SMILE!

Paperwork Mix-Up

In the first story, I mentioned how my orthodontist office is a little unorganized. Below is a great example.

Sitting in the waiting room, I refrained from tapping my foot impatiently. There was a woman talking on the phone with a high pitched voice across the small room, they were running late (almost ten minutes), and I was grumpy from lack of sleep. So when the ortho assistant called my name, I jumped up out of the padded chairs, plastered a fake smile on my face, and headed downstairs to the room.

I should've realized that something wasn't right when on the way down the stairs the assistant asked me if I had brought my retainer with me. Most likely with a very confused look on my face, I answered, "Um... I don't have a retainer."

The assistant pursed her lips and checked the folder again when we got into the room. Once she had me reclined in the chair, she took a look at my teeth, and then back at the chart a few times. By now, I had realized something was wrong, and was starting to worry that maybe I hadn't worn my bands enough, or maybe I had and they adjusted too far. Or maybe I had a little worm living in my mouth, whatever it was, the nurse looked very confused and conflicted.

Finally, she asked me my last name and after I answered, she had a light bulb moment.

It turns out they had grabbed the wrong file, and grabbed one for someone else with the same name. She went back to the office/front desk, came back, and confessed that she couldn't find my file. Which meant that they couldn't do anything with my teeth (which was very unfortunate because I had chosen bad color elastics that made my teeth look gross). She just looked at my teeth to make sure nothing was broken and sent me on my way. My mom had brought me to the appointment and looked very surprised when I walked out of the appointment so early.

After I explained to my mom what had happened, she went up to the front desk and they said that they didn't have me scheduled for the appointment that day, that we had come on the wrong day*. Which was stupid because we had gotten a confirmation call the night before.

That was exactly what my mom told her, and we left the office. I never really figured out what went wrong that day. It could be that someone while searching for my name in the file box just went by first names, and same with the computer. But really, it sucks when you can't get your yellow and black (I know, I know, bad choice) elastics changed as soon as possible.

*The receptionists and front office ladies are known for being rude at my orthodontist office.