Is it bad to go to a doctor appointment while on a probationary period at a new job?

Take care of yourself.

You mentioned you were on a waiting list and they said it’s no big deal. I agree; it’s no big deal.

If your “prior appointment” was a court date for a shoplifting offense, that might count against you.

I must really be out of touch. Are employers as a rule now such stick-up- the ass types that such a question is necessary?

The HR Director has already articulated that it was perfectly OK for you to have time off from work to see to your medical needs. I am sure the fact that you scheduled your time to minimize you time away from work will not go unnoticed.

Have the procedure done. You told them upfront and they are fine with it. It’s much harder to be out of work once you are fully entrenched. Right now you don’t even have all the responsibilities of the job on you, if anything this is a better time than later in my opinion.

I would say to have it done if you need to, but if you can put it off – painlessly! – and use the new employer’s insurance to cover some or all of the cost, then by all means do that instead.

I can’t imagine that your employer would hold this against you. You mentioned it up front at the time you were hired, which was the right thing to do. My only concern is that the pain may interfere with your work.

The fact that you’re thinking about being late rather than having the day off says a lot! If she said it’s okay, go for it. This is a medical thing, you mentioned it ahead of time too. As long as you don’t have many other days off, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Two months out for a dental appointment and only a couple of hours late shouldn’t be an issue. Most likely they will have already decided wehter you will make the cut anyway. Just don’t drool on your boss and you’ll be fine.

By the way, I wouldn’t assume you will be ready to return to work by the third day if the teeth are under the gum. If your just pulling a tooth already visible then you should have no problem.

Yeah, I had an old post on here that showed my teeth are horizontally impacted….which I think is one of the most difficult procedures unfortunately. I’ll go to the consultation but probably try to hold off as long as I can for the procedure near a 3 day weekend holiday and use PTO afer 3 months…and when I can use insurance. We’ll see I guess..

You’re using an oral surgeon I hope? Don’t let a dentist do it.

I think get it done now. Look at DrasticDreamer’s recent Q. She’s suffering because she waited.

It just sucks when I have doctor appointments, I don’t want to look bad. I am going to an oral surgeon because my case is difficult. I also have a yearly woman’s exam in I believe June/July but those appointments I don’t think is an issue…it’s the how long out I’m going to be with my wisdom teeth.

The first weekend after I started my first full-time job, I woke up with a broken tooth. I had already broken this tooth before, had it filled, and now the filling was gone. I had to take 2 partial days during my second week at the company – one to consult with a dentist, and another to get the filling replaced. It was a non-issue. Nobody expects you to ignore urgent health issues for work. I mean, companies vary, but I’d be shocked if someone made a big deal about it, especially since you’ve already had it OK’d.

One thing I regret in my career was bending myself out of shape to extremes for my job.

Well, it’s valid and pre arranged so I don’t see a problem.

However, putting it off could cause even further problems that could affect your ability to do your job.

If you are concerned, and it’s not too awkward, maybe you could get the “ok” in writing…

@chelle21689 It was already addressed to some degree, but I was going to say that A) I also have a scheduled appointment to have my impacted wisdom tooth removed (only one for now, but all of them are impacted) and I put it off since it wasn’t hurting me very much. However, since the pain started gradually a few months ago, it’s now gotten pretty damn bad and it hurts every single day. And B) there is most likely no way that you’ll be able to go back into work the day of the procedure since it’s impacted. They can just pull wisdom teeth that aren’t impacted at the dentist and it’s a really easy thing, but when they’re impacted – you’re right – it’s entirely different and there’s, according to everything I’ve read and seen, a lot more pain. My sister had hers pulled (impacted, too) really recently and she was in really bad pain for at least 3–4 days and her cheek swelled really badly.

You’re going to need time off. If you can’t get it, prepare mentally for how much you’re going to hate life for a while. You also have to make sure you rinse out the hole with salt water every single time you eat. That will be more difficult if you aren’t at home. And they’re automatically going to give you extremely strong antibiotics which make most people throw up.

