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Dentist changed appointment for root canal - family emergency

Lars
2 years ago

My dentist's office called me at 9:40 AM today to cancel my 11:00 AM appointment for a root canal. The receptionist told me that he had a family emergency and that both his mother and father were in the emergency room! Immediately I thought that they must have been in a bad car accident, and I told her that I would be fine with rescheduling but that we were leaving town on Saturday. Then she wanted to know whether I would be available Saturday morning, and I told her that our schedule for Saturday was flexible. She then said she would call me back to confirm rescheduling.

She also wanted to know if I could reschedule for the 26th, which is when the dentist will be getting back from his July vacation. I told her that I had not planned to be in the area at that time, but that I could return if I had to.

Then she called me back at about 3 PM and asked if I could come in tomorrow at 10 AM, and I agreed to that.

My concern is that the dentist may be trying to rush things, and I'm not sure I want a root canal to be rushed. He may have just rescheduled some other appointments to squeeze me in - I don't know. I am also concerned that he is going to be upset and preoccupied thinking about his parents.

Anyway, I guess I will find out tomorrow, but my anxiety level has gone up.

How often to dentists and doctors reschedule your appointments? I seem to remember quite a few times that this has happened to me. Once my ophthalmologist in Santa Monica simply cancelled an appointment that I had with him, and the office told me to call back to reschedule, which I did a few months later, since I did not feel that I needed to see him as often as he wanted to see me. I am currently on an annual checkup schedule with my current ophthalmologist, as I test somewhat borderline for glaucoma. My tests are consistently the same, and so I do not appear to be getting worse, but we are watching this. When I went back to my doctor in Santa Monica, he told me that I should have been coming in sooner. I then reminded him that he had cancelled my previous appointment, and he said that that was impossible because he never cancelled appointments. I told him to check his records, and when he did, he found out that he had indeed cancelled that appointment because it was on the day that his son was born. (This doctor was in his late 20s and rode his bicycle to work.) I changed ophthalmologists after that and found one closer to me in Marina Del Rey.

What is your opinion of my dentist situation for tomorrow?

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