A parent blasted me on Yelp for making her drive to the office on a…

This account was submitted by a healthcare provider and de-identified before publication. Details that could identify a patient or practice have been removed, and it is shared with the provider’s consent.

What was posted

A parent blasted me on Yelp for making her drive to the office on a Saturday "to do nothing," accusing me of not knowing what I was doing and of being a terrible person for leaving her baby "toothless" on his birthday.

What actually happened

A two-year-old fell on a Saturday and a tooth appeared missing. As an emergency, my on-call assistant and I met the family at the office. The exam showed a partially intruded upper incisor — not impinging on the permanent tooth, no fracture. After discussing the risks, benefits, and alternatives, the standard, best-prognosis treatment was to let the tooth re-erupt on its own, with a soft diet and a two-week follow-up — no need to distress the child further with extraction or fragment removal.

Impact

Reputational and personally upsetting; I now avoid Yelp entirely.

Steps taken

The family still came in for the post-op check and the tooth re-erupted as expected. The review was never taken down, to my knowledge.

Reported impact on this provider

Emotional DistressReputation Damage

Three others reported Reputation Damage

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