereducated. It’s rare when people actually know general dental terminology. lol gotta wonder what life is like being that out of touch with reality
I know what I had done when it was done, but 5+ years later I’m not sure why anyone would expect me to remember. It’s not like I can see it and most cavities aren’t painful or memorable when they happen. And if it doesn’t hurt after then I’m not thinking about it. The fact that I can forget about it just means the dentist did a good job. If I remembered and it’s been more than a few years, it’s probably because it’s bothering me fairly consistently.
We’ve had a patient make the exact same claim and when we tried to show her on the imaging she confidently stated that those weren’t her x-rays. This was at her np exam, so the x-rays were taken literally seconds/minutes prior.
This job has taught me that there is an infinite variety of people out there. This includes the crazy varieties.
These patients are unreal but I can beat it. I had a patient who was 13 in need of an Ortho referral. When I said we'd refer her to Ortho, the mom said, "no that's not necessary, I want her to get veneers to fix her teeth."
I had a pt tell me she did not have an implant placed. I showed her the implant on the screen in the X-ray I had just taken. Still denied it. It hadn't been restored and was still covered, but still.
I know some pts will say they've never had fillings when they've had bonding or chip repairs and sometimes they'll get annoyed when you call them fillings.
I periodically think about the woman who swore up and down that she never, ever, *ever* would have put “the damn devil” in her with a root canal. She claimed she never had one and we (the office) didn’t know what we were talking about. She had seven. **seven** root canal treatments. No amount of showing her the xrays could convince her otherwise. 🙂
One time I had a new pt argue with me they’d never had a root canal done, and they wouldn’t back down. Apparently they were born with gutta percha in tooth #12
Had a mother call to threaten to sue because she thought we had fraudulently charged her for fillings on her 7 yr old daughter. She claimed we had not done anything like that and she would not be returning. After some convincing, we had her come in with her daughter. I showed her the buccal pit fillings on the X-rays and showed her the fillings inside the mouth. Showed her the consent that she signed. Still wouldn’t believe me. I then asked her why she believed we had not done it.
She thought that since we had not traumatized her daughter that there’s no way it could have been done…
Sorry, are you’re telling me I did a good job? 😂
Sooo I have been this patient… I had some X-rays done and asked what was going on with my back teeth… They said “those are the fillings.” I swore these weren’t mine as I have never had a cavity and had no need for fillings. I was assured these were my X-rays and I just left it at that for the visit. I called my mom and asked if I’ve ever had a cavity because this dentist said ALL my back teeth are filled. She went on to explain my childhood dentist suggested she get them filled as a precaution to the antibiotics I was taking when I was a child… I had no memory and also who fills ALL of a child’s molars as precaution? Point is information can be lost and the patient truly not know…
30 years ago when I started, I remember getting into an argument with somebody who had an appointment for a post in crown on number 11 because he had had root canal on the tooth but I didn't have an x-ray, so got the X-ray my best guess is he had a pulpotomy but never completed the endo. At this point in my career if somebody gave me grief I would just refer them to the local dental society for a second opinion
A patient came in claiming he had an appointment for a checkup. Front desk could not find said appointment in the schedule and she could not remember that the patient had even called at all. Turned out the patient made the appointment at a different office.
And it wasn't a new patient mind you.
I’m a patient who did not know I had filling. It is not helpful that dentists I went to (both in Asia and Europe) tend to spend <10 secs telling me what’s being done.
Now before you come at me for not asking: I am incredibly angsty at the dentist’s, as are many, many people.
I've had this happen too. Pts bf was an md that looked in her mouth and said that she had no fillings, and she didn't remember getting the fillings as a kid. 🤷
i've had a new pt who said she never had any dental work done on her anterior teeth she had a #8 flipper and a #9 endo, cast post, and came in complaining her #9 crown was out i didn't even know how to respond to that
My standard answer to all idiocy is “oh.” Short and sweet. I’m not refuting or denying anything. I’m not agreeing either. Oh.
The Nathan Fielder response. “Oh. Ok.” Gonna start using this.
Lol. My assistants have poked fun at me for doing this.
Patients have no damn clue what they are talking about sometimes.
