to walk out of dental surgery after waiting for 40 mins

[gingeroots]

Have had trouble with particular tooth for over a year .

Dentist suspected sinus related .

After several agonising flareups ,3 lots of antibiotics ,referral to dental hospital for X rays I finally have a 45 min appointment scheduled for 10 .30 am today .

It's unclear to me ( and probably the dentist ) what he'll find when he drills through the gold crown this morning .
The dental hospital think the root may be cracked - in which case extraction is only answer ( messy I imagine as root will break more ) or if no crack revealed whether a root filling will be possible as the xray shows calcification which apparently ,according to degree ,prevents root filling .

So I'm nervous but proud of the calm I'm maintaining .
But I couldn't handle the delay to be seen ,feeling more and more nervous ,creeping nausea ,panicking about fact that dentist clearly under pressure and running late so may not be in best state of mind himself .
Plus thinking I'll now have to rush to elderly mothers ( who I care for and need to be really calm and together for ) .

Speak to receptionists - they talk over eachother " so you don't want to be seen now ? " / " he's running late because our systems are down " .
In the end I give up and flee not wanting to add throwing up ,tears and humilation to the mix .

Was I unreasonable ?

alibaba - think you are stretching it a bit to read that into what I posted. I attend a regular clinic where everyone who goes sees the same round of people. Sorry, but because we are 'high risk' I'm not sure why that means that they can't set appropriately timed appointments and then stick to them rather than having every woman in the room wait for long periods of time. It is not an A&E department or labour ward where all sorts of emergencies are going on all the time. If something happened of course clinical emergencies should take precedence but it is clearly simply disorganisation because it is the same for everyone there, every time I go.

Slightly off topic - sorry OP - but BonaDea I attended similar clinic in last pregnancy & had same issues wrt waiting times (think 2 hrs+ every few weeks).

The receptionist accidentally let slip one time that they triple book each appointment slot (15 mins long, always takes longer) to allow for no-shows.

Perhaps because the consultant's time is so expensive to the Trust - who knows. Explained the insane waiting times though!

I do think that the onus is on the people in charge to make sure patients are aware of any delays, how long they may be, what has caused them etc etc. Its only courtesy and can save a lot of anxiety on the part of the patient.

Having been in a situation where I had to wait until 4.30p.m in hospital for an ll.30 a.m appointment, and no one came to tell me what was happening how long it would be, whether I would even get seen that day (depsite me and Dh asking at the reception for info.) I totally sympathise with how anxious you become, you feel more and more sick and scared.

Delays happen - we all know that, but we should be told what is going on and given options of whether we should come back another time, how long we would have to wait, or whether we can go off and do something and come back later.

I hope your next appointment goes better for you OP.

40 minutes is definitely too long to wait for a 10.30am appointment. Mind is boggling as to what have gone wrong to make the dentist so far behind so early in the day. The receptionists should definitely have spoken to you about the delays and tried to put you at your ease.

And remember you did him a favour by getting his appointments back on schedule.
Don't pay any penalty/admin charge!

So you're just going to have to make an appointment for another day and attend again - what exactly did walking out achieve for you?

It's frustrating to wait (and the time does drag. I was waiting 20+ minutes past my time for my smear test, every minutes seemed like forever. I was so tempted to leave but made myself stay)

If it's a complex procedure and you've had problems for a year, then waiting a bit longer is not going to cause any problems (I'm guessing)

I'm a HCP and have 20 minute appointments, but some patients take longer, or longer to get ready. Or need phone calls/letters done. (Or are late

I was at the dentist a while back, (to have 2 back teeth extracted ) and they were running 40 minutes late.
A woman came in (very arsey) that she had an appointment and wanted seen now. They explained the over-running and there were 2 patients before her (myself and another woman)

IWBVU that I sat smugly knowing that my appointment would be at least 30 minutes and Mrs Arsey Woman would probably spontaneously combust .

