Returning unopened hot sauce packets at fast-food restaurants is a debate among customers regarding waste versus sanitation. Some may criticize discarding them as wasteful, while others may see returning them as unsanitary. Choosing a specific number of packets to take in the future may simplify the situation. In a dental setting, eavesdropping while patients receive care may lead to feelings of awkwardness. However, reminding professionals of a patient's presence can be beneficial and should not be treated as an eavesdropping incident.
Either solution is acceptable to etiquette, but this is not one you are going to win, no matter what you do. Half of the restaurant will lecture you about the waste of throwing away the unused packets... The other half will lecture you about its being unsanitary to return them... But Miss Manners has a question for you: Given that the portions of everything are identical from meal to meal, would it not be simpler to decide, once and for all, how many packets you need?
Miss Manners suspects that the dentist and hygienist, just like all those people yelling into their phones in public and then glaring at passersby, indeed thought you were eavesdropping. You were not. In fact, you may have done them a favor by reminding them that someone else was present.
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