Metal Mouth Message Board

I am a big letter writer. After feeling like I got crap service from my ortho I decided to send him this letter.


Hi Dr xxx

I thought it would be easier to send a fax rather than call as you are busy.

I need to let you know how I am feeling about the braces experience. For myself, and maybe it can help someone else in the future.

Firstly, I have to say that I was grossly under prepared for how invasive the braces are. It was such a shock to the system. I wish I had been better prepared.

Perhaps it is because I am a big baby, maybe. Or perhaps you have been doing this for so long that it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you. But it was a big deal to me. I think that either you or your assistant should better prepare adults like myself for just how much of a big deal it is.

Then, I wish you had been clearer on the difference between the ceramics and the metal braces. All you said was you don’t like the ceramics because they are not as strong and they are slightly bulkier. If I had known what a difference there was I would have never chosen the ceramic ones. I relied on your expertise.

Then the ceramics that you fitted had hooks on. Hooks that cut into my mouth. Hooks that according to you, weren’t totally necessary for my treatment.

I think what has made me feel worse about the whole experience is knowing that a lot of the pain and discomfort has been unnecessary. By your own admission. You said that is why you didn’t like the ceramics, because they are so much bulkier than the metals and you didn’t why the manufacturers made them that way.

You said that you noticed after you started putting my brackets on that the supplier had sent the brackets with the hooks in, and that it wasn’t necessary in my case. In fact after one of my filing down sessions* the supplier was at reception and you complained her about the hooks and showed her my mouth.

Then, after my last session when I asked you for some more wax, you gave me some special stuff to put my braces, to protect my mouth. Which was very kind of you. When you put some on my brackets you noticed that it was very sticky and difficult to get off. Well, this morning when I gently removed the material to clean my teeth it pulled a bracket off my tooth. I knew that shouldn’t happen so I looked at the tube. It had expired in 2003! Which is probably why it pulled the bracket off. I haven’t bitten into any thing, nothing at all since my brackets were fitted (my mouth is too sore), and then this happens.

Any way, bottom line is that I feel disappointed in how this has turned out. But I know that you mean well, and perhaps it is just a case of Murphy’s law when every thing goes wrong with one person. I do like you a lot. And I know that you care. This letter is a request for help.

I do need your help now. You said you would help me by replacing some of the brackets with metal. I would like that done as soon as possible. I have to have the bracket repaired and I might as well have the brackets replaced at the same time.

I have an appointment on Wednesday at 2pm for twenty minutes. Can you not come in a bit earlier from lunch and do it then?

I know you are busy (I tried calling to make an appointment to have the brackets replaces and I was told that you don't have time to do so this year), but I need you to make a plan. I can come in earlier in the morning, or come in later in the day. Or you can come in from lunch a bit earlier, or something. I need you to help me, because I can’t walk around like this for another two months. I work in town, but I am prepared to drive out to you to meet you whenever you can find time for me.

I am sure that between the two of us we can make a plan for this week.

Thank you Dr.

Rgds
Tertia

* I went for FOUR filing down sessions to try and file down the hooks that were protruding into my mouth.

They replaced the ceramics with metal after receiving my letter, MUCH MUCH better.

I think the Dr hates me. But that's fine. I don't actually care. I am not a child, I am not some thick patient. I am a paying customer and I deserve to get good service.

Wow, glad I'm not doing business with her. Bla bla bla

I am sorry to hear about the bad service. It is quite reasonable to expect top-notch service, and <i>caring</i> service, from medical and dental professionals. They are paid very well, not because they are God, but because they are lucky that society rewards their professions so well. The least they can do is work hard to earn their patients' trust. I am a firm believer in sticking up for oneself and in expecting doctors to listen to patients when they speak.

Writing a letter worked for you. It's good to speak up for yourself, and you didn't do it in a mean way. I think regardless of whether the ortho likes you, he will be careful to treat you well. Maybe he learned something new from that letter and will be more thoughtful in the future.

