A Year Too Late

I was going through my date planner/scheduler the other day and noticed I had made a consultation with an orthodontist back in October 2005. He happened to be in my neighborhood and had a pretty informative website (if not completely disorganized and overwhelming!). When I went in for the consultation, he made me feel uncomfortable, like he was trying to sell himself a little too hard. He didn't have an assistant (apparently she had quit). He told me that I would absolutely be a candidate for Invisalign--except he didn't use Invisalign, he used some other brand that was similar (and he said it was better). At the end of the consultation, he offered to give me the phone number of one of his patients, just in case I had questions or needed a reference. I declined. He said he would call within a week to follow up. He never did.

It wasn't for another three months that I got a referral to my current orthodontist (Dr. M), from a friend, when things started to happen. It took nearly two months after that until I actually got braces. It's amazing how time can slip away from you! I remember telling Dr. M that this was my second consultation. He asked me who I had seen previously and when I mentioned the orthodontist's name, Dr. M said, "Whatever you do, do not go back to that guy. If you don't want to go with me, let me refer you to someone else." He was adamant. It frightened me a bit. What if I had gone with that guy? How do you really truly know what you're getting into?

This morning I got a voicemail from that initial orthodontist--I guess he found an assistant. She asked if I was still interested in getting braces and if she didn't hear from me in a week, she would discard my paperwork. One year later. Life works in mysterious ways!