oday I was blindsided sitting in Reznik Orthodontics parking lot. My daughter has had a spacer in her mouth for several months and we have been in the office to have it adjusted with them several times. I called to tell them we were there for my seven year old's appointment. They told me I would not be allowed in with her. I informed them that she was seven and scared to have braces put on without her mother standing next to her. I had been told at her last appointment that her bite was causing her to grind down a permanent tooth. It was offered that I could reschedule the appointment until a later date when Covid 19 policies were lifted. I asked when they thought that would be given that Covid is here to stay and restrictions have increased not decreased. She was not crying or clinging to me (hopefully if that were happening I would have snapped out of "the doctor is always right" mentality and driven her home) with a sick feeling in my gut I walked her to the door and told her they would call me if she asked for me (though they did not say they would do that for her) I sat in my car and cried the whole time she was inside. At the end of her appointment they called me TO COME INSIDE to hear the rules for her braces.
I called this afternoon to discuss that going forward I would not be sending my seven year old minor in their building without a parent. I told then I understood that given the current situation we are in they made these policies as best they could, but now that I have brought to their attention that minors should never be without a parent in any office, I was sure they would be changing those policies. Dr Derek Reznik told me that he understood where I was coming from as he himself is a parent. When I asked him how he would feel about sending his child into an office alone he responded with "I would be fine with my child going into a pediatric doctor office where he knew the doctor" I told him that if he was willing to send his child into a pediatricians office alone, we do not see eye to eye on the safety of minors. I have called four other orthodontist office here in Midland TX and all four told me that one parent is allowed back with a minor. I asked if we could transfer to one of their offices. They told me that with current fixtures in her mouth from another office they could not take her, but once they have been removed they would. I told him this and told him I wanted a guarantee that I would be allowed to be with my seven year old at her next appointment. He told me that he could not make an exception for me. I told him under no circumstance did I want him to make an exception for me, that EVERY SINGLE MINOR SHOULD HAVE A PARENT WITH THEM IN HIS OFFICE, not just mine!! He told me they were not allowing them to have parents to limit the amount of people in the office. I told him I absolutely understood that, but he needed to limit how many patients he schedules at a time to allow for the space of a parent for each minor. The conversation ended with me asking him to take a long hard look at their policies as they are dangerous for minors, and him telling me they are not changing them until further notice. read more
