This year has taken me to dental providers a record number of times. I just returned from what I think will be the last visit that I have this year. One of these days I will catch you all up on the entire year or last three years.
It was a lot and it was ridiculous. It all comes down to arrogant providers whom either think they have x-ray vision so they look in your mouth and say "I don't see anything wrong" or conversely they do look at x-rays and CT scans and still say "I don't see anything wrong" while ignoring the subjective complaints and reported symptoms.
Every good health care provider knows that the patient's history contains the most important information. Radiology may or may not provide corresponding evidence. Radiology is simply one piece of the puzzle. A good provider would NEVER brush a patient off just because they can't see the problem in the x-rays, because a good provider knows that not every problem can be seen in x-rays or CT scans. I talked about this in my last post.
So on 10/15/2019 I went to see an oral surgeon whom previously extracted a couple of my teeth years ago.
After everything this year, I still had two teeth bothering me. The teeth had crowns on them. One was because of a huge cavity and the other because of a fracture. Realistically my options at this time were to have root canals or extractions. I won't have root canals, so extractions were the only option.
The teeth were supposed to be extracted by a different oral surgeon and even though the extractions were paid for she decided that she wouldn't do them. She decided I needed to see an endodontist to prove something was wrong with the teeth and then negligently failed to provide me with a referral to an endodontist.
This left me once again looking for help so I ended up at this guy's office in Fort Myers, FL. I didn't really like him previously, but I remembered that when he did the extractions I didn't have any pain. He made it seem easy. He just popped the teeth out vs another guy in town whom I was sure was going to break my jaw.
So back to him I went. He had a pano done and pulled his old chart on me. I told him of all of the problems that I had been having and how I know that these two teeth are giving me headaches and making me ill. He said something about "I think we have had this conversation before" and "I don't see anything on the x-rays" blah, blah, blah. Then he said "I have to decide if ethically I want to pull these two teeth". Finally I said "not pulling these teeth would be negligence because we all know that not everything can be seen on x-rays". "I, being a physical therapist treat people ALL day long that have legitimate problems that don't show up on x-rays". With that he conceded and stated "I really can't tell you that nothing is wrong with those two teeth under the crowns because I can't see through the crowns on x-rays". In my head I was like "yeah, I know duh". He then begrudgingly agreed to extract the teeth.
I told him about a ridge of bone in the right maxilla that seeps and is making me ill, too. I also mentioned that it needs cleaned up and smoothed out before I can get partials. He angrily said to me "I am not going to work on an area that was done by another provider". I then informed him that the other provider has passed on, so he wouldn't mind. He brushed the comment off. I thought may be we could revisit the subject after the extractions were done.
On Friday, November 8, 2019 he completed the extractions. Prior to the procedure he was stiffly friendly and made tense small talk. Then after the extractions he was looking at the teeth and he said "that one looks like it might be cracked". Then he back tracked and said "but it is really hard to tell".
He asked when I had last been on antibiotics and then didn't say anything else about them.
I was scheduled an appointment to return in one week, but if I didn't need it then I could cancel.
I went home. I was really tired. I laid down on my bed. The left side of my body started shaking. My left arm and leg was itching, my left axilla, spleen, groin and back hurt more than my mouth. My body was processing the fact that the source of so much infection had been removed.
I took it fairly easy over the weekend. The left side of my body and lymphatic system continued to feel bogged down, but the shaking and itching decreased.
Monday morning I woke up with a headache on the left again and to what felt like a solid flow of drainage from these two extraction sites. I was so nauseous, but sucked it up and went to work. The drainage became intermittent throughout the day and next few days.
By Wednesday, what I feel is system overload with infection hit. I woke up tired. Dragged myself to the iced coffee. Forced myself to work, where I barely kept my eyes open.
I normally have a low tolerance to caffeine. I consumed more on that day, then I do in 2 weeks. I still couldn't wake up. I left work early, went home and went to bed. Thursday was a little better, but here it is Friday and when I got up this morning I could barely get one foot to move in front of the other.
I know that this is my body processing all of the infection and it is going to take a while. What I don't know and what is left to be seen is if the bone in these two sockets are inflamed or infected and if my body will be able to heal itself. Normally there isn't drainage after extractions, so I am inclined to think that it is infected and the drainage is coming from the bone.
I still have a lot of inflammation around the one extraction site, the left side of my face is puffy, my throat is sore from the seepage, the left side of my neck is stiff, my axilla hurts, my left leg is swollen and I am drop dead exhausted.
I went back to the oral surgeon today expecting that he would order antibiotics. I don't really want to be on them when I know that there are homeopathic options, but he is a mainstream oral surgeon so my expectation was that he would prescribe antibiotics and see me back in a couple of weeks. That would have been the responsible thing for a provider whom is an MD, DDS to do.
He walked in the room, past me. Grumbled something about it being a nice day to drive because it was pouring rain and I had to drive an hour and half to get there. He put on gloves and said, "lets take a look". He looked and said "everything looks like it is healing as it should".
