We’ve not been affected by pandemic short staffing until this week

[Indigo Blue]

And it’s not the biggest emergency in the grand scheme of things, but I’m left feeling annoyed and feeling sorry for Dh. 
 

He has a toothache. Has not been to the dentist over the pandemic for checkups. I called Monday to make an appointment, and he can’t be seen until next Monday! I made the appointment.

This morning I was checking my email for what the USPS was delivering today. There was a flyer for a dentist in town, advertising “same day appointments for emergencies “. I read some online reviews, and googled to see where it was located. The reviews were great. So, I called to ask for an appointment. She said they were booked for today AND tomorrow, and that they were closed Friday. They wouldn’t be open until Monday. Worse, she really seemed to want to rush me off the phone. 😞

He had told me this morning to just not worry about it, but when I saw the ad, I thought I’d try. 

 

[Spryte]

Ouch! I hope the toothache doesn’t get worse!

 

[Carrie12345]

I’m so sorry.

Did they explicitly say it was due to short staffing? Emergency service can be crazy. For example, my emergency vet will stop taking both emergency appointments and stand by appointments (basically sitting there, waiting for them to have spare time) if they get too many at a time, even when fully staffed. Even all hands on deck, there are only so many hands and so many rooms.

I’m just thinking it could be that so many of us have put off care that emergencies could now be higher than usual.
And will now work on gathering the guts to make my appointment.

Do they have someone who could at least do a quick phone or web consult to prescribe pain management???

[Arcadia]

It might not be short staffing. My dentist have three chairs that are very close together. If they leave the middle one empty for social distancing purpose, then they have two left. My dentist would do dental work on Saturday even though she is officially close. She jokingly say she has mortgage to pay and kids to feed so she don’t mind coming in for regular customers. 
 

ETA: we live a short walk to our dentist so they would call us if a slot opens up knowing we can just walk over.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Arcadia

[Indigo Blue]

Yeah, I know it’s to be expected that things are not normal right now, but they are sending out mass mailings advertising same day appointments for emergencies. Sigh. Maybe they shouldn’t do that if they can’t actually schedule emergency appointments. It’s okay, though. He’s taking Aleve and is managing the pain pretty well. 

[Indigo Blue]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’m just thinking it could be that so many of us have put off care that emergencies could now be higher than usual.
And will now work on gathering the guts to make my appointment.

My ds also hasn’t been during the pandemic. He just went and had several filled. I need to go, too. Keep putting it off. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

There is no reason to put off regular dental and health checks. 

[Jaybee]

2 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

There is no reason to put off regular dental and health checks. 

Our dentist's office has been the most rigorously careful of any place I have been the entire pandemic, and we have kept all our regular appts and checks. They are at higher personal risk than many other medical offices, so I assume that is affecting their approach.