Wednesday 18 May 2011

Appointment city and I'm the mayor

So after forking out £80 for one consultation its not surprising the world was my oyster at when I would like to be seen and how soon I would. I only had to wait about 2 weeks.... the longest two weeks of my life it would seem. But finally the day arrived. I was so excited to finally go and find out if I was a valid candidate for braces on the NHS or how must it would all cost if I decided to go privately. Surely this appointment was going to be an all singing and dancing appointment seen as it cost so much.... maybe not!

I walked in to the room and was greeted by a friendly assistant and orthodontist... great start I thought. He sat me down, asked me a couple of questions and then had a quick look in my mouth. 'Right' He said... great I thought this must be where they take all the pictures, do all the moulds etc etc....wrong! The orthodontist then gave me a break down of prices for private braces only but said I was a candidate for orthognathic surgery and braces on the NHS..... then I was sent packing to mull over it orthagnathic surgery, Dvd in hand.

So I walked away feeling kind of deflated..... its not all bad though I thought maybe I wouldn't have to pay the whole £80 seen as the consultation wasn't completed. Wrong again. Now that really hurt. But the positive bit was I'd been seen a lot sooner than if I had waited for an NHS appointment, they had agreed to do the surgery and braces for free and they were going to send me a real consultation appointment. So I watched the Dvd to make sure I fully knew what I was letting myself in for. After the full hour of watching bits of operations, listening to people explain how hard it is to go through I miraculously still wanted to go through with it. So all I had to do now was wait for my next appointment to come through.

This didn't actually happen until 4 1/2 months later. Needless to say I was restless. But at least the main consultation was going to happen and we could really get down to business. Wrong again. I went to a different town to see my orthodontist because it meant I could have an earlier appointment. When going into the room once again I was excited to be moving on the process..... I spent and entire 3 minutes in the room before being discharged. The disappointment was indescribable. No moulds. No pictures. No real info. I just got told I was going to have to go and make another appointment to see my orthodontist again. That second appointment only really acted as a ultimatum appointment. Will she or won't she sign her life away?

Its not all bad though.... I made my next appointment and my orthodontist swindled it so I could see him and my surgeon at the same time. I did have to wait another 2 months but in the end it really was worth it. I arrived and was taken straight to a room to have my photos taken, then all my moulds were done, I was then sent for my xrays and after that I had a joint appointment with my orthodontist and surgeon. After that I only had to wait 2 weeks and my pearly whites were braced.