I told him about my issues on Friday after the extraction, about the drainage on Monday and the overwhelming fatigue and an area of bone which I think doesn't feel right. It is probably infected or at least inflamed bone and is where the drainage is coming from.
All of these are clear signs to me that these two teeth and the surrounding tissues were infected, needed to be extracted and my body is processing/adjusting to having the portal of infection removed.
Then he reiterated that everything looks fine. I told him that I just wanted to let him know everything so that if I had to come back, he couldn't say "you never told me about any of that".
So he starts walking out of the room indicating that it was time for me to get out of the chair and leave. I got up and I said "well I guess I will just have to be tired then".
There were so many ways that he could have responded that would have been more appropriate, but he chose to say "I don't know what you want me to do". He then paused and said "maybe you should follow up with your primary care doctor".
I didn't think quick enough or I would have said "your fucking job, that is what I would like you to do".
Like I said above, this guy is an MD and DDS. He didn't go to school all of those years to just be a mechanic and pretend that he doesn't understand infection when someone spells it out to him.
Then standing in the door to his evaluation room, I asked who to see about partials. He refused to make any recommendations.
I didn't even breach the subject of who to see to have the right maxilla cleaned out. I will have to find a new dentist and try to discuss it with them. I can't get partials until this area is smoothed out at the least.
As I was walking out of his office I was shaking my head and I said pretty loud "wow that was a waste". I often mean to say things to myself, but they come out my mouth. Once I was out the front door I said even louder "you just added yourself to my to be sued list".
As I was getting in my truck, I looked up and saw him with his next patient. He wasn't looking at the patient. He was watching me through the window of the exam room. Who knows, may be I was loud enough that he heard. Actually he just looked kind of surprised that I hopped up into a big 4-wheeled drive truck.
My intent is to sue him along with all of the other negligent providers this year. I hate to do that when he actually did do the extractions and did a good job. I had no pain from the extractions.
But a provider can't just leave a patient with widespread infection hanging without care. My primary care provider is not going to be able to clean out the infected bone in this socket, if my body isn't able to take care of it.
I drove my hour and a half home in the rain, crying with frustration.
I have antibiotics at home, along with many naturopathic remedies, but how can a medical provider be so callous, uncaring, blatantly negligent and reckless with my life and their license.
All of these providers may think that I am just a weak over emotional person, but the fact that I am still alive is proof of the contrary. I am nearly through with them playing Russian Roulette with my life. It is time for me to turn the tables and hold as many of them accountable as I can.
It was a lot and it was ridiculous. It all comes down to arrogant providers whom either think they have x-ray vision so they look in your mouth and say "I don't see anything wrong" or conversely they do look at x-rays and CT scans and still say "I don't see anything wrong" while ignoring the subjective complaints and reported symptoms.
Every good health care provider knows that the patient's history contains the most important information. Radiology may or may not provide corresponding evidence. Radiology is simply one piece of the puzzle. A good provider would NEVER brush a patient off just because they can't see the problem in the x-rays, because a good provider knows that not every problem can be seen in x-rays or CT scans. I talked about this in my last post.
So on 10/15/2019 I went to see an oral surgeon whom previously extracted a couple of my teeth years ago.
After everything this year, I still had two teeth bothering me. The teeth had crowns on them. One was because of a huge cavity and the other because of a fracture. Realistically my options at this time were to have root canals or extractions. I won't have root canals, so extractions were the only option.
The teeth were supposed to be extracted by a different oral surgeon and even though the extractions were paid for she decided that she wouldn't do them. She decided I needed to see an endodontist to prove something was wrong with the teeth and then negligently failed to provide me with a referral to an endodontist.
This left me once again looking for help so I ended up at this guy's office in Fort Myers, FL. I didn't really like him previously, but I remembered that when he did the extractions I didn't have any pain. He made it seem easy. He just popped the teeth out vs another guy in town whom I was sure was going to break my jaw.
So back to him I went. He had a pano done and pulled his old chart on me. I told him of all of the problems that I had been having and how I know that these two teeth are giving me headaches and making me ill. He said something about "I think we have had this conversation before" and "I don't see anything on the x-rays" blah, blah, blah. Then he said "I have to decide if ethically I want to pull these two teeth". Finally I said "not pulling these teeth would be negligence because we all know that not everything can be seen on x-rays". "I, being a physical therapist treat people ALL day long that have legitimate problems that don't show up on x-rays". With that he conceded and stated "I really can't tell you that nothing is wrong with those two teeth under the crowns because I can't see through the crowns on x-rays". In my head I was like "yeah, I know duh". He then begrudgingly agreed to extract the teeth.
I told him about a ridge of bone in the right maxilla that seeps and is making me ill, too. I also mentioned that it needs cleaned up and smoothed out before I can get partials. He angrily said to me "I am not going to work on an area that was done by another provider". I then informed him that the other provider has passed on, so he wouldn't mind. He brushed the comment off. I thought may be we could revisit the subject after the extractions were done.
