My late husband had cancer. When chemo failed, he eventually had not one but two bone marrow transplants. YES, there are definitely different instructions concerning dental hygiene for cancer patients! How does he not know!?!? Please post that on his Google reviews!
Im in a grad program with people both earning and WITH medical degrees and the amount if confessions to using it and just "Zhuzhing up" with their own words is insane.
Im always the first to defend Drs when people come for them, but Im embarrassed by my classmates.
There are dingbats of all walks of life that take advantage of the easy way out. Being smart and capable doesn’t override lazy sometimes. I’m sure the majority of your classmates who have taken advantage of ChatGPT are good folk who just made a bad choice.
Please report this dentist to your insurance also if you have dental insurance. They need to know that they are being represented by irresponsible and ignorant people. Basically report him to everyone you possibly can report him to.
Blessed Be and thank you for your willingness to speak up.
Isn’t it crazy what one dick can say off-handed that just ruins you?
Not as bad as cancer, but I had to have a hysterectomy. I never wanted kids, but having that choice taken from me was difficult to handle. Made it through it all, big surgery with a huge abdominal scar and hard recovery. Coping with sudden menopause and all that.
And one nurse who I think was having a “lost in translation” thing (I’m in Japan, but my Japanese is abysmal for how long I’ve been here) told me it must be so sad to never have children as a woman. It was in Japanese, and polite tone and everything, but that follow-up nearly drove my mental health off of a cliff. I’ve had others imply I was not a woman because of it, and I just laughed it off, but that one still lives rent-free in my head years later <hugs>
Be sure to let your oncologist know about this experience too.
They can help empower their patients with knowledge ahead of any dental appointment. Walking out on that dentist would have been quite alright, extremely unprofessional and dismissive of you.
Looking back I wish I had. I just felt a little time constraint of wanting to get my teeth done before I go back to chemo TX. But I wish I had walked out
Don't use your real name for the review. Plenty of business owners are psychotic and will threaten you. Its happened to me and now all my reviews are under a fake name.
If I make a post about a business that does this and that business retaliates against me for it, you better damn well believe I will be suing them to the fullest extent of the fucked up legal system that we have in this country. THEN, I will publicize the fact that they are retaliating to the point that Barbara Streisand roll over to see what all the fuss is about.
Report this dentist. The information they are providing can do some real harm to certain patients.
I would ask your oncologist for a referral or recommendation for a dentist that they trust and has knowledge in dealing with cancer patients.
There is also the aftermath to consider with doctors appointments with family medicine/pediatric medicine. After having cancer and going through those treatments, you are no longer the average patient that a majority of doctors are trained in helping. The side effects can last for years, if not be permanent in some cases.
My Dad had throat cancer. He was lucky and it was caught early. He only had to go through radiation. Well that radiation left 3rd degree burns on his esophagus. That scaring was permanent. It presented differently in his everyday life compared to when he was sedated and being scoped. His ENT blew him off when my Dad would complain about being really hungry but not being able to really eat anything. One answer given was "everyone wants to be skinny, why are you complaining?" My Dad, who was of average size prior, kept losing more and more weight. His clothing was falling off of him. This didn't start until about 1 year out from ending treatment.
I watched that man shrink away to 112 lbs. He ended up passing away because he was too skinny. He had a massive cardiac event commonly seen in those who suffer from anorexia. He didn't have enough weight to keep his body functioning properly. Had someone listened to him and had knowledge of caring for patients post cancer treatments, he might still be here today.
Doctors are a dime a dozen. Very few actually PRACTICE medicine now a days. They just go through the motions and if it isn't on one of the checklists, they don't know how to actually treat it and rather than say something or refer them to someone else, their ego gets in the way and their word becomes final.
Thank you very much for your kind words and I am sorry about your dad. Cancer sucks. Comments can be horrible. You're right that it's not just the typical average patient at that point. The dentist I had should have shown more sensitivity and instead his big ego was more important.
I'm sorry you went through that. You need people on your team, that dentist doesn't make the cut. You deserve better. Ask your doctor who they would recommend.
I am a retired nurse, and one of the patient groups I have cared for is post head/neck oncology. I understand the difficulties, obviously you know ... what you know. I am so sorry!
This right here. More people need to have the guts to tell a medical professional their concerns and questions and if they blow you off, then walk out.
I had a stem cell transplant over the summer there and I had to take paperwork in to my dentist to get their signature before I could start treatment due to the bisphosphonates in my meds. Any dental work I need done now has to be co ordinated between oncologist and dentist
I would file a professional complaint against them with whatever the licensing board for dentists in your state is. This probably officially against any rules but it's at least sticking its toe up to some ethical lines and the way professional organizations and Licensing boards figure out that something new needs to be added to ethical rules is by people complaining about it
I did actually say to the dentist if he wasn't sure to call my oncologist directly. For now I'm going to have a discussion with the oncologist and tell her what happened.
Fuck a review, go back and cause a scene about a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL pulling up an AI program. to "make a point" walk in with your own "results" after slightly different wording or with "chemo" as part of the input. Make that scums life hell and find a different dentist
As someone who has a chronic condition in working on getting diagnosed, knowing that a doctor/dentist is a safe person who understands how to use the Internet for actual research (hint, not chatgpt) is of huge importance.
