Dr. 'Tony' Dipasquale has been my dentist for over 10 years, and was a friend before that. Recent problems have caused me to withdraw my recommendation and support for him. His office staff are always nice, but as a dentist, I have suffered through two failed root canals that he had to refer out since he was unable to do them in his office. The first one, he neglected the x-ray images showing a problem, and only after it had become infected, did he send me to the oral surgeon across the road for a solution.
The last one, I went to Dr. Scott in Melbourne for the root canal, but once the procedure was started he said he was unable to do the root canal since the tooth was cracked. He put in a temporary filling and said to go back to Dr. Tony to have it extracted. We left Dr. Scott's office and drove to Dr. Tony's office to have it extracted. He had a full schedule that day and declined to pull the tooth while I was still numb. He gave me an appointment the following week for the extraction and didn't prescribe an antibiotic to fight infections in the interim period.
That weekend, I called Dr. Scott and explained that I was in great pain and my jaw was swollen. He called in an Rx for a painkiller and a steroid that we picked it up that evening.
Monday morning, I called Dr. Tony, and he called in a Rx for an antibiotic (clindamycin).
Days later, we went to Dr. Tony to extract the tooth but he said he couldn't do it since it was too swollen and to continue taking the antibiotic. They moved the appointment to the following week, (more pain).
When we saw Dr. Tony again (Wed.), he said "you need to go to the ER now!" So we went to Viera Hospital (not knowing they didn't have an oral surgeon on staff). Viera Hospital ER ran all sorts of tests and didn't set up an IV until after I had been on their gurney for over five hours!
The following morning, (after spending the night in the ER) we called Dr. Tony and told him I was scheduled to see an oral surgeon later that day (Thurs). He told me to check out, assuring me he could do anything the oral surgeon was going to do. We left the hospital after having to sign against doctors order release and went straight to Dr. Tony's office. He told me to stay on the clindamycin and scheduled me for the tooth extraction Monday afternoon. I called Dr. Tony on Friday morning regarding the intense pain and since they close at noon, he wouldn't do anything until the following week.
On Saturday, we found a dentist that would extract the tooth, thinking that once the tooth was extracted, it would begin to heal. She didn't prescribe a different antibiotic, and even said I shouldn't need one...
Even without the tooth, my jaw and lymph system was infected, swollen and very painful.
On the following Monday, we went to Dr. Burns in Melbourne. He is an oral surgeon and said that the tooth was pulled properly but asked why no one prescribed penicillin instead of clindamycin. He gave me an Rx for both penicillin and clindamycin. Finally, after a few days on penicillin, the swelling started to go down.
So, here we are, with $15,000 in medical bills because of that tooth! Looking back, there are numerous times where Dr. Tony had passed on several opportunities to fix the problem but didn't. Guess what I think of his service record now? We won't be going back there, ever.
PS: If you have to go to the hospital for a dental problem in Brevard County, make sure to go to Holmes Regional, since they have an oral surgeon on staff. Also, if you have any dental surgery done, get a prescription antibiotic if you can from the oral surgeon. read more