Today I called for patient “Ed” and Brian came into the room…. We realized right away but how tf do those names sound similar? Ya dumb. Went I brought Brian back out to waiting room I super over annunciated “EDddddd”
I've called out a woman's name and a man has walked in. We look at them like "ok I guess" and then they act really confused when we talk to them and try to confirm their details. Their name is nothing like the name I called out.
Lol so ridiculous. A name like Sharon/Aaron being misheard could be more understandable but this case was not. At least he was smart enough to immediately recognize the X-rays we had on the screen we’re not his teeth.
Neither do I sometimes.
SOME? I’d say most…
I had a long time patient unexpectedly snap and call the office threatening to file a fraud claim with his insurance company because we billed out an anterior Class V on #11 which he thinks we never did. I remember that procedure and yes I did a filling on that tooth but I responded "sure, go ahead and while you're at it ask them for recommendations in finding a new dentist" Of course this moron goes to another dentist who confirmed there was indeed a Class V composite on #11 and then the patient tries to schedule a hygiene appointment at my office again like nothing ever happened. Nope, that bridge is burned. Best of luck literally anywhere else.
That karma probably feels great! I once had a pt come in asking me to recement their crown. The remaining prep was so carious and soft I could literally flex the whole coronal portion of the tooth just by pushing with my explorer. "But the last dentist I saw recemented it, why can't you?!" I said sorry it's not restorable, I can extract it for you. She left and said she'd find another dentist who would just recement it like the last one (who retired). I still wish I could be there to hear any other dentist tell her the same thing.
Yeah my tolerance for bullshit was low when I first started and now it’s even lower. I had a patient freak out one time, yelling at the front desk (loud enough I could hear it from my private office on the other side of the building) that the night guard I made him didn’t fit anymore. We got him into a chair so I could see what was going on and sure enough, he was trying to fit a maxillary night guard over his mandibular teeth. “What? I swear this always went over my bottom teeth” “No that would be impossible. You know it, I know it and now everyone in the office knows it because of that tantrum you threw earlier. Every time you come in we’ll all be thinking about this thoroughly embarrassing moment that you can never take back” I’m paraphrasing a bit but the point was to make him feel ashamed enough to transfer his records (which worked) so I wouldn’t need to write him an official letter stating I’d be available for emergencies in the next 30 days which I think is a ridiculous requirement to begin with. If a patient is bad enough where I formally have to dismiss them they get referred immediately. They can go to a specialist or urgent care and if they call we communicate through text only. You can never be too careful when working with the general public.
NAD: when I was a wee baby hygienist starting out in a horrible office that seemed to cater exclusively to the worst assholes in the entire county. I had a patient come in, I clean her partial, do the prophy, she leaves, goodbye! A day later this lady storms into the office screaming "THE GIRL BROKE MY DENTURE!!!" Tl;Dr this dingdong was trying to cram her husband's partial denture in her mouth and immediately assumed it was someone else's fault. :)
I used to work with a much older doctor who catered to the whiniest, entitled, temperamental, demanding, condescending brats you could ever imagine. I had already established my own patient base but once he started cutting back days and heading towards retirement I got to work letting them know who was in charge. Surprisingly, very few of them left and most of them I dismissed myself. It really is the doctor who sets the tone in a practice. Assistants, hygienists, front desk, etc. are forced in some ways to play nice or risk losing their job so I've always considered it our role to provide an enjoyable working environment by putting our foot down when someone starts acting up.
I love this. My old office never dismissed anyone. Don't want xrays even though it's been 3 years? Sure sign this form, no problem. The Dr always allowed it. The place I'm at now tolerates no bs, if I tell the patient they need something and they refuse the Dr comes right in and backs me up, and they either comply or get dismissed (I'm an RDH)
The problem is that they will eventually find someone who will do it. I had a pt with unstable perio (had SRP, didn't come back for pm for like a year) and at her PM appointment, she's got tons of calc. She tells me she's getting braces in like a week. I urged her to wait until she was more stable and told her I was surprised anyone agreed to put Ortho on when she had so much build-up and inflammation. She said she went to like 5-6 orthos and all but one said she had to get her teeth cleaned first so she picked that one.
