Whatever happened to patient 'care'?!?! Sorry, but this practice left me with a bad taste in my mouth :-( Pun intended.
I was referred to Dr Snider by Kremer Dental to redo my root canal, which was done (over a year ago) by a different endodontist. I was only given his name & number. When I called to make my appt, I was not given any further details. The morning of my appt, I called to get the physical address & name of the practice. The receptionist was rude & had a tone- asking me 2 different times during the call "Who is this"? She made me feel stupid, so I tried to explain to her that I hadn't been given the info from Kremer Dental which was why I was asking for it now. She said "I don't understand what you're talking about".
I got there but was a little lost in the parking lot due to a cluster of identical looking offices. I called a second time to figure out where the office was & told the receptionist EXACTLY where I was in the lot. She confused me even more & told me to leave the lot, get back out on East Ave & turn at the 7 Eleven. I slowly continued down the lot, scanning the signs & finally spotted the office (on the back side of the building). it would've been nice if she could've simply told me that the office I was stopped in front of (which I indicated during my call) was only 9 feet away from Dr Sniders office.
When I got to the front desk to check in (a bit frazzled at this point), she had the same rude tone & asked me "Are you ok"? Not wanting to engage in her rudeness, I quietly said yes & sat down.
At the beginning of my exam, I had to have new pictures taken. The assistant had me bite down on the camera unit, which was hard & sharp- causing pain to my jaw which was already hurting (& the reason I was in there to begin with). I cried. No one offered me a tissue, just looked at me oddly, until I asked for one. During the consult (while reviewing my images), I was informed that bacteria had seeped in, caused an infection, leading to bone deterioration & that I'd need another root canal or implant. This news was understandably upsetting & I started crying again. This time I didn't even asked for a tissue, just went & grabbed it myself. I scheduled my root canal for the next day.
I arrived that morning & asked a ton of questions. The last question was regarding sedation during the procedure since I was very nervous & had already had one unsuccessful (painful) procedure. Dr Snider said "Well, we COULDVE prescribed you something & had you take it an hour ago, before we got started, but YOU NEVER ASKED." I immediately thought, are you kidding me?!?! Considering I cried (a few times) the day before (during my consult) & VOCALIZED (several times) how scared & nervous I was to go through all of this again (to the nurse & the doctor)- I'm the ideal candidate for sedation? I mean, the only way I could've appeared more nervous would've been to pass out on the floor. Moreover, isn't it THEIR responsibility (as professional health care providers) to ask/offer/suggest services to ME (the extremely nervous/upset) patient- so they can make MY EXPERIENCE better? I guess that's not their job, just as its not the receptionist's job to give patients the practice/office name or address :-(
I was second guessing my decision after he said that & thought about walking out while he was shooting me up with novocaine. This is when I really started to sob. He left & I asked the nurse for tissue. When she returned, I decided to address all my concerns with her. I was going to have a hard time going through this after how poorly I'd been treated, without some resolution- even if I was all numbed up.
Thankfully, nurse Patty listened, was able to calm me down & offered some reassurance of dr sniders success with redo root canals. I went through with the first procedure & it was fine. I return in 2 weeks for the root filling, so we'll see how that goes.
Due to pain from the procedure, I stayed home (mostly in bed) during the first 2 days. The doctor & nurse called to check on me twice & while I've gotten through the daytime pain, it becomes excruciating at night, I'm unable to sleep & I told them as much. I was informed to keep taking the ibuprofen. Now I'm up again in the middle of the night in agony. It's disappointing they had not offered me an alternative before the office & pharmacies closed. Now Ive zero options but to sit & suffer. Terrible patient 'care' :-(
I'll continue to update my experience for the benefit of the community until the end of my treatment & a few months later, as a summary of my results. I hope my story informs others in the unfortunate position of having to get a root canal with their future choices. Good Luck & Best Wishes! read more