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Odd Requests from Endodonist...should I be concerned?

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skippy1712

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Jun 2, 2017
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My endodontist's office sent me a text with instructions. Some of them seem odd and out of the ordinary.

There is a set of four commands...here they are exactly as they were given to me.

"DUE TO ALLERGIES, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM WEARING COLOGNE OR PERFUME. Eat before you come, drive yourself and resume normal activity afterward."


I asked about the perfume thing previously and someone said it isn't that I will become allergic to it, but that maybe the dentist is. I feel bad if he is, but couldn't they say specifically what not to wear? It seems odd that we are expected to make him comfortable. I hate the thought of not being able to. First it is a familiar comfortable smell to me. I will miss it. But also, I already feel so gross and disgusting there, that I can't imagine feeling even grosser by stinking. It feels like just more control and power being taken from me in this situation.


Eat before you come. The lady insisted on this. Why? What if I gag? What if I am sick? Wouldn't it be better to have no food in my stomach? I know for a fact that hospitals tell you not to eat anything for a set amount of hours before coming in for anything. Why is she giving me opposite directions?

Drive yourself. Why are they demanding that I come alone? Why do they need the privacy? I don't have any option but to drive myself, but it just seems strange that you are forbidden from having someone with you to protect you from them unless they are planning to do something they shouldn't. This one concerns me greatly and sounds very fishy.

Resume normal activity afterward. What concern is that of theirs? Why can't I do whatever I want after? Who are they to make such a demand and how would they even know if I didn't? This also seems a very strange command.


Any insight into these would be helpful. I have several red flags going up. I hope these are nothing and that there are simple explanations for them, but they seem very out of the ordinary and I would like to understand them before I subject myself to these people.
 
I understand your concerns but you are reading way too much into this.

About the perfume - that is because someone in the office, probably the dentist or the assistant is allergic to perfumes, so please don't wear any. They did say specifically what not to wear - perfume or cologne (and anything else along that line such as aftershave) or are you expecting them to give you actual names of perfumes you can't wear? I have a similar problem; while I'm not "allergic" to perfumes the smell of most of them make me very nauseated so I really appreciate it when people don't wear them around me. My family and close friends know this as do my co-workers so they don't wear any per/col when near me. Don't make things uncomfortable for them by wearing something that will bother them and make it difficult to work on you. Most people who wear perfume put on way too much. Unless you are sensitive to this you have idea how uncomfortable it can make others. They aren't taking control away from you, they need a comfortable work environment. Take a shower and put on some deodorant before you appointment.

As far as eating, driving and resuming normal activities - what they are saying here is you aren't having major surgery and you will not be put to sleep. Therefore there are no restrictions as to eating beforehand, having someone drive you or resting for the remainder of the day when you get home as there would be if you were having some sort of surgical procedure.

If you don't want to eat beforehand, then don't. Most likely they don't want your blood sugar to drop while you are there. I also worry about gagging and getting sick so I tend to go on an emptyish stomach. You can either eat beforehand or not, they are just saying there are no restictions.

Same thing with driving, they are not demanding you come alone, they are letting you know there are no driving restrictions as you won't be having any kind of anesthesia other than local so you will be fully able to drive. If you bring someone with you they will be fine with that. They aren't going to be doing anything for which you will need protection.

And same with the rest of the day activities. Again, you are not having major surgery so you don't have to go to bed when you get home. They are telling you the procedure will be nice and easy and you can do a 5K afterwards if you want to, or you can go to bed if you want to. They don't care what you do and they won't be checking up on you.

There are absolutely no red flags here and nothing fishy going on. Quite the opposite, the are letting you know what to expect and that it is just routine work, nothing serious. I think it's great that they do this. :clover:
 
As for wanting you to eat, they may be worried about nervous patients fainting or suchlike, as low blood sugar can cause a host of things that affect anxiety - nausea, lightheadedness, shakiness etc.

I don't see why you'd be stinky without perfume. A modest amount of deodorant shouldn't be a problem, and perfume doesn't mask or reduce body odour anyway. Perfume allergies can be pretty bad and cause watering eyes, wheezing, and chest tightness, sometimes even a rash. You don't want to induce that reaction in someone who is providing your healthcare. :p

The rest of it is probably just reinforcing that it's not major surgery and you don't have to take special steps for it. The simplest answer tends to be the most likely one.
 

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