Things do go wrong from time to time at dental practices. Computer systems go down, emergency situations occur etc. It's not as if you went off having a hissy fit thinking the world revolves around you. YANBU at all. Dental phobia is not nice and the receptionists should have been more understanding and professional. You have my full sympathies. Perhaps it would help if the dentist can make you his first or last appointment of the day? Anyway better luck next time and hope you get that problematic tooth treated soon.

At work I've had to phone an ambulance for a patient and just say there's been a "patient emergency" and leave it at that -patient confidentiality.

And spend several long minutes cleaning the floor and chair after a patient in a wheelchair wheeled dog turd into the clinic [vom].

I think any time given for a medical appointment should be viewed as a guide rather than a definite time. So if I go to dentist or GP I'm pleasantly surprised if I'm seen on time and appreciate dentist or doctor wouldn't deliberately keep me waiting.

wise words from LeQueen.
I don't think you were at all unreasonable - you didn't just flee without letting the receptionist know.

The dentist was probably relieved that you gave him/ her time to catch up.

Someone mentioned still getting pain even AFTER the tooth was extracted. Can I reassure you that this is EXTREMELY rare

YANBU to feel that you couldn't wait longer. I feel sick going to the dentist. In future ask if there is a delay and go outside rather than wait inside where you can hear everything If I'm particularly nervy I go for a walk around the nearby shops and they call my mobile to give me a 10min warning. I think they appreciate me going outside as I stress out everyone else in the waiting room! I hope you get your tooth sorted soon :-)

I worked as a dental nurse for many years,sometimes we ran early, sometimes we ran late, most of the time we ran on time! You could schedule an appointment for a 30min extraction, the tooth could snap which could result in it needing surgically removing. You do your best not to keep people waiting. The staff don't want to mess you around,honestly.

Last week I was the patient keeping everyone waiting. I had been up since 3am with toothache, which was an abscess. The dentist fitted me in. She treated me in the morning, for some strange reason it took an hour. It continued to swell and in the afternoons had to go back, so I buggered up both her sessions in one day. Then again on Friday morning.

The best thing I have seen when a clinic was running late was at a pre op spinal clinic. A very polite lady asked how long her elderly mother, who was in pain and had been waiting 4 hours already, was going to be waiting. The receptionist was so rude and shouty, that the whole waiting room stopped talking and sat up like meerkats. The lady said nothing and came back and sat back next to DH who commented about the receptionist's tone, the lady quietly told him that she was one of the HR managers at the hospital! . I think the receptionist probably got in trouble!

I hope you are okay, op. I have just cancelled dhs appointment, he too had to long to think about things. I've re-booked for an 8am one.

The system could well have been down..it happens and when it does it is an absolute nightmare to still see all the patients, I doubt they were messing you around on purpose or lying. It is unfortunate you felt you couldn't wait, but understandable. However I have often seen people storm off only for the dentist to come and call them 2 minutes later so if you aren't feeling afraid it is worth waiting.

LaQueen.,.out of interest, do you also find patients are really horrible and rude to you about delays (which are the dentists fault) and then are all sweetness and light to the dentist..drives me mad.

Not all dentists' practices are awful. Last Friday evening, a big filling dropped out while I was eating pork crackling leaving a broken tooth a bit loose and painful every time it moved. My lovely dentist could not be contacted for an urgent appointment until yesterday.

I rang at 8.30am yesterday and was slotted in for 10.30am! I couldn't believe that I was being seen so early. On my arrival, reporting at the desk, I saw a notice telling patients that there was a delay. I was called 10 minutes after my scheduled time. The loose bit of tooth was removed.

I have a holiday coming up so am to book another appointment, on my return, for the filling to be dealt with.

I suppose it could be because not many patients are registered there but it is purely NHS (ADP Ltd) so they probably have a waiting list.

Laqueen, do they come out of waiting room and stand and glare at you in the corridor too..I love that one..like I will go and demand the dentist hurries up

Op, I don't blame you for leaving. In case you didn't know your dentist can prescribe you Valium if you are very stressed about getting any dental treatment. Mine gave me a prescription to cover several appointments when she realised I was serious about hating the dentist when I sobbed and sobbed at just getting an x-ray!