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 ?

ours is mixed private and NHS. I just ignore the glares and become very busy with work (of course I do apologise and explain at regular intervals but I aint taking on the glares)

but sorry to hijack the OP I hope you get your tooth sorted soon

If an appt (for anything) runs 40 minutes late you are perfectly reasonable to explain, as you did, that you can't wait any longer.

In this case, I would share your concerns about the dentists frame of mind.

Of course the staff should be explaining there is a delay and how long they expect it to be.

Could you see another dentist? Do you still think it could be sinus related? If so have you spoken to your GP?

I'd probably have wanted to leg it too. I'm really, really bad about waiting rooms. Am weirdly more or less OK with the actual dentist/doctor/smear test/whatever, but the wait beforehand is agony, even if I know it's just a routine check-up. I now only go to these things if DH can go with me to distract me.

Ask for the first appointment of the day next time so you'll know it's a short wait, and get them to make a note that you're anxious.

Yes, storming off really helped didn't it? That showed them eh? Not.
Any appointment that involves people and their bodies/health has the potential to not go to plan. Storming off has only made you suffer twice.

Dentist appointments are horrible. I work with a dentist and delays happen quite frequently. It still amazes me how many people think the dentist's day should only revolve around them. What should the dentist do with the bleeder/person in pain/person with complications? Sorry your time is up - get out!
Deal with your phobia - get some Valium, counselling etc. don't blame the dentist whose running late.

Feckbox

That was I and I may not have made myself clear.

I had to have the tooth (back top) out - no question - but about a month after, I started experiencing what I assumed was toothache because it was in the right place and felt like toothache. Having just recently had the extraction, I went back to check that everything was fine with that procedure and it was. No hint of tooth root left behind.

The dentist surmised (and I had already half wondered) that it might be a coincidental sinus issue because some of the sinus nerves are in broadly the same place. As we have a history of sinus problems in the family, and the pain is still continuing over a year after - on for two weeks, off for two weeks, I think she's right. I'm trying to amend my diet but am not always successful and the 'on' periods seem to coincide, with a short lag, with bad diet on my part.

So all I was getting at, really, was that while the OP's tooth may have had to come out for 'toothy reasons', the extraction wouldn't necessarily have got rid of the sinus issue. Sorry for lack of clarity earlier.

Thanks all - some dreadful tales from the other side of the fence !

Just for clarity - my AIBU was re me leaving ,I wasn't asking whether the practice were unreasonable in keeping me waiting for that length of time .
And I didn't storm out ,I explained that I didn't feel able to wait any longer and my reasons .

I have sufficient imagination to be aware of any number of things that can delay appointments and I'm absolutely not someone who thinks the world revolves around me .

I was very nervous - mainly because it was unclear ( to the dentist as well as me ) as to what treatment I was actually going to have .The drilling through the gold crown was a given but then it could have turned into an extraction ( if the root was revealed to be cracked ) which presumably could have involved the tooth shattering when it was extracted ,or a root filling if the root wasn't cracked and the calcification wasn't too extreme .

By the time I'd waited for 40 minutes I was feeling very sick and I actually thought that the state I was in would make my appointment even longer .

It would have been helpful had either of the receptionists told me there were problems and that the dentist was running late .

My next appointment is going to be the first of the day .
I love the idea of waiting outside and the receptionist phoning me when it's time ,but it's a busy practice and I wouldn't like to add to their workload or single myself out for special treatment .