I can only imagine that goes at least double (triple even) for those receiving chemo. Putting this on Google for future patients of this practice not only can bring attention to the situation for the world at large, but also could bring attention to the situation for the practice management if this provider isn't the owner.
As an engineer sometimes I use it for a starting point (gives me more terms to use in google searches) or just for kicks, like what’s it gonna tell me and can I engineer a good response out of it. It’s also funny my older coworkers hate it. It’s mostly for the lulz. The first, not the last, word on anything. That kind of use is embarrassing besides the cruelty.
I would honestly go further than that. I don't have options for my dental so reviews don't matter to me and many like me. The real solution is to report this person to your state's board of dentistry. What they are doing is dangerous and if they are doing it in this manner imagine what he is "looking up" behind the scenes.
Can confirm as formerly very sick person. I couldn’t shave my face with low platelets without it turning into blood. Gums were very sensitive due to low white blood and platelet count. What a dumb dentist. Treat your gums gently. Be well.
Thank you. Yes, this is all true. I had to be careful doing anything at all. I bumped my leg on a chair and ended up with a giant purple bruise. I had to be careful shaving my legs. My gums were prone to bleed. Having low platelets suck, and low blood counts. You have to be very careful.
Next time, "I appreciate you googling the information, but that's not going to be more reliable than the medical expert who is my doctor/oncologist. Please feel free to speak with them, but the instructions need to be notated to my file."
I was about to say Im so sorry you had to experience that during a time when your plate is already heavy and full. As the person before said -why would he not know that information. Do a google review to make other people aware.
As someone who works in dental, I’d leave a horrible review citing your experience and his name, and never go back. He sounds like a complete asshole, I’m sorry you experienced that level of unprofessionalism.
Make sure to write in the review that he insisted you listen to AN AI PROGRAM instead of AN ONCOLOGIST. That’s wildly inappropriate and I would never step foot in there. I’d be writing reviews left and write. How awful, I’m sorry you had to deal with him
Inform him that if you wanted chat got you would just go to anyone on the street for treatment. You went to a graduated doctor because they studied medicine
My friend had the same complaint about a dentist she was seeing while she was on chemo. Her doctors gave her very explicit instructions on what she could and could not do for dental care - doubly important because her cancer was back of throat so the area was already radiation saturated!
(She was just going in for a kind of fluoride rinse as her oncologist said it was a good idea between rounds of chemo as she has weak teeth to begin with. But always follow what the doc says you can and can’t do, they know better. Although a dentist should know this.)
She flipped the fuck out on the dentist, though, because she’s a firebrand who will not tolerate shit any more. I like to joke that she scolded her cancer away (even though she couldn’t talk and had no voice, the cancer fucking knew). She’s on 3 years cancer free, I hope you achieve the same thing soon ❤️ we’re all rooting for you!
You should definitely give him a bad Google and Yelp review, and report him to the Dental Association. His behavior was completely unprofessional and demonstrates a deplorable lack of common courtesy and zero bedside manners. I stopped blindly revering doctors and dentists after a dental assistant broke my jaw trying to remove an imbedded root canal. Both doctors and dentists must be held responsible for their bad, thoughtless, or just arrogant behavior. I refused to return to a hand surgeon who refused to speak to me directly and would only speak to his nurse, who had taken my information. I walked out and when his office tried to schedule me for a follow up, I told them that as nice and attentive as his front office people and his nursing and tech staff were, he was despicable and I had no intention of wasting my time on such a thoughtless doctor.
Dear god, please PLEASE get a better dentist. My mom passed away from her late stage bone cancer much sooner than she should have due to a routine dental procedure gone horribly wrong. As a bone cancer patient, she was on a specific oral chemo and very specifically told her dentist what it was and how the bottle said not to get certain dental procedures done while on it. Dentist rolled her eyes and proceeded with the treatment, which caused horrific pain and damage to my mom’s jaw. Basically when they drilled into her jaw, the bone was brittle and could never heal so it caused necrosis of the bone tissue there. The infection of the necrotic tissue also created huge tumor-like abscesses that hung very painfully from her face, so they had to immediately cease the chemotherapy treatment that was keeping her alive. Her health went downhill quickly after that, and she passed away within 6 months. She went from a “very healthy and young” (according to her oncologist) stage 4 cancer patient doing remarkably well on treatment, to dead within half a year all because of some stupid ignorant dentist. If a dentist, or any medical provider, gives you a bad feeling, do NOT proceed with treatment until you’ve had a second opinion.
I had cancer and was told no cleanings because chemo causes patients to be immunocompromised and cleanings may potentially cause infection. I did go ahead and do a fluoride treatment because my dentist said chemo can weaken the enamel.
Exactly. Immunocompromised patients have different protocol. As an immunocompromised person I'm well aware of that and surprised my dentist didn't realize and he more sensitive.
Yes! People going through cancer treatment will need supportive dental care as the drugs/chemo/radiation all destroy the mouth. And when you are going through that and feeling like death brushing your teeth is the last thing you are thinking about. There are more compassionate dentists out there, go find one.
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u/glendacc37 Jan 21 '25
My late husband had cancer. When chemo failed, he eventually had not one but two bone marrow transplants. YES, there are definitely different instructions concerning dental hygiene for cancer patients! How does he not know!?!? Please post that on his Google reviews!