Long story short:
I have an abscess. Swelling has gone down due to antibiotics. I saw a dentist who took a look at my mouth and referred me to an oral surgeon for a root canal on the abscesses tooth.
This root canal is scheduled for 12PM (three hours from now). I couldn't remember the address of the place so I googled. Yelp reviews popped up for the dentist. There are 5 or 6 talking about how unbelievably awful she is as a dentist.
Now I'm worried. I've had root canals before and I'm not afraid of them. But these reviews go into detail about how terrible this surgeon is.
This is awkward for 2 reasons:
1) I took a day off for this already. And I really do need this root canal - I can't let this go untreated.
2) The dentist office that referred me to this surgeon is excellent. Best dentist I ever visited. I'm kind of surprised at the contrast here.
I'm leaning more toward just going to see her anyway. But I was wondering what others think. How much stock should I put in these reviews? By contrast, Yelp reviews for other dentists in the same office got 5 star reviews. I don't think they are surgeons though.
Posts
God damn it, for a week now people have be throwing pity my way because of the root canal and I've been brushing it off because, honestly, root canals are not that bad.
Then all I do is google the dentist for her address, and now I'm worried.
They won't be happy but they can't make you do it if you say no.
Always look at a 3 star review, these will be the most honest.
4-5 stars tend to be shills, but sometimes not
1-2 stars tend to be people who got fucked or feel screwed somehow
I can weather bad bedside manner, pain is what it is, and I'm not giving a dime out of pocket today, so I guess it's fine. Nobody claimed she actually screwed up their mouth.
(I hope it went as well as possible!)
I did get the impression - and maybe this is just observational bias - that she was well aware of her negative reviews and had tempered her manner as a result, just based on some offhand comments she made.
Otherwise, I liked her.
Like, they are barely adequate at evaluating wait staff in a restaurant, and that's basically the lowest threshold possible. (Think about the sheer number of times you encounter people who shit all over their server because the cook "messed up" their food.)
If you want a particular bedside manner, then great, but if you want an actual competent doctor then reading reviews are useless short of blatant, consistent malpractice.
Anyway, glad to hear things are working out so far!
Kinky.
Or not.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I want someone to tell my dentist and his assistant this, because they are 100% quiet, until I've got a ton of shit in my mouth, cotton balls, their fingers, various wires, water hoses, vacuum tubes whatnot...
Oh so NOW we're gonna ask me questions? ok then...
I swear they must do it for amusement, because there is no way they've ever understood one of my answers, since all my answers at that point are mrggblrggggmummgrbl
Probably better you don't do it after either.
Haha I was thinking the same thing. It was completely unintentional. I couldn't find the referral card so I googled the address.
Google, thou art a harsh mistress.