Dental Hygienist or Advertising?

July 22, 2004 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Life 

Last night, I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I’ve been going to this dentist since I moved to the area in 1993.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my regular hygienist wasn’t there. In fact, NOBODY who worked there at my last cleaning in January was there except for the dentist. The entire staff had changed.

I had no issue with the office staff changing – the old staff used to screw up appointments and make last-minute changes all of the time. I also had no issue with the dental assistant changing – I didn’t see the old one very often (just for fillings).

However, the old hygienist was gone. Stacy was great – she’d been working with me for all of those 10-11 years. She was very pleasant, gentle, and expedient. I do a very good job of home care, so it generally takes me about 30 minutes in the chair (as opposed to the 45 minutes scheduled).

The new hygienist is rather rough around the edges. For one thing, she’s a bit too enamored of the “new” ways of doing things:
1. She uses one of those vibro-water picks rather than the old metal instruments. That ends up making my gums hurt more than they used to.
2. She fills the rinse cup with Listerine. Now, I don’t like Listerine – even the “cool mint” blue stuff. Why not just water like before?
3. For some reason, she managed to stretch my cleaning out to 45 minutes. My wife’s was 45 minutes also. Add to that the fact that she was running 30 minutes late and we were in the office for about an hour longer than expected.
4. She seems more like a salesman than a hygienist.
5. She repeatedly picks on what I do wrong.
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The last two are my chief complaints.

First, I brush too hard. That erodes my teeth a little around the gumline and is harder on my gums. I’m 36 years old. The way I brush isn’t likely to change much. I also have very strong teeth – so the erosion is slow. So far, I’ve had to have one tooth bonded because I wore away a bit too much enamel – but that one is chiefly because my front teeth aren’t straight.
This hygienist started with “you have very good teeth – you do a good job with home care”. She said that once. Then, she started a continuous patter of “you shouldn’t brush so hard – your gums have floss cuts – you shouldn’t brush so hard”. On about the 5th cycle of repitition, I finally stopped her and said “I got the point.”

Second, she seems to be a salesperson for dental accessories. She tried to push electric toothbrushes on me several times. With my wife (who has essentially permanent braces on the back of her teeth), she was pushing a Water Pik, electric toothbrushes, and prescription toothpaste.
I didn’t expect a tooth cleaning to sound like a timeshare presentation, but that’s what it was like. I can understand the electric toothbrush – maybe. The Water Pik – OK – maybe for the specific problem. But prescription toothpaste? I’m already sick of the “new, expensive drug-of-the-month” pressure from my doctors, but has it finally spread to dentists? What is a prescription toothpaste gonna give you that a few extra seconds of brushing won’t?

I want my old hygienist back.

My dentist did say to my wife to speak up about things that bother us, rather than switching practices (which most people probably do). I have a call into him to talk about the hygienist’s “chair-side-manner” problems. I would seriously consider switching to get a good hygienist – I see the hygienist for 30 minutes every 6 months – I see the dentist for 5 minutes every 6 months and MAYBE a filling every 4-5 years.

If you’re in the Trenton, NJ area and want the name of this dentist to choose or avoid (I can make a case for either – the dentist does REALLY good work outside of cleanings), send me an e-mail.

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