No pictures

So.. I brought the camera with charged batteries. Get there and they say "oh, only the patient is allowed in the room"

Come again?

"only the patient, you can't leave the other kids in the waiting room and you can't take them with you"

Well, that would have been useful information when I called for the appointment.

I should have been tipped off when they said "we can only see 2 people from a family in a day" I didn't think to ask "well, can I only take 2 people WITH me??" for crying out loud , it says FAMILY dentist. FAMILY.

grumble grumble growl and hiss

so.. I say "well, you'll have to reschedule us"

She says "isn't there someone you can call to come watch them?"

WHAT IS IT with people here that they keep thinking this is a viable option? Is that what people do here? They call someone and say "hey, meet me at the dentist in 20 minutes to keep me company and watch my kids"
Yeah, I have A (one) friend and she works. So.. sure.. I'll call her and ask her to leave work, drive 40 minutes to get here or if she's off work, she'll take her 3 kids here to completely fill this waiting room and it'll still be 40 minutes.
Or perhaps you'd like to talk to my husband's commanding officer and explain why he has to leave work because you can't deal with kids in a dentist office that deals with kids. IF I had an option to leave the kids at home, I WOULD HAVE.

but no- they don't want to reschedule, because that's a canceled appointment.. times 2

so.. 20 year old with the power trip says "oh, they can go by themselves, the hygenists are good with kids" I repeat- this is their first visit, they're nervous and Darn it. I'm their mom. I have a right to be there.

we're at an impasse. I ask Joey and Sonia loud enough for ding dong at the desk to hear 'do you think you can be brave and go without mommy?' and it's a resounding NO with tearfulness.

So.. I look at the grandma sitting there watching her 2 year old grandson (so.. yes, apparently that IS what they do here) and ask her- will you be here a while and do you think you could keep an eye on the little 2 so I can go back for a few minutes to make sure the older 2 are ok- it's their first visit..

And she agrees. Shoot power tripping receptionist the 'ha, I win' look

I stayed long enough for them to read me the riot act about being near radiation (they took xrays first thing there before looking at them or ANYTHING) and telling me I couldn't be there. Anyway.. the kids seemed ok when reassured that they wouldn't get a shot in their mouth like little critter does in his 'going to the dentist' book

So.. I'm looking for a different dentist. But.. again.. socialized medicine/dentistry has it's price in both choice and convenience. So.. none of the dentists others have recommended participate with our socialized dentistry plan- only offices like this one who know their only competition is about as friendly as they are (that would sarcasm) And I call it socialized, but it isn't really - we pay for it out of our check like normal people do, but it's government run so.. we'll be continuing to pay for it and I'll continue to blog about it while remembering it could always be worse- like I could have had to pay for this charming experience out of pocket.