BarbaraHudson's Journal: I guess I can sue my dentist easily enough

Turns out that the rules of small claims court have been broadened. Any claim of up to $15,000 can be submitted. That's probably the fastest, and cheapest, way to resolve the problem with my dentist.

She had sent me to get a panoramic x-ray, I went and had it done, brought it back, and as I walked in she told me to get out and make an appointment. To drop of an x-ray! That takes nerve.

There were patients waiting, so maybe they had second thoughts after seeing me angry.

"You broke my jaw, never apologized, now I need a bone graft, I came back for the check-up a week later and waited for an hour, you didn't even look at me even though I was standing in front of you, didn't talk to me, didn't do an exam, told your receptionist to give me a requisition for an x-ray, and now you want me to make an appointment to drop it off? Fuck that!"

That's the first time I've sworn in public this decade. Well past due. Also, research shows that the panoramic x-ray isn't needed - we already know the jaw was fractured - I've got a piece of it in a bottle attached to the upper left canine (tooth 23). She should have either referred me immediately to a maxillofacial specialist of the trauma section of the local hospital's emergency department, where they can do a proper, higher-resolution image. The panorex is shit in comparison.

But first I want to see my GP to get a referral to the surgeon. And I want to file an official complaint with the order of dentists. I can do the complaint this week, but the referral will depend on how long it takes my GP to get the test results from the nuclear medicine dept (tomorrow) and cardiology lab (the day after) - stress test (just as a precaution - there's nothing whatsoever wrong with my heart even though both my parents died early of heart attacks - my father at 47 and my mother at 59, and I'll be 61 in June). They'll tell me the delay, and I'll walk across the street and book an appointment for the day after she should receive the results.

And maybe have my neck checked at the same time. 3 weeks later, and it still hurts to look either side from all the force she applied.

good

[JustNiz]

I'm pleased that you saw the light, so to speak.
She sounds absolutely terrible. I'd be amazed if yours is the first complaint against her, lets just hope it will be the last. That said, I wouldn't hold out much hope, since at least in the UK these professional bodies do a great job of protecting their members, no matter how dangerously incompetent they are. They pretty much have to be legally forced to not ignore it any more before they withdraw any accreditation to practice.

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

That's why a civil proceeding is so important. The result is public ... posting it on Failbook will make it easy to discover. The way I figure it, if she admits that she needs help, and gets it, okay. But until that happens, her problems have demonstrably interfered with her judgment. She was drilling away at the basal bone to free up enough root so that a root elevator could lever it out, but she was also saying things along the lines of how extra pressure makes her excel (it doesn't, but her need to prove