The Worst Dentist EVER: Part 2

To say the least, I was not excited at all about going to the dentist after Ben came home and told me his awful experience.  He kept telling me, "don't let them pressure you into anything.  Tell them you just want the normal cleaning that our insurance pays for and whatever you do DO NOT sign a contract for anything!"

With these encouraging words ringing in my ears, I was off to the dentist office.  I'm not usually nervous to go to the dentist, but I was super nervous today.  Why?  Mostly because I don't like conflict at all and I try to avoid it at all costs.  So knowing I was going to have to fight with this dentist office made me VERY nervous.

When I arrived, I filled out the paperwork and gave it back to the receptionist.  I had left a very important question blank because I wasn't 100% positive about the answer.  A few minutes later the receptionist handed me back my paperwork and told me I had missed a few questions and needed to answer all of the questions on the paperwork.

The question I had skipped had something to do with if I was pregnant.  I wasn't 100% positive yet so I marked yes.  I handed my paper work back to the receptionist and waited for my name to be called to start my cleaning.  The receptionist yelled over the counter at me, "Ms. Call, you're pregnant?"  I walked over to the counter and explained to the receptionist that my period was a week late and I wasn't 100% positive that I was pregnant.  She then told me that she needed my doctors name and number so she could call him and verify with him that I was actually pregnant.  I explained to her again that I was only a week late with my period and so I hadn't been to the doctor yet so there was no point for her to call him.  The receptionist then told me to take a seat and that she needed to talk to the dentist about what she should do with my situation.

And so the waiting began.  About 15 minutes later the receptionist came back with a piece of paper for me to sign saying that I couldn't sue them if anything happened to my baby and so I signed away.

After waiting for over an hour they finally took me back to start my x-rays.  The x-ray technician asked if I was pregnant and so I told my whole story again.  She doubled up on the aprons and took some pictures of my teeth.  While I was getting my x-rays the receptionist poked her head in and said under her breath to the x-ray technician, "She's PREGNANT!!!"  I smiled and wondered what the big deal was, had they never seen a pregnant woman before?

After having my x-rays done, I was taken back to see the dentist.  The first thing the dentist said to me was, "You're pregnant?"  I then to proceeded to tell her how my period was a week late and so I thought I might be but wasn't 100% sure.  She then started her examination.  After looking at my teeth she told me that my gums were receding, the bones inside my gums were receding as well, I needed to have my teeth whitened, I had REALLY bad bacteria all over my mouth and I would need a deep cleaning today and that I would need to come back in two weeks for a normal cleaning, I needed to rinse with their "special water", and I had three cavities that needed to be filled right then.  The dentist even went as far to have me hold a mirror and point to one of my teeth and say, "see that mark right there on your tooth?  That is a cavity."  Then she went on to tell me that the reason my teeth were so unhealthy was because I was pregnant!!! 

At this point I think my mouth had hit the floor and I was ready to burst into tears.  I was terrified that my teeth were about to fall out!  Everything that Ben had told me the day before was forgotten and I found myself signing some sort of paper saying that I would pay for everything they had just listed, because lets face it, my teeth were going to fall out of my mouth any second and then I would be stuck wearing dentures!

Then the dentist asked me again, "you're pregnant, right?"  Yes I said, I AM PREGNANT!!!  Okay she said well your cavities are really bad and we want to fill them right now so lets get you ready and I will be right back.  I sat in that chair for about 5 minutes before some random girl in scrubs came up to me and said, "you're pregnant?"  Yes!!! I AM PREGNANT!!!  By now I wanted to hold up a large sign that said, "I'M PREGNANT" or announce it over their loud speakers just so everyone would quit asking me if I was pregnant.  Then she asked me, "were you trying to get pregnant?"  I am not sure what the look on my face was but I wanted to ask her, "does it really matter if I was trying to get pregnant or not?  And who are you? And why do you care?"  But I kept my cool and told her yes that I was trying to get pregnant.  She left and I continued to sweat about the fact that my teeth were ready to fall out.

About 5-10 minutes later the dentist came back and told me that she was really nervous to do any work on me unless she knew for sure that I was pregnant.  She told me that I REALLY needed this work done because my teeth were only going to get worse because I was pregnant but she didn't want to harm my baby.  She then asked me and I quote, "Would you be willing to take a pregnancy test?"

"Sure" I said, "where is your pregnancy test?"  She told me to go back into the waiting room and they would be right with me.  I waited another 5 minutes before the receptionist came to talk with me.  She asked me if they had offended me, I assured her that they hadn't, and then asked her for a pregnancy test.  She asked me, "Where do you buy them at?"  I smiled and told her anywhere.  The dollar store, Walmart, any pharmacy, and probably at a gas station too if you were really lucky!  She then told me I needed to go out and buy a pregnancy test, take it, and then come back and tell them if I was pregnant or not."

WOW!  Okay, I was headed out the door and then receptionist yelled out to me, "You better come back here Ms. Call because I'll be waiting for you!"  I finally reached my car and the tears started streaming down my face.  First off my teeth were ready to fall out and I was going to be wearing dentures at the ripe age of 27!  Secondly, this was not how I wanted to take a pregnancy test!  I called Ben sobbing while I drove to a pharmacy to pick up a pregnancy test.  I am so glad I called Ben because he convinced me to come home.  I told him I had to go back to that AWFUL dentist office because they were waiting for me but he somehow convinced me to pick up the pregnancy test and come home.  He called the dentist office and told them I would not be coming back.

The test was positive and I am sad to say that I wasn't very excited.  I was still so upset about my whole experience with that dentist office and I was mostly mad at them for making me "officially" find out I was pregnant at 3 weeks along!

Then Ben told me the news, we had to go back into that awful dentist office today to un-sign my name because I had signed that I would pay them thousands and thousands of dollars for all the work they didn't do on my mouth.  This time though I took my husband as my back-up.  I un-signed my name and then I told them I did not want their deep cleaning and everything else they had prescribed.  I asked them if they would just do the normal cleaning that my insurance covered and they told me they wouldn't do anything until I had a deep cleaning.  So I asked for my x-rays and told them I was going to go and get a 2nd opinion.  We walked out of there with my x-rays in hand and I never returned.

So that is the story of how I found out I was pregnant with baby #3!  Thankfully I have a friend in my ward who is a dentist.  I went and saw her and she told me that I have great teeth and that all I needed was a normal cleaning.  I also had one cavity that could wait to be filled.  I was relieved to hear that I would not be wearing dentures any time soon!

Now that I look back at that experience, even though I was ticked they made me leave and take a pregnancy test, I am glad they did.  Otherwise, I would have ended up paying thousands of dollars in dental work that I didn't need.  I am so, so thankful they made me leave and take a pregnancy test!

So yes, I am happy now that I am pregnant!  I am 13 weeks along and my due date is November 22, 2013 {it's forever away, I know}!  I haven't been sick at all, just a little queasy here and there {so that is why I think baby #3 is a boy}.  I am terrified to have a third child and everyone has told me that three kids are hard, but regardless of whether it's hard or not, we are excited to become a family of five!

Reese and Benson have no idea that by the end of this year they are going to have a little brother or sister!