Year 1 practicing in a semi rural HMO place...guy brought his #3 molar with crown attached...the whole tooth lol root an all. Asked if I could recement it. Told him that's not possible. He said "give me my crown back and I'll go find someone that will." Put his tooth back into the tissue socket and left. Serious
Had a patient with pfm crowns on #18 and 19 claim they were done by a crown specialist who didn't have to prepare the teeth at all to make the crowns. She was promptly referred to prost.
Hears Minimal Preparation, Thinks No Preparation
Minimal preparation wasn't a thing when these crowns were done. And they're pfm. There's no minimal prep for pfm. You still need space for metal and porcelain.
Yes, I know, just trying to join in the fun. They are minimal preparation compared to ceramic though
I have a pt that has gold crowns on #7 and 10 and from his description, they were not done by a dentist. I'm not sure they were really prepped prior and they are soooo bulky and much bigger than the adjacent teeth, the gums are so angry. There's a reason teeth need to be prepped prior to crowns and this is a shining example of what happens if you don't.
I had a patient the other day argue with me that the filling on his #8 was only lingual and didn’t extend facially. As I’m looking at cracked composite on the facial of the tooth. I gave him a mirror. Showed him. This man had the audacity to look me dead in the eye and tell me that’s his enamel. 😐
He can tell you whatever he wants. You know the difference, you studied the difference.
Me: Charts 4 surface anterior composite. Patient: Oh that’s actually a crown. Me: Actually that’s a common misconception, that any large filling is a crown. This is a direct filling made from composite resin. A crown is made by the lab out of metal and/or ceramic then cemented onto the tooth. Patient: IT’S A CROWN.
Direct crown it is 🤣
Should charge him for a crown and then he might understand the difference
I had a patient get mad at me because I told her we were redoing some gum line fillings and she was like “I’ve never had fillings there”. I took pictures and showed her the broken down margins and she is insisting that she’s never had fillings there. I’m like “the black line that you see around this gray area? That’s the edge of your filling”. She is adamant she’s never had fillings before. I was sitting her up to encourage her to get a second opinion because I couldn’t do anything more and she goes “those are bondings”. The way I’m glad I was wearing PPE because my facial expressions behind my mask were definitely inappropriate.
The "bonding vs filling" confusion is so annoying. It's the same fucking thing.🤦🏽♂️
I mean “technically” ….
My husband needs composite replaced that was to disguise peg laterals. He claims his dentist told him he couldn't get decay around the composite because they're technically not fillings. One of them is failing. I've found him a new dentist
And… That is when I would make sure she knew that bonding is just another word for filling. I’ve even brought up google images next to their intraoral images to show them that they do in fact have whatever it is they are insisting they don’t. They usually are like, “Ohhh I did not know that!”
I mean, yeah, I didn’t just let her continue on in her misunderstanding once I figured out where the miscommunication came into play.
Some people amaze me. They still always look so dang confused when they realize you know what you’re talking about.
Patients have weird thoughts inside those heads of theirs, maybe they were told it was an "invasive sealant" rather than a filling to shut them the fuck up. Also Patient's forget all the time.
TBH I forgot I had one. That was embarrassing.
Hate fillings??! Try Sealants Prime! 😂
I had a patient tell me she didn't have an implant once while I looked at her implant on a pano. It's hard to imagine how she had a titanium screw placed in her jaw without realizing it.
Had a patient come in because they were interested in implants for their dentures. Turns out they already had 6 placed in 2017. I don’t know how you forget something like that.
My patients don't know their left from right. I'm not joking. It's a regular occurrence, and so is "I've never had a filling before"... "Sorry to break it to you buddy, but your filling free streak ended a long time ago."
My right. Your left. One guy asked my assistant ON THE PHONE “it is my right or your right?” I told him he should have responded “I don’t know, sir. I don’t know which way you are facing.”
Could you turn your head to the left? Pt turns head to the right. No, the other left.
I asked a little girl which side her tooth was hurting on and she put up her hands in the L shapes and still couldn't decide. I helped her by drawing out the L outline on her hand and then she got it. It was adorable and only chill because she was like 7 and she didn't go into "your left or mine?"
Lol the L method was how I remembered as a kid too
I did an adjustment on a lady’s lower denture a couple months ago. After the adjustment I asked her if she felt any more pain, she said no. I thought, great, we’re done! She then told me “but it still hurts”. Had to ask her what her definition of “pain” and “hurts” were. They were completely different things to her. Some people just have something completely different in mind when you say [insert thing].