I would seriously consider making an appointment to sit down and talk with him. The letter is a little hard to follow and meanders around the point quite a bit. He may not understand your frustration. I think you will get a better response in person.

Sometimes writing a letter and then not sending it is theraputic enough to get all of your thoughts about a situation together.

Just my two cents worth, for what it's worth!!!

Tertia,

Bravo! It sounds as if you had no alternative other than to send a letter since phoning and trying to make appointments wasn't working. The problems you encountered were just unacceptable. And to tell you that the brackets that broke from the expired wax he gave you couldn't be repaired until January? That is just outrageous.

You are 100% right! You're paying for a service and an expensive service at that.

I'm glad you're doing better!

Kitty

To be honest, if I were the ortho and received your letter, I wouldn't be too happy.

It's really good to stand up for yourself, and express your concerns, but the tone of your letter is kind of whiny and you come across as very critical.

But I'm glad the letter worked out for you, and hope the rest of your treatment goes better. Good luck!

wow...how old are you? the only part that even remotely is worth complaining about is the expired wax. that, i completely understand why you would have a problem with. however..

"Perhaps it is because I am a big baby, maybe. Or perhaps you have been doing this for so long that it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you. But it was a big deal to me. I think that either you or your assistant should better prepare adults like myself for just how much of a big deal it is. "

you had to have known it would have been a shock at first. however, you gradually get over it and get used to the braces. it's definitely not the end of the world and shouldn't be treated by the orthodontists or his assistants as such.

"Then, I wish you had been clearer on the difference between the ceramics and the metal braces. All you said was you don’t like the ceramics because they are not as strong and they are slightly bulkier. If I had known what a difference there was I would have never chosen the ceramic ones. I relied on your expertise."

what else did you need to know? i have ceramics and, no complaints here. braces are braces. i've had both metals and ceramics and i don't find that there is a significant difference in the way they feel AT ALL.

"I have an appointment on Wednesday at 2pm for twenty minutes. Can you not come in a bit earlier from lunch and do it then?"

come in a bit earlier from his lunch? are you serious? how would you feel if someone that did nothing that complained about things asked you to take time off --the only time during the workday in which you can relax-- to come in early, for a patient who has been less than easy to handle.


and yes, you do deserve good service. you deserve excellent service, and i hope that your orthodontist can provide that for you in the future. but complaining about not being prepared adequately for how drastic the change from no braces to braces is.. is simply ridiculous. i'm not tearing apart your entire letter, i just don't understand why you actually wrote the things i have quoted in my response to the orthodontist.

^^^^^ I would have to agree with that post...

I have to agree too.
The letter is ok for a vent but sending it is not ok. Contains a lot more than it needs. It makes you "moan, moan, moan...patient". If you need to vent here is the forum for it. As for the braces with hooks, you should have stood up then and insisted on waiting for the correct ones since the ortho said you don't need those. That way things would never have gone this far. Like you said, you are an adult not a child. Nobody forced you to do it.

Perhaps a less emotional letter could have been written:

Dear Dr xxx,

I have some issues with braces... and would like to discuss them with you in a timely manner, so I am faxing this letter.

Firstly, I have to say that I was not prepared for how invasive the braces are. This is new for me, and your other patients. Perhaps you could let your patients watch you apply braces to another patient first, on video, maybe?

Secondly, I wish I had been able to see the difference between the ceramics and the metal braces before I had them applied. You told me the ceramics are not as strong and they are slightly bulkier, but you didn't realize at that time the ceramics you had in stock had hooks and so I chose the ceramic. Hooks aren’t necessary for my treatment, you mentioned, and once we realized they had hooks, I would have appreciated a chance to change brackets had you offered that possibility.

After my last session when I asked you for some more wax, you gave me some special material to protect my mouth, which was very kind of you. You noticed that it was very sticky and difficult to get off. This morning when I gently removed the material to clean my teeth, it pulled a bracket off. I looked at the tube. It had expired in 2003. Perhaps that is why the bracket came off? I haven’t bitten into anything since my brackets were fitted (my mouth is too sore), so that can't be it.

