Angels,

I know you are very appreciative of the help that you get here. Asking to clarify something should be a part of the communication that is shared here .... just as you are asking me to do now.

To answer your question Angels ...

Patients, both medical and dental, are typically profiled (for lack of a better word). It's not done to discriminate against anyone. It's done because patients are often anxious (maybe even petrified or in pain) and sometimes not very forth coming or accurate with information or they are not acting rationally like they would under different circumstances. Some people are naturally combative or thrive on the negative which means anything you say or do to them, is going to come back to you conflicted in some way. Also, most lay people have little knowledge of what exactly has taken place in their mouth or they have been told only bits and pieces of what was done. It can get pretty sticky ...

As a professional we need to be able to keep the important stuff at the forefront and not get too caught up in the other. When a patient is unhappy with their dentist or they are unsure of the work their dentist has provided, but they keep going back to that dentist... it makes the other dentists/doctors who were consulted wonder... why does that person keep going back there? That patient may be doing that because they feel loyal to that dentist, they may be concerned about the $$$ they laid out, they could feel confused or may feel lost as to where else to go since at least some or maybe all of the work has been done. It makes it sticky for anyone else to get involved because they do not want to make matters worse for that patient, their peers or themselves. Also, not all practitioners are going to take the time to take all of those possibilities into consideration. Instead they might interpret their initial impression of the person as overly dramatic, unsure, very needy .... etc. Did I explain that okay??

A basic example for you would be a passenger on one of your fights who is acting overly needy, dramatic or aggressive. Who knows why they are acting that way but instinctively you will know to handle that person differently because you can't get caught up in their issues, you have to get through the flight and there are also others that you have to think about.

When you speak to your ENT or others you have already consulted as well as any new practitioners you consult (including an attorney), it would always behoove you to be well prepared with your history of what has taken place and why you have concerns that something is not healing well. If your demeanor or words come across as being overly sensitive/needy, aggressive, vengeful, angry, neglected or anything other than deeply concerned about your ongoing symptoms of which you are very unsure of where to go from here for help ... you will be perceived very differently and in a more positive light. Did I explain that okay?

Bryanna