My last office visit with dr Udom, the dentist at esteemed dental services, was very poor.

Dr Udom laughed as she told me what she saw on my x-ray: that the oral surgeon did not fully extract the tooth that was removed a month ago. It was funny to her, but it was very hurtful to me. I left very upset knowing I’d have to go through surgery, and the pain, and recovery again, for another oral surgeon to remove the left behind roots.

I also left scared because the dentist said there’s even a good chance insurance will not give authorization for the remaining tooth pieces to be removed because they will claim it was already extracted. I spent an hour on the phone with my insurance to find out if that’s true. And it’s not. They said there’s even a code for it and there was no reason for the dentist to scare me like that.

Before I left the dentist office that day, she said she would call the oral surgeon’s office to ask why he didn’t inform me he was leaving part of the tooth behind. She asked me for the contact information, so I sent it to her. Over a week later, I asked what the result was, and she said she didn’t call because I didn’t put the drs name down. The dentist I saw that day is not listed as a regular dentist there and I even called Medicaid to ask, but they didn’t have his name on the submitted claim.

For whatever purpose his name was not available, I decided it would just be easier to get the office to send the records to her. I filled out the medical release form so they could request it. But even that she refused. She told her secretary to tell me it’s not possible to transfer medical records. Only patients can request it. That statement was unbelievable to me. I knew that wasn’t true. I said then just send me back the medical release and the receptionist said ok. Even that never happened. So I called up to ask what was going on. The dentist picked up the phone very angry with me. Angry with me for being upset with her for never following through on anything.

I don’t think she’d have been problematic with me if the surgery went well. But somehow the humor of the failed surgery seemed to fracture the illusion. I saw how cruel she was in that moment laughing at my misfortune. And then trying to scare me that I might never be able to get the roots taken out. And then not following up with anything she stated she would do.

Submitted Oct. 22, 2021