Do any of you know much about the medical profession?

Post Reply New Topic

I am curious... because this receptionist at my dentist's office has been telling me what to do as far as medication goes, without passing my questions along to the dentist... for a VERY long time now.

Now, I've told them time and time again, that I have kidney problems (chronic polynephritis/kidney infection), and they always tell me to just keep taking ibuprofen... which is fine and dandy and all, IF it were to come from the dentist. But it does not.

Am I seriously supposed to demand that they pass my questions on to him? Or, is it normal practice (what they should be doing) to say, "I'll ask him and call you back"?

I am curious, because today, I mentioned I'm taking 600 mg ibuprofen and it is still not helping. I listened to them discuss it amongst themselves, then she came back and told me to take 2 at a time... and to take it ever 5 hours rather than 6 as prescribed on my bottle. So they are telling me to take 1200 mg 4 times a day?

I am going to call my dentist, at home tonight... I really really really hate doing that, but I want to ask him directly what his advice would be, since they didn't even offer to ask him. I know a lot of the advice they've given me isn't right in the past (for instance using sensodyne on a tooth that the dentist later said it would never even help, when I called him at home and could actually get through to him).

But beyond calling him at home (which I've had to do 2 times now for different things over the past weeks because they didn't pass on the message), there isn't much I can do. I don't want to drive the poor guy crazy... I know that much, but I'm not really sure how to approach this situation, ultimately.

Yes, this should be discussed with your dentist, not the receptionist. But you knew that. So it sounds like you are asking what you should do if you are unable to contact him.

What would I do? Go to your local drugstore that has an active pharmacy and ask one of the pharmacists. Take a bottle of the ibuprofen from the store shelf, bring it to them, and ask them. Pharmacists may know more about medication dosage questions than your dentist since medication dosage is what they do. There is probably a sign on the pharmacy counter encouraging you to ask medication questions.

My mother was on a NSAID, and the day some test results showed reduced kidney functioning they took her off it.

I hate "bugging" people too, but sometimes it's just how the system requires one to act, for the appropriate thing to happen. You've paid this dentist money, and he ought to have an interest in keeping you as a return patient, so he ought to be fine answering your question (and if he isn't he has a bad attitude).

In situations like that I always try to remember that if things go wrong -- say your kidney function drops seriously -- neither that receptionist nor the dentist is going to help you. No matter how bad it gets for you, they won't pay your new medical bills, won't donate a kidney, won't take care of your kids/pets/etc if you're too sick. And all because it was to much trouble for the receptionist to get out of the chair and ask the dentist a question. Morally, I think that gives one a right to be a bit of a jerk, because the consequences to you of her being wrong are far worse than the consequences to her of her being wrong.

I did go to the pharmacy to get my antibiotic filled (just got back). So I asked her-she knows I'm in there a lot for various things, and about died laughing when I told her what the receptionist said... she thought it was a joke, and said call the dentist asap to get ahold of him for advice.

1200mg of ibuprofen 4 times a day is wayyyyyy too much for anybody, especially if you have kidney issues The max recommended dose is 800mg 3 times a day.

The receptionist should not be giving out advice about medications at all. If she gives out advice which ends up hurting someone the dentist can get in very big trouble.

Thanks again everyone-I called him at home and he kind of had the "she told you what???" type of response and called in pain meds to take until the antibiotics take down the swelling some... I also told him how I tried to get the message to him to ask what I should do, and how it didn't happen that way because she just started telling me what to do, so he is aware of it now.