On Friday, November 8, 2019 he completed the extractions. Prior to the procedure he was stiffly friendly and made tense small talk. Then after the extractions he was looking at the teeth and he said "that one looks like it might be cracked". Then he back tracked and said "but it is really hard to tell".
He asked when I had last been on antibiotics and then didn't say anything else about them.
I was scheduled an appointment to return in one week, but if I didn't need it then I could cancel.
I went home. I was really tired. I laid down on my bed. The left side of my body started shaking. My left arm and leg was itching, my left axilla, spleen, groin and back hurt more than my mouth. My body was processing the fact that the source of so much infection had been removed.
I took it fairly easy over the weekend. The left side of my body and lymphatic system continued to feel bogged down, but the shaking and itching decreased.
Monday morning I woke up with a headache on the left again and to what felt like a solid flow of drainage from these two extraction sites. I was so nauseous, but sucked it up and went to work. The drainage became intermittent throughout the day and next few days.
By Wednesday, what I feel is system overload with infection hit. I woke up tired. Dragged myself to the iced coffee. Forced myself to work, where I barely kept my eyes open.
I normally have a low tolerance to caffeine. I consumed more on that day, then I do in 2 weeks. I still couldn't wake up. I left work early, went home and went to bed. Thursday was a little better, but here it is Friday and when I got up this morning I could barely get one foot to move in front of the other.
I know that this is my body processing all of the infection and it is going to take a while. What I don't know and what is left to be seen is if the bone in these two sockets are inflamed or infected and if my body will be able to heal itself. Normally there isn't drainage after extractions, so I am inclined to think that it is infected and the drainage is coming from the bone.
I still have a lot of inflammation around the one extraction site, the left side of my face is puffy, my throat is sore from the seepage, the left side of my neck is stiff, my axilla hurts, my left leg is swollen and I am drop dead exhausted.
I went back to the oral surgeon today expecting that he would order antibiotics. I don't really want to be on them when I know that there are homeopathic options, but he is a mainstream oral surgeon so my expectation was that he would prescribe antibiotics and see me back in a couple of weeks. That would have been the responsible thing for a provider whom is an MD, DDS to do.
He walked in the room, past me. Grumbled something about it being a nice day to drive because it was pouring rain and I had to drive an hour and half to get there. He put on gloves and said, "lets take a look". He looked and said "everything looks like it is healing as it should".
I told him about my issues on Friday after the extraction, about the drainage on Monday and the overwhelming fatigue and an area of bone which I think doesn't feel right. It is probably infected or at least inflamed bone and is where the drainage is coming from.
All of these are clear signs to me that these two teeth and the surrounding tissues were infected, needed to be extracted and my body is processing/adjusting to having the portal of infection removed.
Then he reiterated that everything looks fine. I told him that I just wanted to let him know everything so that if I had to come back, he couldn't say "you never told me about any of that".
So he starts walking out of the room indicating that it was time for me to get out of the chair and leave. I got up and I said "well I guess I will just have to be tired then".
There were so many ways that he could have responded that would have been more appropriate, but he chose to say "I don't know what you want me to do". He then paused and said "maybe you should follow up with your primary care doctor".
I didn't think quick enough or I would have said "your fucking job, that is what I would like you to do".
Like I said above, this guy is an MD and DDS. He didn't go to school all of those years to just be a mechanic and pretend that he doesn't understand infection when someone spells it out to him.
Then standing in the door to his evaluation room, I asked who to see about partials. He refused to make any recommendations.
I didn't even breach the subject of who to see to have the right maxilla cleaned out. I will have to find a new dentist and try to discuss it with them. I can't get partials until this area is smoothed out at the least.
As I was walking out of his office I was shaking my head and I said pretty loud "wow that was a waste". I often mean to say things to myself, but they come out my mouth. Once I was out the front door I said even louder "you just added yourself to my to be sued list".
As I was getting in my truck, I looked up and saw him with his next patient. He wasn't looking at the patient. He was watching me through the window of the exam room. Who knows, may be I was loud enough that he heard. Actually he just looked kind of surprised that I hopped up into a big 4-wheeled drive truck.
My intent is to sue him along with all of the other negligent providers this year. I hate to do that when he actually did do the extractions and did a good job. I had no pain from the extractions.
But a provider can't just leave a patient with widespread infection hanging without care. My primary care provider is not going to be able to clean out the infected bone in this socket, if my body isn't able to take care of it.
I drove my hour and a half home in the rain, crying with frustration.
I have antibiotics at home, along with many naturopathic remedies, but how can a medical provider be so callous, uncaring, blatantly negligent and reckless with my life and their license.
All of these providers may think that I am just a weak over emotional person, but the fact that I am still alive is proof of the contrary. I am nearly through with them playing Russian Roulette with my life. It is time for me to turn the tables and hold as many of them accountable as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment