Shall I complain about the receptionist at the dentist ?

[Lolared]

I had a bad experience with the dentist receptionist about 2 weeks ago , I was going to complain and looked into doing it properly through a company who deals with NHS practice complaints. the person I spoke to said I was totally in the right and to 100% go through with a complaint .

I cooled down and reevaluated the situation and this is a dentist I want to attend long term so thought best to let it go for everyone’s sake to save future awkwardness.

I went back yesterday for an appointment with my son, it was hard to act completely like nothing had happened but I was polite and smiled and it felt ok. After the appointment when I was booking another , he added he’s reflected on the previous conversation ( which I was thinking wow he’s going to apologise) and then adds more to the argument we had basically saying he’s gone off and thought of 1 more thing to chuck into it , then saying we will draw a line under it though , leaving me speechless, as I had already drew a line under it silently trying to be the bigger person .
I then left feeling like no I don’t want to draw a line under it even though I agreed with him and left politely. I’m furious. How dare he ? Why keep it going ? Why hold on to that for 2 weeks and wait for me to come back and have to still try and belittle me.

The conversation with the complaint people I spoke to in the beginning said if I was to go ahead I would need the managers details so after coming home I began finding the managers details (without calling the dental practice to not make the receptionist aware )

It turns out the receptionist is the manager/ owner! He’s photo came up when I was searching , he and he’s wife both own the practice she does dental work and he used to specialise in banking for 15 years so I assume has taken the role as receptionist.

Now I don’t know what to do , I don’t want him to think he can say some sly comment every time I go and I have to be the bigger person and take it on the chin and ignore it. It feels so unprofessional and I honestly just want to go to my appointments and go home.

Shall I just put up and shut up?

tia xx

Mumof2NDers

For a deep clean you got to the hygienist. A normal clean is standard practice at the dentist at a check up. But op had severe gum disease which required a deeper clean from a hygienist.

This one OP. Very, very similar including the timings.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4976935-dentist-receptionist-being-rude-justifiable-or-not

I think I remember your previous post. He wasn't happy because you were late for both appointments and qrongly assumed your treatment would be free on the NHS for a clean, but it wasn't and you were unable to pay?

Out of interest is this practice in the South East of England? In a town beginning with M?

If a practice has a hygienist they can work privately only BUT you have to inform a patient the treatment is private before they have the treatment. They have to be told it’s private and how much it will cost. If the patient declines then they are still entitled to that treatment. Where I work if they don’t want to or can’t pay private fees the dentist carries out the treatment on the NHS

So your choices are compline, hope the practise keeps,you on, don't complain, and hope he stops making comments. Without the context of what the initial issue was between you, there is no way to know if his follow up point was reasonable or not, and understandably you don't want to share. So if this is the in,t dentist, then yes, you'll have to out up with it, and can always try to find another one.

Unfortunately you have a man with an ego who thinks he is above the role he us undertaking, bolstered by the fact it is his wife's surgery - I doubt she would purposefully hurt you but they could remove you from their patient list if the patient relationship has broken down - I would just try and smooth over.

Also - what was the actual disagreement about?

They cannot discriminate, no. However, I would not complain and go back. I would nit want to use a practice where they hate me. If it is bad enough to complain about, fir me it would be bad enough to leave over.

Not to be pedantic but OP was correct to assume her treatment would be free on the NHS if she hadn’t been informed otherwise BEFORE the appointment. Transparency is key.

Dentists can do it, but most don't. It does not pay well enough to justify the time.

I can't believe that so many posters are suggesting that you put up with something, just because it it hard to find a dentist. Will we all do the same when this extends to the rest of the health service?

I also think it was really unprofessional of the receptionist to raise 'your' issue when you were attending an appointment for your dc.

NHS practice will carry out treatment that is clinically necessary. If you request a hygiene appointment to remove stain but have no underlying gum disease then the treatment is classified as cosmetic so not covered by NHS.
I see plenty of patients who like to have their teeth cleaned in the same way they have a facial or a manicure.
Believe it or not less than 10% of the population have periodontal disease that requires NHS treatment.

I think most of us are just saying it is difficult to comment when we don’t know what she had to put up with. She won’t share any details about what happened and that makes me suspicious that the receptionist might not have done anything wrong.

True, but they’re leaving themselves open to the suing society. One of the biggest areas of complaint to the GDC is patients not knowing they have periodontal problems or it being left untreated. Any decent dentist would treat accordingly.

We have a large number of patients the same. Happy to pay privately for a scale and polish. At our practice we definitely have a lot higher than 10% with periodontal disease.

OP’s spelling, grammar and expressions are extremely similar (the same in some cases!) to the OP of that thread.

i think you really need to let it go…

I had a bad experience with the dentist receptionist about 2 weeks ago

2 weeks ago was Christmas.
🤔

It's difficult to say. There isn't enough information about the circumstances of the original issue.

"about two weeks ago"

I'm not the patient being referred to, but had a similar experience with being told I needed a scale and polish and sent to the hygienist who works on the premises, but not being told it was being done privately.

If the patient is a registered NHS patient the treatment should be available on the NHS... If they wanted her to pay privately for it this should have been explained beforehand. She should have been given and signed a written quote. This forms part of informed consent. You have to inform the patient before she consented to the treatment.

None of the above happened. It was only when they wanted payment for that and also half as much again as a deposit for a future appointment the dentist hadn't told us we needed that we realised something odd was going on. NHS bands poster at the dentist includes scale and polish, so naturally assumed it was an NHS service.

Decided it wasn't worth arguing the point as dentists are rarer than hens' teeth, let alone NHS dentists. But it does leave a bitter taste.

English are known for their dreadful teeth. Sorry to say.

You should be up in arms about the state of the NHS - who are brilliant - but how the Tories have stripped the country of everything that was great about it.

Don’t look to get justice (revenge!) the normal way - they’ve got the control here.
You need to be more imaginative - where does he park his car for example?

And make sure you slip him a backhanded compliment while smiling sweetly on every visit in future.

You might need to revise your statement. Dentistry provision went downhill under Blair and the Labour government.

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/nhs-dentists-treat-500-000-fewer-patients-after-labours-controversial-new-contract-6648551.html

I would go in on Friday and say to the dentist herself, "by the way your receptionist is awfully rude. I've been quite upset by the way he spoke to me. Just thought you should know…"