Gilda

Here's what I would do when encountering a student with a severe reading or composition deficit. I've had some in my previous job. First, I'd ask the student what her ultimate goal was regarding her reading/writing problem. I'd do a quick evaluation of the student's reading/writing ability. If writing was the problem, I'd look over a paper together with the student. If reading, I'd discuss a recent reading with the student, or possibly have the student read aloud for a bit to see for myself how severe the student's problem was.

After a quick evaluation, I'd go over options. Depending on the type and severity of the deficit, these might include coming in during office hours to work with me (I actually love doing this; students who are willing to put in extra hours to learn the material are a joy to work with), visiting the tutoring center, getting a private tutor, or dropping the class and taking a zero level remedial course (no credit, but it gets you up to speed).

I'd go over the advantages and drawbacks for each, and for doing nothing, and make a recommendation as to what I thought was best for the student, then let her decide for herself.

I was prepared to pay the copay, was grateful for the discount, and told them so.

I have no idea what the real estate prices were there, but the houses in the area were all somewhat older tract homes. I'm guessing it wasn't all that expensive. There were three dentists at the office, so I'd also assume costs would be shared among them.

I'm assuming offices in the Cedars Sinai Medical Center office towers in Beverly Hills are somewhat expensive. This is where the doctor who supervised my sister's hormone treatment was located. Before our first visit, he talked to me on the phone for 20 minutes. On our first visit he spent about half an hour talking to us, going over goals, treatment options, advantages and disadvantages expected results, side effects to look out for, and so forth, in addition to the time taken for the physical exam. A week later, he spent 15-20 minuteds talking to us about the results of her bloodwork and answering other quetions.

I don't expect this same level of customer service from every medical provider, but some concern for me as a person and not just as a set of teeth would have made me more comfortable going back there more often.

This is where the analogy breaks down completely. First, I'm on a set salary. I have no authority to waive charges or charge extra for my services while on the clock, and doing the latter would be unethical and likely get me fired if I were to do so and get caught. Second, talking to students in such a situation is a big part of my job. It's what I'm paid to do in the first place, educating students about how to learn as well as the specific content of the course.

This guy talked to me not like a good teacher to a student, but like a gung ho coach to a player.

I would tell the student he's welcome to do this if it's how he wants to do things, but he's going to fail if he does. It's similar to what I tell students who miss a lot of classes. They're welcome to do so, but their grades will suffer as a result.

Time was only part of the problem; tone was the bigger problem.

Another factor that might have been on his mind is that when people are told (usually at an older age than you) that they have gum disease, many are only too happy to blame the dentist they've been seeing. If he documents that you were told the possible problems that might result from insufficient cleanings, or the lack of orthodontic treatment, he won't be much of a target for a lawsuit.

If that's what you've gotten from my posts, I've not been expressing myself well. The first part is what I've been trying to say, here at least. I barely spoke to my dentist. I'm easily intimidated by authority figures, especially aggressive men. The reason I didn't want to go back was emotional. It was unpleasant and painful, and I prefer to avoid unpleasant, painful experiences.

This is true.

I don't currently have a dentist. I would have moved to a different dental office back home after the first year (It was only possible to pick a new dentist at the beginning of each school year), but my sister loved it there. I moved around this time last year and haven't gotten around to finding a new one yet.

Ok. How can I tell the difference?

Well, there's also the option of not exposing teeth when smiling. That's what I do and it's always worked for me. I think I have a grand total of one picture where you can see my teeth, and then it's just the uppers, which are only slightly misaligned, enough that I can feel it, but it doesn't show in the picture.

I keep my breath clean for this reason. Fortunately I'm in a profession where what comes out of your mouth matters about a thousand times as much as what it looks like, so this really isn't a concern for me.

As to that guy? It depends on what the job was.

Money is less of an issue now; I make a lot more and the family has two middle class incomes with three people instead one lower middle class income for two people.

But I'd still rather have the insurance pay for it. I'm paying for it whether I use it or not.

It's a tradeoff, isn't it? If frequent visits are as important as you and my former dentist say, and the pain and discomfort are keeping me away, getting sedated with its small chance of complications would seem to be a small price to pay for getting what I actually need.

Gilda

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

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