I hate going to the dentist. So now that's off my chest, here's my review.
I was put on a new medication by my doctor that made me grind my teeth in my sleep (unknowingly). After several days, I woke up one morning to my tooth having cracked in half (part of it fell out) and I was in ridiculous pain. The staff at Park Dental Edina was totally awful and slow about this. I was only able to drink warm water for days (because of the pain) and had to go in there several times before they actually pulled the tooth. For some reason they made me go in for x-rays first, then couldn't get me in for a cleaning until a few days after that. Then they said they didn't have any time to pull my tooth then but made me schedule it for yet another few days later. All told it was over a week before my tooth was pulled, I was miserable, and they wouldn't give me anything for the pain and said to just take Ibuprofen. When you have an exposed nerve in your mouth Ibuprofen doesn't quite cut it... but thankfully my primary doctor agreed they were ridiculous and gave me something for it.
Each of the times I went in the dental hygienist seemed rushed and like they were trying to scrape wallpaper off a wall. Needless to say my teeth became even more aggravated than before and I was in a great deal of pain after the cleaning. The actual tooth pulling itself went okay but the assistant on that day really aggravated me beyond comprehension.
I explained to them I can't have nitrous oxide because I have narcolepsy, as it puts me to sleep and takes hours to wear off, so I wouldn't be able to get out of the chair for that time. Luckily they didn't make me take the gas. I had some difficulty with the tooth pulling as they had to use the bite guard, but I was terrified (I have a fear of dentists) and so biting down on it was difficult, because the fear was giving me an awful cataplexy (paralysis) attack. Immediately after pulling my tooth the assistant took my BP. Of course it was high because I'd just had cataplexy and my heart rate was through the roof because I was terrified. She started to lecture me about my diet, told me I was morbidly obese and on the road to getting a heart attack. I was not impressed. I flat out told her that it was obvious that she wasn't a medical professional, she was rude and out of line, and that she had ZERO understanding of what my medical issues were. I was later told the office manager wasn't available to speak with me about my complaint.
In my hopes the clinic staff will read this: narcolepsy makes a person get close to no deep sleep stages, which is where metabolism kicks in and weight loss is largely processed. I get 95% REM and no deep sleep. In addition, I have severe PCOS, which means essentially for over 10 years now I have been on hormones to stop my periods. This in combination with the hormonal changes that narcolepsy / autonomic failure has caused means that essentially, my body has thought that I am pregnant for many years. This makes it extremely hard for me to lose weight. I eat 1400 calories a day, 120 g of protein, can't lift weights because of acid reflux surgery, and can't do exercise more than walking because of the side effects of narcolepsy medication. I had been feeling pretty great that I'd maintained my weight for years, and so had my doctors, despite all the adversity I experience in my health. But these rude-ass comments from your staff member was like it totally undid years of work. She was so rude, so unprofessional, totally unwilling to listen to what actual health problems I had. It brought me back to years of therapy and shame over my appearance and suicide ideation because of her comments that were quite frankly out of line.
Your staff should be reminded that they work in a dental office and have absolutely no place to provide commentary on peoples' weight, nor think that it is acceptable to make rude comments when they are NOT medical professionals. read more