Dentist Part 2

The visit to the dentist was nothing like I thought it'd be.

So I arrived an hour early and was immediately taken to the back.  This time I didn't even have to sign any paperwork saying that I would pay the bill immediately.  I didn't have to read through five pages explaining how their pricing may be more expensive because the local market is different.  I didn't have to read through a pamphlet explaining how the insurance company makes up its own maximum benefit for each procedure regardless of how much it cost, and will only pay up to the maximum yearly benefit.

But enough of being sidetracked.

Once I got to the back I realized that the person cleaning my teeth was different.  You see this other person informed that I had to get my teeth cleaned through her and she would only be available at the one time on the one day, and when I told her I already had an appointment on that day she didn't entertain the notion of rescheduling.  So I pointed out that yeah, this new teeth cleaning lady wasn't the old lady I was supposed to see.

She had me lie down and told me that I would be getting a crown.  

The heck I was!  Somehow they confused me for an entirely different person, even though I told them who I was like three times during the check in.

She can keep her crown. 

So I go back out to the waiting room and am sitting in it for nearly an hour.  The receptionist then comes out and makes an overly grand apology explaining to me that it is my fault for coming in early.  She repeats this like ten times exasperated that I really didn't care to be there a bit early.  It was ok I got to watch T.V. in the reception room, however they had the channel set to the most boring fixer upper this house show I have ever seen.

Finally it is my time to go back.  A new lady explains to me for ten minutes that the other person didn't even come in and she would clean my teeth.  She scrapes my teeth with a metal hook while explaining to me that this is my fault because I didn't take care of my teeth in the past two weeks so now there is a bunch of stuff still left on them.  Umm no, I've been brushing, flossing, and rinsing.

After she is done we x-ray my teeth.  There are a bunch of dark spots that she believes are not cavities, no that's just half of my mouth that she missed.  She goes back in like a crazy lady scraping as much as she can off my teeth before four o clock on the dot came around.

After 4 on the dot she completely disappears, guess she finished.  Then the dentist comes in and tells me that even though I let my teeth my entire life I apparently have no cavities.  The black spots are not cavities, the bleeding is not cavities.  I ask him about chipped teeth, braces, wisdom teeth etc, and his only response is, "Its only a problem if you say it is a problem."  Like I was sitting here asking him why my mouth is in pain and all I can get out of the dentist expert is that I need to know what to do.  Gee thanks.

They set an appointment for me six months in advance, and then the best part comes.

I"m standing there with my wallet in my hands and the payment lady is like "What are you doing?"  The receptionist lady turns around and tells her that I need to pay.  The payment lady is like "Oh, but you don't owe anything.  You go through X insurance, right?"  and the receptionist lady turns around again and says "No he works at Y and goes through Z insurance."  Then the payment lady says, "Well that's good because then you still don't owe anything."  

So I walk out of there with the understanding that I owe nothing on my two dental visits, and that there are receptionist out there who I've never met before but know everything about me even better than the computer database knows.  

Long story short Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger was right, applying the pound of cure promptly by visiting the dentist at the first sign of problems turned out to be an incredibly good (and free) move.