My father was a longtime patient of Dr. Perry's (over 15 years). When I was younger and lived with…read moremy parents, I was also a patient, as was my mother. Now, because she has a Medicare dental plan, they don't cover Dr. Perry's services, so she goes elsewhere for cleanings, though she is very unhappy with that dentist. Since I live in Miami Beach, it is no longer feasible to come to Dr. Perry's office, or I lose an entire day of work, plus then I'd have to find a way to schedule picking up my daughter from school before aftercare closes, so I unfortunately had to find a new dentist, closer to me. We have therefore known Dr. Perry, as well as his receptionist, Christina, for many years. When I told them of my father's passing, they were both very sad and hugged me and my mother, telling us they considered him a family member, not just a patient. That was very nice of them.
When my dentist in Brickell told me he could do nothing about my impacted wisdom tooth and referred me to an oral surgeon, I called them and was frustrated that they wouldn't give me an approximate cost for the surgery. They did say an initial consultation would run me shy of $200 and that was enough for me to balk at that, as I could only imagine how much the removal would cost. I don't have a dental plan, I was paying for this from my FSA savings account. I called a few more oral surgeons, including the one that did my gum transplant many years ago, and shopped around. They all quoted me from $500-$1200 just to remove one tooth, which I think is ridiculous. I then remembered Dr. Perry and wondered if he did these types of procedures. Mom didn't think so, but she agreed with me when I said I might as well call, as I had nothing to lose.
Of course, I could have just checked his LinkedIn page, which says "dental practice that encompasses all facets of general dentistry including: pediatric, endodontic (root canals), cosmetic, periodontal (gums), restorative (fillings), exodontia (extractions), and some minor tooth movement (orthodontics)" and that would have given me my answer! Still, I did need to get a quote, because I was considering the alternative of just becoming a regular user of Anbesol for the rest of my life, rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove a meager tooth. Luckily, Christina gave me a very affordable quote, less than half what the lowest quoted price had been at that point.
I scheduled an x-ray of the tooth prior to surgery, so we could see what we were up against. His assistant Isabella was very patient with me, despite my constant gagging and having to reinsert the plates and try numbing me again, to prevent gagging. We got the x-ray, he said it was not going to be an issue to remove it, and we scheduled surgery for one week later. This past Monday the 25th was my surgery. I followed the procedures prior to surgery (have a heavy lunch one hour prior as eating dinner will be too bothersome, as well as taking 5 Ibuprofen one hour prior to surgery) and after a tricky removal due to the fact the tooth was hooked to my jaw, was growing sideways, and very impacted, the huge tooth finally came out. I had no idea wisdom teeth were so big, it looked like something that came out of the mouth of an animal, haha! He explained along the way what he was going to be doing, what I would be feeling, and assured me everything was normal, rather than leaving me in the dark wondering if the noises I heard were normal or if my jaw was breaking...
I got my post-op instructions and some gauze and was back on my way home. I only relied on Ibuprofen to get me through. We spoke about dry socket and luckily, I have no signs of it. Christina called me yesterday to make sure I was doing okay. I am not even using the Ibuprofen anymore, as I can tolerate the swelling and pressure I am feeling in my mouth.
I brought my daughter around for the surgery and decided to ask the dentist if he thought she needed braces, as her teeth are crooked (I take full blame on that, as she inherited it from me). She is 9.5 years old, and many of her classmates have braces. He took a look at her and advised against it, as she is still quite young, has a lot of baby teeth to lose, and she has a large gap between her front teeth that should allow the new teeth enough space to fill out without needing to use any jaw expansion. He said a lot of dentists put braces on 7-year-olds and he thinks it's a waste of money. It's not often that you find an honest dentist like this, because he could have taken her on as a patient and gotten rich off of me, so I appreciated his honesty. Christina gave my daughter some prizes for being so well-behaved while she waited for me, and provided her with toys that they have for kids, such as Lincoln Logs and Legos while she waited. Other patients have also had positive experiences, read their reviews here: http://www.superpages.com/bp/Palmetto-Bay-FL/T-Tayloe-Perry-DDS-L0098440068.htm