A recent post was made by a 36 year old female dentist who has recently decided to leave the profession. Of course she couldn’t just leave dentistry, she had to cut her hair http://lolabees.me/2011/11/23/the-big-reveal/ and write a post about the 10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too http://lolabees.me/2011/11/28/10-reasons-your-dentist-probably-hates-you-too/
Reading over the 10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too I totally see where she is coming from.
The first on her list is often patients sit down and the first thing they say is “I hate the dentist.” Other issues on her list include patients not brushing their teeth before the appointment, complaining about the size of the bill after the work was completed, failing to get a cavity or filling performed when it is recommended, not showing up or canceling at the last minute for an appointment, and denying that you grind your teeth.
Hundreds of comments follow this post and it results in a flame war.
A 19 year old female patient calls dentists “greedy basterds.”
Numerous dentists and others chime in to say that while there are some unethical dentists, this is of course the norm in any profession. If you don’t like your dentist they recommend you find a different one.
Of course the flame war wouldn’t be complete without a medical doctor chiming in with the comment
“Remember, though that at the end of the day you’re a dentist, not a real doctor.”
Somehow the discussion erupts into disputing the difference between TMJ and TMD/TMJD.
One person chimes in by saying
“You might as well call your children idiots for not knowing how to find the Lagrange multiplier equations for the point of the surface x4 + y4 + z4 + xy + yz + zx =6 at which x is largest. In fact most of you probably don’t know how to do that, dumbasses.”
Clearly a post discussing reasons why dentists hate their patients was bound to receive some comments of the like above from patients. With tensions brewing between dentist and patients and other medical professionals and patients it would seem more communication skills should be taught on both ends.
Perhaps a course or lecture should be added to schools explaining how to behave when seeing a medical professional. Of course parents need to also make sure they pass on such knowledge to their children.
Likewise dentists should look into ways to help improve communication with their patients so tensions and hatred are at a minimum.
Clearly everyone should behave more nicely on the internet 🙂
I wish this dentist well and hope that she finds passion and a sense of calling in her new career and endeavors.
Nice blog and the facts are true indeed. Most of the patients don’t like to see a dentist because of the bad experience in their past. It is important to maintain a regular dental check up, if there is any dental problem it will be detected in the early stage and the treatment will be done quickly. It is a good idea to get the dental problem checked quickly so that the treatment will be easier and quicker.