I know you are busy, and I appreciate the time you spend with your patients, including myself. You said you would help me by replacing some of the brackets with metal. I would like that done as soon as possible. I have to have the bracket repaired and I would appreciate having them all replaced at the same time.

I have an appointment on Wednesday at 2pm for twenty minutes. If I come in early for that appointment, will you have enough time to do it then?


Thank you so much for your time and consideration in this matter.

Rgds

Hi-

As for your letter I agree with some of the later posts- as a poster here you can vent and ask questions. It sucks at first and it sounds like you did have quite an ordeal with how you experienced the braces. But not much of that seems to me to have been the orthos fault. Did the ortho *force* you to get ceramics? When they said they "don’t like the ceramics because they are not as strong and they are slightly bulkier" how much did YOU press the point? "How bulkier?" "Not as strong- how will that affect my treatment?" etc. I didn't read anything in the letter that led me to believe that the office wasn't giving you good service- and remember that as an adult they probably assume you are better able to stand up for yourself and take responsibilty for your part in the patient/doctor relation. They probably had no reason to assume otherwise and regrettfully if their office is anything like the one I go to then they are rather busy and can't always profile their patients like that. And trust, I bugged them unmercifully with questions before my braces went on.

As for this post:

Marzipan wrote:They are paid very well, not because they are God, but because they are lucky that society rewards their professions so well.

Ummm... what??? Its LUCK that doctors are 'paid well'??? You mean that had society rolled the dice another way that some other professions would be similarly reimbursed??? Is that how one chooses their path in college- on registration day you go into the counselors office and they spin a big wheel and tell you you- "Oh you lucky dog you- get get a well-paying profession?"
No, you don't. Doctors get paid well (if they get paid at all, unlike doctors who help patients out by filing their insurance claims for them and rarely get paid well at all) because they first demonstrated an aptitude for scientific education and worked hard at school, second spent vast quanties of their own money to pay for that self-same schooling and third have critical skills that you and I don't have to help us stay healthy. I used to be able to fix my old junker cars myself so I could save some money but the technology in newer cars went past my skill level so now I have to take my car to a mechanic- and you know what? I have to pay for their expertise. When I'm too lazy to buy ingredients to prepare my own dinner I go out to eat- and you know what? I pay more for food because people are using their time and effort to serve me, cook food for me and wash the dishes I use. And sometimes its just worth it to me.

And NO, I am not a doctor. But YES I work in a doctor's office. Color me jaded maybe, but try and disprove what I say.

Anyhow, Tertia, I hope your braces experience does improve and that you'll be happy with the end result. Afterall, that's why we all put ourselves through this right?

If you are unhappy with the service and treatment you have received I firmly believe that a letter should have been written. Good for you. Bad service seems to be of the norm lately and the reason we get bad service is because consumers don't make it known to businesses that they are receiving poor service.

I agree that most ortho's seem like it is no big deal to get braced because they deal with them everyday and they are used to it. I remember telling my ortho the day I got my braces on that "I was nervous" and he said "why?", I was like "uh hello? I am getting BRACES!" so to him it was no big deal. To me it was, just a matter of perception that is all.

I did some research and with the help of this website I got some idea of how the braces would be and came to the conclusion on my own how invasive they would be. So in that perspective I had to prepare myself on my own.

The only thing that I would point out about your letter is you stated "if I had known what a difference there was between ceramic and metal you would have never chosen the ceramic", my thought is that at that point you had no idea what metal felt like either so how can you possibly compare the two?

Some people are just conditioned differently than others and there is nothing wrong with wanting a little more TLC.

Good luck with your treatment and perhaps think about sending a letter to your ortho thanking him for the extra time and attention he has given to you with your particular case.

great post greencpt!

Hmm, so why are EMTs and paramedics paid so little?? (rhetorical question unless someone has a magic answer)

Jenn

I think that EMTs and paramedics are paid less because of the amount of schooling they have to go through. I am not exactly sure how much they go through but (correct me if I am wrong) I think it is less that the 10-12 years that Doctors have to do.