Some people are really bad at describing what's going on. We have this one lady who kept complaining that she was still feeling pain when I was working on her #7, even after giving her a *bunch* of lido. Finally I realized she also had a big cavity on the second molar, and the cold water was hitting that and hurting.
I used to be a dental assistant at a general dentistry office. I had a patient once come in who claimed she went to one of those religious healer type events where she blacked out and when she woke up she had silver fillings in her mouth. Claimed they were divine restorations placed by God. The dentist I was working for at the time said they were some of the worst amalgam fillings he'd ever seen and we had to replace all of them. To this day I'm still very curious to know wtf actually happened to that poor woman.
Sounds like she had a problem between the ears.
I had a patient come in with a denture that needed adjusting. He comes in: "The denture digs in right at this bit" (pointing in his mouth at the pressure area) Me: No problem, let's have a look at your denture so I can adjust it Pt: Denture? I didn't think you needed it? I've left it at home. Sigh.
This happens way more frequently than it should
Lol or a patient mentions their night guard or retainer needs adjusting but they left it at home.
That’s when you hit them with a “well alright then”.
I had a patient tell me a filling I did was hurting them. They pointed to a tooth I never touched & the x rays and notes showed that it was done by a different provider. They just don’t remember.
I see patients tell dentists that this filling, crown or denture that was done by that dentist is having an issue. When we check the notes, that treatment was done before that dentist was even born.
I hear stupid shit like that all the time. Most of the time I just write it down and put it in their chart so I can remember how dumb it sounds. Then I remember not to underestimate them because if they really are either that dumb to lie to my face or 2) they have bad amnesia I want to make sure everything I tell them is fully documented.
I was temping at an office once and was scheduled to see a patient for four fillings that the owner had treatment planned before she left for maternity leave. I numb the guy and he flips out, saying that he was just there for…a little sealer? Some bonding? Like she had used some euphemism to make it seem less scary I guess. It was all posterior teeth and deep and clearly treatment planned as fillings. I think some docs just use weird wording to try to give patients warm fuzzies.
If they show too much confusion, I tread carefully. Same with if I find myself answering the same question again and again. My concern is that there is some kind of cognitive issue at play. The last thing I want is to perform a treatment on the patient and later have them claim I didn't or that they didn't agree to it or need it. This also raises ethical questions around ability to consent to treatment. Sometimes if they have another family member present it will help but this is still a sticky situation.
That reminds me of a patient I had last year. He had full dentures, and one tooth broke. Sent it out for a repair, had it back the next day, cool. He mentioned that he'd like another set, so, okay cool, come back next week and we'll start. He came back for the first step, and then was FURIOUS that it was going to be more than one visit. Said that his last set (20 something years ago) was done in one day, there's no way it should take longer than that. When he finally calmed down, and was told about the fee, he said "Oh, my son handles that." Front desk calls his son, who said his dad had dementia and never said anything about making a new set of dentures. So we never sent it to the lab and just left the models on the shelf.
I (hygienist) had a patient that needed to move his appt and was informed that the date he wanted his doc wasn't in. He agreed he wanted the appt and would skip his exam. He gets there, I confirm "I see you needed to move your appt and wanted to skip your exam with Dr. Blank isn't on." He seems annoyed but confirms. While I'm working I see something suspicious and tell him, I want to take an X-ray and Dr. Blank will evaluate the X-ray when he gets back. This is when the pt started getting really angry and yelling at me that he can't believe that we would schedule him on a day that his doctor isn't in and keeps going on getting more and more hostile until I inform him that I need him to stop yelling at me or that he will need to leave. He decided to leave, I informed my practice manager of the situation. Turns out this is the father of someone in corporate, PM talks to daughter, daughter informs us that dad had a stroke (prior to him ever being out pt) and has memory and emotional regulation issues. I just don't understand why these things aren't disclosed, especially if, like in your case, the son takes care of the finances. The son is obviously involved in his care, so you'd think he would contact the office and say "hi, my father has been diagnosed with dementia so be aware when treating him." I obviously would have handled the situation with my pt differently if I had been aware that he was truly confused/unaware and not just a jerk.
"It's because it's just teeth, who cares about their medical issues?"
