It is with great sadness I write this review. I have been a patient of first Donald Couch (Curt's father) from the time I was born until he retired and then Curt's patient from that point going forward until now. That is 69 years, my entire life, that I have been with the Couch dental practice until now. My parents, brother, two husbands, and my son were Donald's patients and my son continued forward with Curt until moving out of state years ago. I am the remaining patient with the Couch family. I always received excellent dental care from both men.
The problem began with the ending of the mask mandate during the pandemic. I am 69 years old - almost 70- a senior, overweight, and vulnerable to infection by the corona virus with possible severe consequences if infected. Since the beginning of the pandemic I have isolated with no human contact since then to protect myself from possible infection. The only place where I can be infected is in the dental office where I become completely vulnerable to possible infection by the corona virus, RSV, measles or any other viral infection. I live alone with no one to help me if I become ill so I just cannot get infected. Curt was aware of this and with his permission I was self-scaling my teeth at home with the exception of 1 or 2 cleanings when the N-95 mask mandate was in place. During the pandemic my file was tagged that an N-95 mask was to be worn by those directly providing my dental care. The few times that I needed to go into the office those working on me were mandated to wear an N-95 mask and everything was great. The problem began once the mask mandate was lifted. I called regarding an upcoming cleaning appointment in early May 2023 and when checking if the N-95 mask would be worn I was told I would no longer be afforded that accommodation by a front office worker. I was passed to Norma who said to me in a nasty way that the law said that the N-95 did not have to be worn any more. She canceled my upcoming May appointment and rescheduled it for 12/25/2023 at my request. In early December 2023 the on line reminder had not come and I called the office to check on the upcoming appointment and found that none of my 3 phone numbers would connect with the dental office. Thinking that the office had gone out of business I called Curt's cell phone and he was in the office working. All 3 of my phone numbers had been blocked by someone in the front office and the only contact I would have going forward was with Curt's cell phone and by writing to him each time alerting him a letter was coming so he would look for its arrival. He verified receiving each letter.
Three letters were sent to Curt. The first dated 5/14/2023 made him aware of how I was navigating the pandemic in regards to my dental care and the negativity I received from members in his front office on the subject of N-95 masks. The second letter was dated 12/3/2023 and made him aware of the blocked phones and the canceling of the 12/ 5/ 2023 cleaning appointment without notification to me. I had to call a family member out of state to check on the 12/5/2023 appointment and their phone immediately connected with the dental office and they were told I had no appointment. That is when I knew my numbers had been blocked and remain blocked to this day. Curt told me when I was ready for an appointment to call him on his cell and that he had a hygienist who would wear an N-95 mask for my cleaning. I called him around Feb. 28, 2024 to have him set an appointment for me and he texted me back from Cambodia where he was on a dental mission stating he would be back in a couple of weeks. I texted him March 29, 2024 to see if he was back in USA. Text reply came that he was back and we would talk early the next week. No call came and I texted him April 3, 2024 that I was sending letter #3 in which I told him I am ready for a cleaning and exam appointment- his response was that he would call after reading it. He texted that he received it and all was good. No call came. I texted again as to when he would call- answer was tomorrow. That was April 10, 2024. It is now April 26, 2024 and there has been no call.
I will now be going to a new dentist who will use the N-95 . Curt is a nice man who does excellent work with high quality materials. He has a busy social life and very social work environment and is always on the go. He does not have the time to take care of the situation that a member or members of his front office staff have created because they are anti mask , have blocked my phones, and no longer want to bother with me.
Curt is too busy to deal with this situation and with the social connections that he has with his front office staff I would suspect that this situation is just too much for him to deal with. Moreover it would be extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable for me to return to the dental office where I had been treated in such an ugly, unacceptable manner while trying to protect my health. read more
