Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

A doctor’s office should be a place of trust but for some, it can fill up with false assumptions and biases instead.

A few days ago, Reddit user Peach_Emoji_ turned to the platform to let out her frustrations after a visit to a periodontist, who acted in a very dismissive manner because of the patient’s tattoos.

This story highlights that people still run into prejudices in the healthcare sector, leading to discomfort and anxiety about their treatment.

Image credits: zoranzeremski / envatoelements (not the actual photo)

Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

Image credits: astakhovyaroslav / envatoelements (not the actual photo)

Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

Image credits: peach_emoji_

Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

Image credits: Ralph Rabago / pexels (not the actual photo)

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 32% of American adults have a tattoo themselves, including 22% who have more than one.

Overall, eight-in-ten Americans, including those with and without ink on their skin, believe society has become more accepting of tattoos over the past two decades or so, and 66% of those who don’t have one themselves say seeing a tattoo on someone else leaves them with neither a positive nor negative impression of that person.

However, 29% say it influences their perception badly.

And they aren’t the only ones who feel judged during their doctor appointments. One study found that 17 percent of patients have felt vulnerable to similar prejudice as the author of the post due to their “racial or ethnic identity, gender, socioeconomic status, weight or age.” What’s worse, these people were worse off health-wise than their peers, too — patients who feel judged by healthcare providers are less likely to access readily available preventive care such as flu shots and put off treating problems until they reach higher levels of acuity than others.

Other inked people shared their own similar experiences, revealing that this wasn’t a standalone case

Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

While most supported the author of the post

Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

A few disagreed with some of the points she made

Periodontist Scoffs At Tattooed Woman Asking For Sedation, Gets Shut Up

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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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I'm a visual editor here at Bored Panda and I enjoy a good laugh. My work ranges from serious topics related to toxic work environments and relationship difficulties to humorous articles about online shopping fails and introvert memes. When I'm not at my work desk, checking if every single pixel is in the right place, I usually spend my free time playing board games, taking pictures, and watching documentaries

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What do you think ?

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Anna Ekberg 1 month ago

How ignorant of that doctor, dental pain and pain from getting a tattoo is not the same at all. There is a reason that they used dental extraction as a torture method in some countries.

12points

StumblingThroughLife 1 month ago (edited)

Dental anxiety is real, you horrible Dentists who ignore it. You are basically forced to allow them to torture you (pushing needles through your gums - esp bad when near the roof of your mouth); poking aggressively each check-up to see if they can find a weakness - which when they find one throbs for ages after; hygiene visits are the same. They act like we don't have pain receptors in our mouths. I'm in my 60s and STILL dread going to the Dentists.

6points

Apatheist Account2 1 month ago

*Tattoos. PLURALS DO NOT HAVE APOSTROPHES!!

6points

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Anna Ekberg 1 month ago

How ignorant of that doctor, dental pain and pain from getting a tattoo is not the same at all. There is a reason that they used dental extraction as a torture method in some countries.

12points