What’s all the Twittering About?

Today I had an email from a dental company with whom I sometimes do business. There was nothing unusual about getting this email -- this company sends an email every day. Some days I actually open it and read it. Today was one of those days.

In the letter they talked about the press keeping tabs on what’s on the minds of people by checking Twitter. They suggested that we go to Twitter and search the word “dentist” to see what people are saying about dentists.

So I did. I wasn’t sure what I’d find.

Here are some of the unedited postings I saw (none of these are our patients, just random people on Twitter)…

• i just came from the dentist and it was the best dentist appointment ever!!! i still hate going to the dentist tho
• One day off this month and I spent it at the dentist from 9am to 3pm!!! OUCH.... in so many ways!
• Day 3 with a pulled muscle in my back AND I had to go to the dentist...not the greatest day!
• I hate dentist visits.... Can I leave yet? :D
• at the dentist...Yikkes! i dont like this!
• Why are dentist office's so cold? D:
• The dentist went surprisingly well :-) Then we had Chinese for dinner
• I hate the dentist office
• Got a dentist appointment n a few
• at the dentist with mom ughhhh so boring & I'm starving!!
• Gotta a dentist appt in the morning
• I absolutely hate going to the dentist... It scares the beegeezees out of me lol
• at the dentist getting a filling right before my mom's birthday party. pretty lame
• i have the dentist at 9 in the morning. eugggggh
• My mouth hurts from the damn dentist!!
• p.s. I HATE THE DENTIST!!!!!!
• Here I am the dentist. After I ate a bag of popping corn. I want to get my dollar's worth!
• I HATE the Dentistexperience! Not dentists personally just what they do, it sucks!
• I have the dentist tomorrow at 11.30 I CAN'T GET UP THAT EARLY
• Time for my dentist appt ugh
• Unbelievable pain in my teeth this am, had trouble finding a dentist on short notice, finally found one, needed root canel done--wonderful?!
• oh the dentist....they were rude to me when i first got in their and they didnt numb me when they drilled my gums ='(
• I love when the people at the dentist talk to you and expect you to talk back..
• actualy no1 likes the dentist :) lol
• I love the way the dentist office smell..
• At the dentist.. Waitin 2 get cheked up..
• I fist-bumped my dentist.
• Waiting in the dentist chair for about 20 minutes now .. About to fall asleep and pee my pants ugh !
• i hate going into cold places and cant control the AC like the dentist office or doctors or resturants ugh im cold...
• Everyone needs to go to my dentist, srsly. Entire office shrieked about the wedding & my hygienist refers to me as "my friend."
• Always feels terrible about the status of my mouth after a visit to the dentist. No matter how hard I try!
• Time for the dentist D: im scared
• Just went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. Always makes me want to floss more often...
• This is why I don't enjoy dentist's appointments. You have an appointment in advance for months, go in, and still wait 30 minutes or more!!
• Going to the dentist on my list of things I like to do is right above getting mugged and getting arrested
• Of course the day when I've eaten so much and my mouth is gross I have a dentist appt. Gonna get mouthwash before I go.
• i have the dentist tomorrow.yippeee.needles.eeek.

Ok, so people actually tweet about going to the dentist. But then, again, they tweet about what they ate, when they are doing laundry, and when they work out, etc. But I’m not really sure that I learned that much looking at all of these “dental” tweets. Let’s see, people go to the dentist. Many people hate the dentist. People don’t like to wait at the dentist. People are scared to go to the dentist. People don’t like the dental office to be cold. And people hate the dentist even when they have a good experience there. Hmmmm. Oh, and there are some people who actually like the smell of a dental office.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying anything against twittering. We even have a twitter account – www.twitter.com/bradfordboyddds. I’m just saying that searching for random “dentist” comments isn’t as enlightening as that dental company seemed to imply. I still am trying to figure out how twittering can benefit our office and our patients. In the meantime, however, I will be keeping a better eye on the temperature in the office. I don’t like it cold either.