Your Wisdom Is Toothless
Dentist, Massachusetts, USA | Healthy | November 9, 2017
(I am visiting an oral surgeon for the first time after getting a referral from my dentist for severe jaw pain that has been an issue for years.)
Me: “My jaw clicks when I open my mouth, and it hurts a lot if I try to keep my mouth open for a long time.”
Doctor: “Okay, let’s take some X-rays.”
(We take the X-rays and the doctor comes back to me.)
Doctor: “This issue is not something that I would recommend surgery for; it won’t fix the problem. But you do have impacted wisdom teeth.”
Me: “Okay, what would you recommend for the jaw pain? And I know the top right wisdom tooth has been causing me a lot of pain as well. I was going to get a referral for that.”
Doctor: “I won’t operate on your jaw for the jaw pain. It won’t help.”
Me: “Okay, but is there anything you can recommend that might help?”
Doctor: “I won’t do surgery unless I think it will help, and in this case it won’t help.”
(Repeat me asking for something besides surgery a few more times with the same answer.)
Doctor: “Okay, I’m going to see if we can get approval from the insurance for the wisdom teeth. You should hear back from us in a few weeks to schedule an appointment.”
(Fast forward a few weeks. I get a letter in the mail saying I have been approved to have three of my wisdom teeth removed, with no mention of the fourth (the only one that was bothering me). Never went back. Why would I trust someone to do surgery on me when they are incapable of listening to anything I said?)
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