I hate it when my favorite dental hygienist leaves town without notification!!!

Going to the dentist for a cleaning sucks – but for the last 2 visits I appreciated Rosanne because she made me laugh while scraping my teeth and causing enough pain to bring tears. The pain was okay because afterwards my teeth/gums felt clean, slightly sore and I was in a good mood from chatting with Rosanne. In February she advised me to come back in 3 months for a follow up.

I went in today and she was gone! I reluctantly follow her replacement Olga down the hallway. She’s robotic and humorless with horrible technique. The procedure begins with the electronic tool that horrifies with the shrill sound and painful grinding (Rosanne used to start with the hand-scraping to scope out tooth issues and it was easier to converse before being blinded with pain). During the first minute of grinding she places the water hose in my mouth and somehow sprays my entire face. I protest so she switches to a smaller nozzle and hands me goggles, it still sprays my entire face. With the tool in my mouth, my goggles covered with water she asks “does this help?” Evil.

She moves onto the hand-scrapping. I remember a kinder Rosanne carefully cleaning each tooth and I somehow think this step will be better. Its not, she digs furiously into my gums and announces each 5mm space with a disgusted shake of her head. “Do you floss? Your gums are really red and you have 3 spaces that are 5mm wide”. Of course I floss, I have sensitive teeth.

She reaches the bottom row before I finally remember why it didn’t hurt so badly before. Rosanne used that pink stuff to numb my teeth. Olga didn’t offer the pink stuff. I immediately request it, she acts completely surprised and surveys my chart for history of sensitive teeth. I complain viciously that I have been crying in pain for 15 minutes she has the nerve to say she hadn’t noticed.

Pink stuff applied, remaining cleaning fine. In 6 months I need to find a new dentist.