Had a meltdown on the dentist office yesterday

So I took Joshua to the dentist on Monday for his 6 month check up. I have never been super thrilled with this dentist. It is a pediatric dentist. They have a room with 4 chairs for the kids and a bench off to the side of the room where the parents sit. It's like pulling teeth (no punn intended) to get to even talk to the dentist at the end of the appointment. He frequently checks the child's teeth and then moves on to the next person. Monday was no different.

Joshua's teeth are coming in all crazy because his jaw is so small. This creates a challenge with brushing, not to mention that he's 8 and doesn't have time to brush well! This dentist office grades the child on brushing (A-F). I personally think this is demeaning to the child and that there are better ways to go about it. So Joshua has his cleaning and I am making a point to watch what the hygeniest does/says. I quickly notice that she isn't talking to him at all. In fact she is talking to all the other dental staff in the room about mammograms, aerobics, shopping, etc. There is another lady sitting there making notes in the chart based on what the lady who is cleaning says. At one point I hear her say, "He only gets a C for brushing" as she shoots me a glare. This got my anger started. After she was done, the dentist came over and looked in his mouth, gets up and walks away. The hygeniest shows us to the reception/lobby area where she proceeds to say, "He needs to do a better job brushing, Joshua you got a C today." Joshua's eyes well up with tears. I shoot her a glare and say, "Well, why don't you just announce it to everyone?" She then proceeds to tell me that he is ready for retainers and hands me a paper with information. Does this not warrant a discussion with the dentist?

Needless to say, I replied, "Well, we'll see. I don't believe we will be back." I left angry and with tears coming down my face. How dare anyone disrespect my child and not give him the privacy any patient deserves. And why in the heck do you think I would come back and let you put my son in retainers when you don't feel we are important enough to discuss it with.

Needless to say, we now have a new dentist and appointments set up. I was so excited to call the other dentist and tell them I would be back to get the boys' records. Call it a mama bear protecting her cub.