“I Missed Work” — Man Explains Why He Walked out of His Dentist Appointment After 40 Minute Wait

A frustrated dental patient explains why he decided to abandon his appointment after being forced to wait 40 minutes, in spite of having a previously agreed upon meeting time.

Dash (@e.rexion) posted a viral TikTok where he wonders why it's okay for a doctor to force him to wait and miss work, despite agreeing on an appointment and confirming it

In the comments section of his video, there were throngs of folks who agreed with his point of view, but there were also others who explained that forcing patients to wait is a regrettable nature of the healthcare field.

"I just walked out of my dentist's appointment because why did I schedule it six months in advance, confirm it with a text message two weeks ago, to get there and wait 40 minutes? I'm sorry, I left work for this. If you guys aren't ready, text me when to come, like, I'm fine if you said like oh come at 3.30 we're busy."

"Oh we're busy? There was one other person there, it's not like y'all were packed. I'm not just gonna sit there for 40 minutes and then when you get there be like, okay I'm ready. Like, I'm leaving work right now I could be working, I could be getting paid," Dash says at the end of his clip.

He highlights in a caption for his video how there's no monetary penalty for being forced to sit in a waiting room, either, despite the fact that an appointment was made very far in advance for his visit: "Every 10 min wait should be a 10% discount," he suggests.

Dash isn't the only one who's complained about having to wait to see a doctor despite booking an appointment: there are numerous people online who have shared their disdain for doctor's offices wait times, and several outlets have delineated reasons as to why folks are forced to sit in a waiting room browsing expired magazines or doom-scrolling through their phones.

VeryWell Health penned a piece delving into this same phenomenon, explaining some of the reasons as to why our healthcare workers are delayed in seeing their patients at their appointed times: "We lose our patience because we believe the time just has not been scheduled well. But on any given day, healthcare providers may not be sure what services they'll be performing for individual patients, and some patients require more time for their services than others. Equipment may break down. An obstetrician may be delivering a baby. There may even be emergencies."

In a piece penned by a doctor for The Globe and Mail, they went into what a typical day at the office looked like for them, and it gives a bit more insight into why they were running behind for some of their scheduled appointments.

Just like the VeryWell Health article referenced above, the doctor in the Globe and Mail piece also suggests that folks who want to ensure that they're being served at their specific appointment time should try and get their appointments booked first thing in the morning.

This ultimately helps to minimize any wait times: generally speaking if a doctor or anybody serving someone at an appointed time has you queued up for their first gig of the day, then that means you're going to be attended to before anyone else.

"To avoid the frustration of a late start to your appointment, consider booking the first spot of the morning (there are likely no fit-ins for urgent care at that time) or the first after lunch. Hopefully you can then be in and out of the doctor's office in a timely manner," the doctor wrote.

Some commenters who replied to Dash's video seemed just as irate as he was about the whole situation. One person wondered why a doctors' offices late charges only seemed to go one way?

"Mine told me if I was late they’d charge me $50, I told them that applies to them as well, my time is just as important," they wrote, detailing how they clapped back to the center they were visiting for medical assistance.

However, there was another person in the comments section of the video who stated that they worked in a dentist's office and that there were numerous reasons why schedules end up getting all screwy in the middle of the day and that they personally hate making their patients have to sit in the waiting room to be serviced.

"As a registered dental hygienist, it is so hard for so many different reasons for dental offices to stay on schedule. I hate making patients wait," they wrote.

However, there were some folks who shared how they ultimately coped with wait times, like this one person who billed the doctor's office for the time he missed out on having to wait for 3 hours past his scheduled time.

The office didn't charge him co-pay for his next three visits as a result: "I waited 3 hours for a 3pm 'emergency' appt and billed them for my time and didn’t pay the next 3 co-pays," he wrote.

And there was someone else who thought that these wait times were ultimately unacceptable: "Absolutely! I worked at a dentist office and if the patient had to wait more than 10 minutes you got an apology a Starbucks gift card. don't settle!!!" they penned, sharing how their former place of business made it up to patients who were left twiddling their thumbs.