Is the treatment plan the plan?

[Bluebelle]

Hello,

I saw a dentist last week who gave me a treatment plan. I was due to be referred to someone else who could offer sedation and was told a different dentist might think something else was needed etc but this was her opinion. And at the point this was being discussed I was HIGHLY distressed and had asked them beforehand to give all treatment information to my friend etc. But anyway, after the appointment, I emailed and said please email all treatment information to me (because I was so upset and ashamed and couldn't stand my friend knowing any of it and was feeling so out of control too). So they said, we'll see if we can email the plan to you and if not we'll post it. So they email the plan. I email back and say can you confirm nothing has changed since the x-rays. And the nurse emails back and says "As far as I'm aware, the x-rays didn't change anything about the treatment plan". Anyway, she then emails again today, several days later, to say "I am not qualified to answer this question. When the dentist gets back (from being away for about two weeks), I'll check and send you the information you requested". Keeping in mind, I already couldn't cope with the plan they had given me, I am now terrified it is even worse than they said and I know she has been in contact with the dentist about me today (because of some other questions I had) so I am worried she has realised she shouldn't have said before "As far as I am aware nothing has changed" because although she was covered in her "As far as I am aware", maybe she gave me a false hope that it was all as I had been given.

Is anyone able to reassure me or let me know whether it would be usual to give someone a treatment plan if they thought the x-rays would change things? If they'd seen the x-ray before I left (which they had), were they likely to need more time to decide whether the plan needed changing? I think the plan was given to my friend after the examination and before the x-rays but I am sure they had seen the x-rays before I left so I just feel so confused and don't know what a normal process would look like. There is no other dentist at the practice who could give me an opinion whilst she is away - it's a solo practice - and I don't have the x-rays (and am too scared to ask for them) and I don't know how to get through two weeks of this terror.

(By the way, even the treatment plan they have given me is terrifying me and making me feel more depressed and desperate than I have ever been so this fear of it being even worse has tipped me into a panic beyond words).

Thank you for your insights.

 

[Gordon]

Is anyone able to reassure me or let me know whether it would be usual to give someone a treatment plan if they thought the x-rays would change things? If they'd seen the x-ray before I left (which they had), were they likely to need more time to decide whether the plan needed changing?

Well... the x-rays could change the plan, but it could be for the better not the worse, in other words things might not look so bad on the x-rays...
Sometimes it's nice to have a quiet look at the films without being rushed and have a good think about things, so the plan might well have changed, but not necessarily for the worse.
Try not to panic about it and wait to hear back from the dentist again.

The nurse was absolutely correct not to comment btw, that's a "lose your job" scenario for her.