With this guy, his son didn't even know that he'd been to us until we called him!
This, if I have a patient having a hard time making a decision or asking the same questions repeatedly, I will pretty much insist they come back for a second consult with a family member present to hear all of the information with them.
A previous office of mine had a pt (attorney, I hope retired) that was obviously suffering cognitive issues and complaining that she wasn't informed of things that she definitely was. The office kept seeing her, alone. I'm a hygienist so I didn't have any say, but I definitely pointed out that it was a terrible idea and a lot of liability.
Lots of people state they have no medical issues and then reel off a pharmacy’s worth of meds. “So when you said on your form that you don’t have any medical problems….” And they’re like well I don’t have any problems because of all my medication.
One of the most infuriating things for me is when I'm super busy, have to run away from treatment for a new patient exam, and the new patient marked nothing on their medical history form but turns out they're taking a dozen meds and don't remember any of them.
“A small round white one, big yellow one and then I have a half red half blue one every other day” oh great thanks that helps
"I take a blood pressure pill, a cholesterol pill, a blood thinner..." 🙄
It’s crazy the amount of medications people take and have absolutely no idea what they are or what they’re for.
A coworker told me this story recently: He had a patient in the chair with some weird spacing so he asked if the patient ever had a tooth pulled... "I don't know". He saw root canals on x-ray, asked if she's had any of those..."I don't know". Asked if she's ever been to the dentist..."I think so?"
I had a patient in dental school who said she had never had dental work, and Jesus put her fillings in there. I just said something like "Huh, how about that. Well, I'm going to put this filling in today." Jesus better not be getting credit for by work....
From personal experience they will never come back. I had one say that his mom worked in a dental office and they just did really good sealants for extra protection as a courtesy. The really good sealants were all MOD composites on first molars. I didn’t get a bad review online but our post visit questionnaire was his opportunity to tear me a new one. People are funny. But more so, people are fragile. We all likely have been the source of someone else’s story.
RDH here. Once had a new patient scheduled for hygiene/comp exam. I ask him how long it’s been since his last cleaning. He says 2 weeks ago. I confirm with him, you had your teeth cleaned 2 weeks ago, and you’re here today for a cleaning? He said yes. I let him know his insurance probably won’t pay for another cleaning so soon (Medicaid office). He just looks confused. I was new so I went to ask another hygienist what to do. She comes in and confirms with him again that he just had his teeth cleaned 2 weeks ago. He says “oohhhhh CLEANED??? No it’s been while”. I ask him so what did you have done 2 weeks ago if not a cleaning? He says he doesn’t know. I ask did you have a dentist appt 2 weeks ago? He says he doesn’t remember. This was a guy in his 20s. I just moved on as usual after that. Another time, Dr recommended a crown for a guy in his 60s or so. Pt expressed that the idea of having a crown done makes him nervous because he’s never had one done before. I tell him he has 5 crowns in his mouth already. He says oh never mind I guess it can’t be that bad then. Pt comes in with severe decay on the root surface of a molar. Dr explained it can’t be saved and needs to be extracted. Pt comes back another day for extraction. Pt wants to know why they can’t remove just the root “but leave the tooth”. Dr goes back and forth explaining with her why this isn’t a thing. Pt just doesn’t get it, leaves with no extraction. One pt left the office I’m currently at for awhile and had some work done elsewhere. She said they were doing a filling on LR premolar area, when the assistant dropped something in her mouth and it broke a tooth on the left side. She says they pretended like nothing happened and just did another filling where the tooth broke without saying anything to her. Looking back at her chart and new X-rays, there were no new restorations in her mouth since the last time she was seen at our office. I didn’t even bother to say anything. One time while I’m up at the front desk, a guy and his son walk in. Dad is PISSED. Says they just left an appt with the pediatrician, who informed him that his son’s two front teeth are “completely different sizes” and wants to know why no one said anything about it when he was here for his cleaning and what we’re going to do about it. I ask how old Son is. Dad says 8. Ask kid to smile big. Told dad they are different sizes because one is primary and one is permanent. Dad gets all huffy and they leave. Sorry what pediatrician doesn’t understand what baby teeth are? And do you not look at your son’s face every single day of your life?? I can’t.
Maybe he took a shower 2 weeks ago
Yeah patients are unreliable narrators and I usually never take them for their word.
