AIBU to be pissed off with my inappropriate dentist.

[MurkyMo]

I asked my private dentist for a referral letter to a specialist as I have longstanding pain from a tooth that's had a lot of work done. I think the filling is bad or the tooth has a micro fracture, pain started the day after it was done. Decay was left inside and then I ended up with root canal treatment. Then a second RCT. My new dentist thinks there's nothing wrong with the tooth hence my move to an endodontist. But that's not the problem, the problem is the referral letter he wrote.

I gave him a document with a diary of my symptoms and treatments thinking it might help him find the problem and he says about it "tellingly, she references her own autism in it." Tellingly???? wtf?!

He says "I am not convinced that this is a dental problem, but appreciate that her dental fixation might be provoking a response in an already sensitised area"

Fixation??? WTF???? He's not a psychologist, why is he putting that in a referral letter to an endodontist. Surely it should be a clinical letter simply pointing out my symptoms and his clinical findings, not some amateur psychological assessment of me that dismisses my symptoms and alludes to my autism being part of the problem.

Any dental or medical professionals think this is off??

And what will the endodontist make of it?

I'm raging!

But also he's been judgemental and condescending about OPs autism...which is a protected characteristic under law...

I completely disagree. Of course its good to mention Autism however it's not appropriate all to write so condescendingly about a patient who has any disability like this. Or indeed aby patient at all. Its very poor practice.

With or without autism a person is able to feel dental pain and entitled to report it and be taken seriously without it being a mental health issue.
Its a fucking toothache issue .

No, if I was writing a letter to a colleague after a procedure, I'd use "his/her (insert body part, often orthopaedic e.g ankle, wrist, jaw, pelvis etc fixation". The tooth belongs to you therefore the fixation was performed on your/her tooth. You've got the wrong end of the stick with regards to that aspect of your worries.

Op says in her first post: ‘I gave him a document with a diary of my symptoms and treatments thinking it might help him find the problem and he says about it "tellingly, she references her own autism in it."’
‘He says "I am not convinced that this is a dental problem, but appreciate that her dental fixation might be provoking a response in an already sensitised area"

The dentist is basing his opinion on what OP wrote in the diary she gave him, where she referred to her autism.
Sorry if I missed it in previous posts, but did OP use the word fixation or similar in the document?
If so, the dentist has not spoken out of turn.
If she didn’t, she has still referred to her autism in relation to the dental issue and therefore linked the 2 herself, so I don’t think the dentist has been judgemental or condescending by referring to it. At worst he has used the word fixation where perhaps OP didn’t - but why did OP refer to her autism in relation to the dental issue if she is not at least hinting that an aspect of the autism could be affecting her own opinion?
His medical judgement after assessing her and reading the diary document is that he is not convinced this is a dental problem.

You can just see a private clinician you know, you don’t need a referral

Well they’ll have a look at the x rays and make a decision on that rather than the wording of a letter

Medical gaslighting!

I'm really sorry he did this to you, it's just so unprofessional and so unnecessary.

Outrageous. How long has this person spent in your company in order to determine what could be going on psychologically? You have pain in your tooth. You had a bad procedure which had left you with ongoing pain. He was unable to find a cause so his only job is a clinical referral. What a prick. But you are a woman, so to him you’re probably hysterical. 🙄

Have I just read that you’re going to have an implant done by the same dentist who filled a tooth with decay? Implants should be done by specialists. I wouldn’t be trusting this guy with an implant. They need to be done to the very highest standard and looked after meticulously.

Exactly this.

Depends if you are planning to claim it back on insurance or not. They're not likely to cough up if a dentist has said this is not needed, but if they've made a referral, they will. Whether this is relevant to the OP or not doesn't really matter.

Bullshit.

Hysterical and difficult! I told him there was a ledge on the side of the tooth where the filling was. He used floss to feel it but said there was none there. I i insisted he have another go but no, nothing there. I started to ask for the floss as he handed it to me and I was able to use it and there was a click as I ran it over the ledge. I said did you hear that? He just looked at me with a smirky smile. And turns out his dental floss was thick tape so it didn't pick up the ledge so well. use the Lidl stuff which is thinner but suits my teeth better.

No, different dentist. NHS dentist first missed the decay in this tooth, I'd had a clear check up but a few weeks later I noticed some roughness on the side of a tooth. I went back to her and she filled it. Then pain for weeks then the nerve died. Then RCT. Then more pain so off to an endo. He x-rayed and found decay. He sent me back to original dentist to remove it. Months later I ended up having to get a second RCT because her one wasn't great. And now still in pain and being told it's all a dental fixation. 🙄🙄🙄

But yes, I've had an extraction by this current dentist and I'm to go back to him for the implant. I don't think I can. No, I definitely can't.

Exactly! And I want OP to get ahead of it if she can.

reminds me of my old dentist. i think you need a new one. even in the next town as thwy are too pally wirh each other to be objective in your town.

i also wonder who the regulating body is for dentists if it would be worth asking them (without including the dentists name) if this type of letter is appropriate as you are concerned the mention of autism may mean your pain symptoms are dismissed more easily as this could create an unconscious bias towards “it’s all in her head”.

My problem is the insinuation of the word 'tellingly'. Which on my reading implies a link/ prejudiced generalisation that this is likely to be psychosomatic pain due to the fact this person is autistic. However perhaps I'm misinterpreting. I don't think tellingly is a helpful word to use in this context.

Yes, the "tellingly" is so loaded. I dont like it at all.

And @Greenwriter76 , it was the dentist who said I had a dental fixation, I never used that term in my document. So that coupled with tellingly just makes me feel so misrepresented.

I wouldn't say I have a dental fixation but the tooth is causing pain more often than it's quiet so if doing heavy research and analysis and trying to figure out what is the cause of it all. Is that a fixation? I bet if that dentist had a 2 year pain in his bollix that no one would acknowledge he's have a bloody "fixation" about it too!!!

I won't be going back to him again.

Maybe because as a non medic, you could misinterpretate his wording.

I am outraged for you
Id be requesting the letter be amended, or at a minimum getting your own account of events in writing to the endodontist directly so it isn't filtered through that framing.
Complain to the General Dental Council — a referral letter containing unqualified psychological speculation is a professional conduct issue regardless of the discrimination angle. Dental fixation is an unqualified diagnosis.
They're priming the endodontist to read you as an unreliable narrator of your own pain before he's even examined you. No wonder Neuro diverse patients are often undiagnosed.

You shouldn't have mentioned your autism if you don't feel it's relevant to your treatment.

It's not about it not being relevant, and it's best to give health professionals the full picture, including medications you take or any other conditions/diseases you may have (they will usually ask anyway) It's fine if he were to casually mention her autism alongside what is going on, it's another to insinuate that nothing is wrong and it's her autism making her think something is wrong.

You say you wanted a letter with his clinical findings. His clinical findings are that it is not a dental problem.

You have probably given the impression that you know better than him, the professional. Why on earth would you be giving him a diary, he is the expert.