Is this a normal visit or am I valid in my feelings?
Hello, last Friday I went to the dentist and had a bit of an odd experience and kind of feeling uncomfortable. I wanted to get some other people's opinions on it to see if I'm valid in my feelings and if I should move on to a different office.
Last Friday I went to a new dentist, I haven't been to a dentist appointment in a few years, I've recently got Medicaid which has allowed me to go now and I'm definitely overdue. I've been having issues with my gums being swollen and in pain, and headaches that I believe are because of my gums. Which I told them when I made the appointment and during the appointment. I told them that I believe it's periodontal disease as I had that a few years ago and it feels similar but I haven't been able to keep up on regular cleanings/check ups due to no insurance and I believe it's been slowly creeping back with plaque buildup.
Anyway, I made the appointment thinking I'm getting a full exam/x-rays. During my appointments they come in and she is literally in my mouth not even 2 minutes. She only looks at my front teeth. She found two small cavities with partial decay that she says isn't bad but they need fillings. I then noticed that she's putting the equipment up and I asked if that was it what about my back teeth? She replied "Oh, this is just a partial exam, We'll do a full exam later". So then I asked about my gums again and what she thinks is wrong, bring up periodontal disease again too and also ask if those two teeth could be causing the issue. She says oh yeah your gums are pretty swollen but I don't know why and she doesn't know if its periodontal disease or not (probably because i didnt get a full exam and she was in there less then 2 minutes). She doesn't think that those two teeth would be causing it which I don't think they would be causing it either as they haven't bothered me yet.
She then told me that I just have to start brushing my gums more and flossing. Which I'll admit I don't floss often but I do brush my gums and I don't think that's really the issue. They then kind of rush us out to the lobby to make appointments to get these done but I'm told that I have to make a separate appointment for each of these fillings even though they're really tiny and near eachother, a separate appointment for the full exam, and a separate appointment for the cleaning.
They made me an appointment this Monday for one of the fillings which I also thought was weird that I'm not getting a full exam my next appointment, they want to do the fillings first. After this Monday the next appointment isn't available for 2 months almost.... so I'm already going to be five appointments possibly more if they find other things after my full exam. I'm just worried that they are purposely stretching these out to charge Medicaid as much as they can, I was also hoping to get this all done much sooner as I'm not sure how long I'm going to be on Medicaid and also dealing with this gum pain and headaches.
Another thing that's minor but does strike me as weird as we were leaving the dental assistant stops us and says oh by the way your partner isn't allowed in the back of the room next time but we made it an exception for you today. Granted they didn't say anything when we headed to a room when called back and there were chairs in the room for people to sit on already. He wasn't in the way and didn't really talk so I don't see the issue, so I asked her why and all she said was that some dentists just like it that way and walked away. I thought it was very strange and does bother me a little bit as I have anxiety with dentists and having my partner near me even if he's not talking helps lower my anxiety down.
Sorry, I know this was very long but I was just feeling really uncomfortable and wanted to get some second opinions on if this was a normal or strange visit and if I should move on or go tomorrow for my filling. Thanks.