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Maybe not everyone wants to read about this. Short form: had a previously root-canaled tooth break, have now had it extracted, am fine.
So on Thursday April 16, in the evening, I was eating peppermint puffs, when one of my upper left teeth (#13 if anyone's a dentist and cares) came off in one of them. Basically in a whole piece. It didn't hurt, so I promptly assumed (accurately, it was later confirmed) that this was one of the teeth I'd had a root canal on. It had a crown; it sheared off near the gumline, so the crown stayed intact and the underlying tooth just declined to.
Well, that sucks, but it wasn't hurting. I called my dentist the next morning, as you do. And got voice mail, which sometimes happens when they're busy and can't get to the phone. Left a message. Called twice more, got voice mail both times, didn't bother leaving another message. At 11, I drove over to see what was up and maybe talk to them, only to find a sign on the door: closed April 17-27. If you need dental care in that time frame, call (other number).
1) NOTHING in their voice mail said anything about that.
2) (Other number) had the exact same voice mail message.
3) There was a dental equipment services van parked out front.
Okay, but I go to Gentle Dental, and that's a chain. They send me to other locations for some specialty care, and all locations share charting info, Xrays, etc., via software. So I call over to Progress Ridge (another location I've been to). They can't fit me in until that Tuesday, but they have a Tuesday appointment and it should be fine until then. Better still, it's with a dentist I've seen before, albeit not for this sort of care. I take the appointment.
Tuesday they call me and that dentist is out unexpectedly. Welp. I don't want a sick dentist working on my mouth, and I'd guess that's why, but this is not the best news I've ever heard. Can we reschedule? Sure. The next opening is May 21. May. 21. For a tooth that split straight across almost at the gumline. Root canals are filled in when they're done, but that filling is not meant to be exposed directly to mouth bacteria for a long time, and this isn't even to get it dealt with - just to get it looked at and evaluated.
I accept the May 21 appointment, with an ask to be put on the top of their list for if cancellations result in openings. She assures me I'll be at the top. Then I start debating. I mean, in six days my dentist will reopen and I can call them, but that'll be ten days since the problem, and will they have an opening? Meanwhile I vent to a few friends on Discord.
One of whom says, oh, I see a dentist where you live. They're excellent, I used to drive from (place more than 150 miles away) to see them.
Well. That's a strong recommendation. So on Wednesday morning I call them at 9:20 or so (after dropping my youngest off at school) to see if they can get me in before May, and maybe before April 27th. They just had a cancellation at 11:30, would I like the slot?
Yes, yes I would. I get in there, they are friendly and competent, they have a look at it and say it's doing fine, and they also discover a failing filling on the adjacent tooth, the side facing where this one broke. Well that's lovely. But they can drill and re-fill that and extract the broken tooth if I want to do it in one appointment. (The broken tooth should be done; but if the adjacent filling is going to be redone, it should be BEFORE the extraction or AFTER I've healed from the extraction, soooo....)
Sure. So on a one-hour last-minute cancelation for a patient they had never seen before, they spent two hours, took X-rays, replaced the failing filling, extracted the broken tooth - which was a lot of work for them, because by their measurements it was flush with the gum on two sides and only sticking up 1 mm on the other two, and it had a nice deep root with a curve....
I won't say it was fun, and I won't say I was comfortable afterwards, because dude, I had a tooth pulled. (And a filling redone, but. Those are more minor.) But it was about as easy and reasonable a process as that ever is, as was the recovery. This is my second extraction in recent years and they did a fine job of it.
They'll also handle the later work to put an implant there after it has healed, vs. Gentle Dental which I'd need to go to an office in another city. I'm sticking with them for that part.
I may transfer my records and just plain stick with them. The selling point for me with Gentle Dental has always been that they have other offices if I need care and they can't get me in. But that apparently doesn't avail me much. This dentist gave me his cell number in case I had concerns over the weekend!
So on Thursday April 16, in the evening, I was eating peppermint puffs, when one of my upper left teeth (#13 if anyone's a dentist and cares) came off in one of them. Basically in a whole piece. It didn't hurt, so I promptly assumed (accurately, it was later confirmed) that this was one of the teeth I'd had a root canal on. It had a crown; it sheared off near the gumline, so the crown stayed intact and the underlying tooth just declined to.
Well, that sucks, but it wasn't hurting. I called my dentist the next morning, as you do. And got voice mail, which sometimes happens when they're busy and can't get to the phone. Left a message. Called twice more, got voice mail both times, didn't bother leaving another message. At 11, I drove over to see what was up and maybe talk to them, only to find a sign on the door: closed April 17-27. If you need dental care in that time frame, call (other number).
1) NOTHING in their voice mail said anything about that.
2) (Other number) had the exact same voice mail message.
3) There was a dental equipment services van parked out front.
Okay, but I go to Gentle Dental, and that's a chain. They send me to other locations for some specialty care, and all locations share charting info, Xrays, etc., via software. So I call over to Progress Ridge (another location I've been to). They can't fit me in until that Tuesday, but they have a Tuesday appointment and it should be fine until then. Better still, it's with a dentist I've seen before, albeit not for this sort of care. I take the appointment.
Tuesday they call me and that dentist is out unexpectedly. Welp. I don't want a sick dentist working on my mouth, and I'd guess that's why, but this is not the best news I've ever heard. Can we reschedule? Sure. The next opening is May 21. May. 21. For a tooth that split straight across almost at the gumline. Root canals are filled in when they're done, but that filling is not meant to be exposed directly to mouth bacteria for a long time, and this isn't even to get it dealt with - just to get it looked at and evaluated.
I accept the May 21 appointment, with an ask to be put on the top of their list for if cancellations result in openings. She assures me I'll be at the top. Then I start debating. I mean, in six days my dentist will reopen and I can call them, but that'll be ten days since the problem, and will they have an opening? Meanwhile I vent to a few friends on Discord.
One of whom says, oh, I see a dentist where you live. They're excellent, I used to drive from (place more than 150 miles away) to see them.
Well. That's a strong recommendation. So on Wednesday morning I call them at 9:20 or so (after dropping my youngest off at school) to see if they can get me in before May, and maybe before April 27th. They just had a cancellation at 11:30, would I like the slot?
Yes, yes I would. I get in there, they are friendly and competent, they have a look at it and say it's doing fine, and they also discover a failing filling on the adjacent tooth, the side facing where this one broke. Well that's lovely. But they can drill and re-fill that and extract the broken tooth if I want to do it in one appointment. (The broken tooth should be done; but if the adjacent filling is going to be redone, it should be BEFORE the extraction or AFTER I've healed from the extraction, soooo....)
Sure. So on a one-hour last-minute cancelation for a patient they had never seen before, they spent two hours, took X-rays, replaced the failing filling, extracted the broken tooth - which was a lot of work for them, because by their measurements it was flush with the gum on two sides and only sticking up 1 mm on the other two, and it had a nice deep root with a curve....
I won't say it was fun, and I won't say I was comfortable afterwards, because dude, I had a tooth pulled. (And a filling redone, but. Those are more minor.) But it was about as easy and reasonable a process as that ever is, as was the recovery. This is my second extraction in recent years and they did a fine job of it.
They'll also handle the later work to put an implant there after it has healed, vs. Gentle Dental which I'd need to go to an office in another city. I'm sticking with them for that part.
I may transfer my records and just plain stick with them. The selling point for me with Gentle Dental has always been that they have other offices if I need care and they can't get me in. But that apparently doesn't avail me much. This dentist gave me his cell number in case I had concerns over the weekend!