@DrasticDreamer
Regarding your answer:

It would’ve been sooner that I had my teeth out years ago but I thought nothing of it because it didn’t hurt. It started hurting a month ago but hasn’t since then knock on wood I am very lucky. I put it off because I am scared of anesthesia and also I have no insurance… so I started to look to be on a waiting list and stuff at a cheaper but reputable place at a university…and I have been trying to get an appointment for a month and finally got it scheduled which isn’t for another month so I am hoping I can hold it off until then…

My plan is to schedule the extractions and see if my insurance can pay for it or if i have to wait. Ion’t want to pay over 2,000 but I am willing if it gets painful. Please keep in touch, we are in this together hahah!

I think my new job would understand since I brought it their attention. I think I’ll try to e-mail it to get some kind of writing of sort. They don’t seem to be petty like that, or at least I hope, and if so then I don’t think I’ll be there long term but will stick it out enough for my resume.

@chelle21689 Yep, my story is similar in ways. I found out when I was 18 that they were impacted, but it wasn’t until years later that they even started to pop through my gums. I so wish I could have had them out when I was that age – because I developed anxiety a few years ago and I’m terrified of getting a panic attack during the procedure now. :-/

I also don’t like the idea of anesthesia or gas (I’ve seen way, way too many videos about how weird some people get on it) and I also think it would be worse if I started panicking while I was that loopy, so I made the decision the other day to message my doctor and ask if she would prescribe a one-time dose of Xanax for me that day. I’m hoping that it’ll be enough to keep me calm and prevent a panic attack. Even if you don’t have panic attacks, if you have really strong anxiety about the procedure, it’s probably worth asking your doctor about, too.

If your wisdom teeth aren’t popping through yet, you might be able to wait and I definitely understand not wanting to pay that much to have them out. I also waited for that reason. Your boss seems pretty understanding so far, so hopefully they’ll understand, especially if it does start hurting you a lot.

Good luck and if you want to, let me know how things proceed! If you’d like, I can update you about how my removal goes and I’ll be completely honest about how bad it is or isn’t. Haha! :)

@chelle21689: I had impacted wisdom tooth pulled out by a regular dentist (back 20 years ago when regular dentists did that). He snipped off the swollen piece of gum (swollen over the tooth), and no problem. A little discomfort, barely any swelling, and I had a date that night (I told him I had a date and didn’t want to miss it). Just if it makes you feel better, not all impacted teeth removals are totally awful.

All I took for mine was an aspirin (or Tylenol or something). I’m not big on painkillers anyway, but I really wasn’t in any pain.

Regular dentists still do it, but don’t do it with a regular dentist. Too many complications are possible. My niece had a horrible experience, I won’t tell the story here, and I went to trailsillustrated about it. She was pretty bothered by my nieces situation.

I wasn’t saying do it with a regular dentist, I was just saying it’s not always an awful nightmare like people will make it out to be.

True. It doesn’t have to be a nightmare. The first day usually is pretty uncomfortable, then if there are no complications it let’s up pretty fast. I only took ibuprofen when I had all 4 done at once.

@jca Your story helps me somewhat! Thank you for posting that, because I’m extremely anxious about my appointment. So anxious that I asked my doctor to prescribe me a one-time prescription of Xanax for that day. :(

@JLeslie Where I live, two separate places said that the regular portion of the dentist office won’t touch impacted wisdom teeth.

@DrasticDreamer have you found anyone that’ll do it without anesthesia? A specialist and another dentist told me I need to be put out…

@chelle21689 Where I’m going, they give you a choice. They have three options: a sedative in the form of a pill, gas and novocaine. You can take one, two, or all three. At least here, in order to actually be anesthetized, you have to go to a hospital. I’m not sure if the laws are different where you are or if you may have just been confused about what they meant when they said be “put out”. The gas, probably for most people, knocks them out.

The reason they told you that you have to be put out could simply be that they were sensing your anxiety and don’t think you’ll be able to handle the procedure without it. However, no one can force you to be anesthetized or use gas, so no matter what anyone says, the choice is entirely yours. My sister decided that she didn’t want anything but novocaine and she got through it without freaking out at all. I know I couldn’t do the same thing.

What I suggest you do is ask the clinic that’s going to be doing the removal what your options are. I’m going to call my clinic tomorrow to ask what sedative they give you in the form of a pill to see if my doctor thinks that would be enough to prevent a panic attack in me, or if I should go through with getting a one-time Xanax prescription instead.