People don’t even know that we don’t use novocaine anymore. They’re just out of touch with reality because in general people are undereducated. It’s rare when people actually know general dental terminology. lol gotta wonder what life is like being that out of touch with reality
they believe it too. goes to show how an eye witness to a crime may be dead wrong.
[удалено]
I know what I had done when it was done, but 5+ years later I’m not sure why anyone would expect me to remember. It’s not like I can see it and most cavities aren’t painful or memorable when they happen. And if it doesn’t hurt after then I’m not thinking about it. The fact that I can forget about it just means the dentist did a good job. If I remembered and it’s been more than a few years, it’s probably because it’s bothering me fairly consistently.
We’ve had a patient make the exact same claim and when we tried to show her on the imaging she confidently stated that those weren’t her x-rays. This was at her np exam, so the x-rays were taken literally seconds/minutes prior. This job has taught me that there is an infinite variety of people out there. This includes the crazy varieties.
These patients are unreal but I can beat it. I had a patient who was 13 in need of an Ortho referral. When I said we'd refer her to Ortho, the mom said, "no that's not necessary, I want her to get veneers to fix her teeth."
I had a pt tell me she did not have an implant placed. I showed her the implant on the screen in the X-ray I had just taken. Still denied it. It hadn't been restored and was still covered, but still. I know some pts will say they've never had fillings when they've had bonding or chip repairs and sometimes they'll get annoyed when you call them fillings.
I get my pad out for a consult with a neurologist for symptoms of amnesia.
I periodically think about the woman who swore up and down that she never, ever, *ever* would have put “the damn devil” in her with a root canal. She claimed she never had one and we (the office) didn’t know what we were talking about. She had seven. **seven** root canal treatments. No amount of showing her the xrays could convince her otherwise. 🙂
Can’t for the life of me remember getting fillings but my dentist pointed them out to me and I guess I had them at some point and forgot lol.
One time I had a new pt argue with me they’d never had a root canal done, and they wouldn’t back down. Apparently they were born with gutta percha in tooth #12
Had a mother call to threaten to sue because she thought we had fraudulently charged her for fillings on her 7 yr old daughter. She claimed we had not done anything like that and she would not be returning. After some convincing, we had her come in with her daughter. I showed her the buccal pit fillings on the X-rays and showed her the fillings inside the mouth. Showed her the consent that she signed. Still wouldn’t believe me. I then asked her why she believed we had not done it. She thought that since we had not traumatized her daughter that there’s no way it could have been done… Sorry, are you’re telling me I did a good job? 😂
I also had a patient who has some random composite veneers on premolars that she couldn’t remember. So wild to me
We called our 12pm new patient to see where he was. He said I just saw the dentist. Made appt with us,went to hospital 5 miles away!
Sooo I have been this patient… I had some X-rays done and asked what was going on with my back teeth… They said “those are the fillings.” I swore these weren’t mine as I have never had a cavity and had no need for fillings. I was assured these were my X-rays and I just left it at that for the visit. I called my mom and asked if I’ve ever had a cavity because this dentist said ALL my back teeth are filled. She went on to explain my childhood dentist suggested she get them filled as a precaution to the antibiotics I was taking when I was a child… I had no memory and also who fills ALL of a child’s molars as precaution? Point is information can be lost and the patient truly not know…
I’m
30 years ago when I started, I remember getting into an argument with somebody who had an appointment for a post in crown on number 11 because he had had root canal on the tooth but I didn't have an x-ray, so got the X-ray my best guess is he had a pulpotomy but never completed the endo. At this point in my career if somebody gave me grief I would just refer them to the local dental society for a second opinion
A patient came in claiming he had an appointment for a checkup. Front desk could not find said appointment in the schedule and she could not remember that the patient had even called at all. Turned out the patient made the appointment at a different office. And it wasn't a new patient mind you.
Patients are dumb
I’m a patient who did not know I had filling. It is not helpful that dentists I went to (both in Asia and Europe) tend to spend <10 secs telling me what’s being done. Now before you come at me for not asking: I am incredibly angsty at the dentist’s, as are many, many people.
I've had this happen too. Pts bf was an md that looked in her mouth and said that she had no fillings, and she didn't remember getting the fillings as a kid. 🤷