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| - Update: the retainer that was hastily installed and not checked when we identified a problem and asked for help broke free of its mount on one side while we were on vacation, yay. This resulted in a sharp wire free to poke my husband's tongue for a few days.
Immediately called Dr. Tripp's office to make an emergency appointment and were told they were booked solid but could squeeze us in at a time that wouldn't work given the drive time home.
Ended up calling Dr. Sellers, where all of our kids are now going (and we are very happy), and he was able to see my husband this morning to repair the fixed retainer for a nominal fee.
The assistant about fell out of her chair when he told her he'd only had it for 6 weeks. She pointed out how there was a huge "ledge", which they are trained in Ortho Assistant 101 to avoid due to its ability to trap plaque, etc. along with missing bonding material on one side-the exact issue my husband had been trying to convey from the get-go.
She rebonded and built up the retainer and explained the best way to keep it clean, while providing some samples of oral hygiene tools, which Dr. Tripp's assistant didn't bother with. There were no hygiene instructions provided whatsoever when the retainer was first placed, and I can say as a dental hygienist that flossing with a threader, using a water jet, and/or proxy-brush is critical with a fixed appliance to avoid gym disease and decay. How an ortho office sees fit to skip OHI is deeply concerning. I've see too many people lose teeth to gum disease due to lack of education. What a missed opportunity. Thankful we already had this knowledge but sad for all the patients being sent through the conveyor belt without any instructions or follow through.
On a side note, Dr. Tripp did call me when my review was posted, but I was unavailable and didn't bother calling back as it's too little, too late. Hopefully he's able to get a handle on the operations of his practice. There certainly is no shortage of patients and they are still accepting and seeking new ones as evidenced by the calls I get from the staff asking me to bring my 3 kids back in.
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