Alex Arapov
1/5
TLDR: I drove 300km and took half a day off for the doctor to scold me for wasting his time. I paid out of pocket for the privilege.
Full story: At the end of October my tooth started to hurt. It was bad enough that I came to my local dentistry for consultation. They couldn’t find anything wrong, assumed it was a missed root canal and referred me to the specialist.
Two weeks later I got a call from Dr. D’Addario’s clinic to schedule an initial appointment for the end of December(!). Would I need to wait in pain two more months for the treatment after the initial appointment? Very likely. I pushed back, doctor agreed to do the assessment and treatment on the same day if necessary. Pain stopped on its own soon after this conversation. Which happens if initial pain was abscess forming.
This week I got a call, as there was an opening, doctor D’Addario could see me today, instead of next Monday. I confirmed my time off at work and agreed. Left town in the afternoon and an hour and a half later arrived at the doctor’s office.
They took another x-ray and didn’t find any abscess. Root canal was done poorly, but did not really need any extra work. Great news, right? WRONG. Doctor D’Addario was now out a thousand bucks, and didn’t hold back his disappointment. He told me that this was a waste of his time (as if he drove to a different city to be told that there is nothing wrong). He also mentioned that there were “hundreds of people” who could have taken my place (I came in on a cancellation).
He went on a further rant and told me that he would not push me to do the procedure (apparently, someone complained at being forced before). But if I don’t take it and come back to them in a week (as if that is even an option), they would refuse to see me. Made it a really easy for me to choose. I don’t want to work with manipulators.
In the end they could not process my insurance, which meant that I had to pay for being told off out of pocket. Not the administrator’s fault, still didn’t add positive vibes to the experience. My apologies if I sounded too harsh. The staff there is really friendly and nice.
Unless you are sure you are dying and there are no other doctors in a few hundred mile radius, please help doctor Mario D’Addario and save his precious time by avoiding his practice like a plague. He may be a good doctor (I cannot speak to that from personal experience), but he sure is not much of a professional.
EDIT: Thank you for your reply. I have fixed the word "yell". I agree, you were not yelling, just raising your voice. It wasn't any more pleasant of an exchange because of that.
As for your other point, I did not know that I was not going to go through with the work. If there was infection starting, I would have done the work either way. This appointment was a recommendation from another doctor. I am not a doctor myself and cannot decide on not going through with another doctors recommendation without you providing me with all the information. I was also not comfortable cancelling the appointment due to risk of waiting more months for the new one.
I hope you will take this as an opportunity to change your process when confirming the appointment. All I could tell you that tooth felt better. I honestly don't remember if I was even asked.
