Went to Caley because he was supposed to be good for patients with anxiety...that's me. From start to finish...a nightmare.
When I called to make an initial appointment, the person didn't seem terribly interested in my anxiety concerns, put me on hold twice, quickly gave me an appointment and the call was over. When I arrived for my appointment, no one was at the desk. An assistant/hygienist checked me in and gave me paperwork. When I was done she took me to the dental room, apologized for the delay because she was doing double-duty (dental work and receptionist) She took x-rays, then immediately started in brushing my teeth...she never asked why I was there or if I had any problems and proceeded to try to brush the molar that was the reason I was there...when she hit it with the brush I about jumped out of the chair in pain. She stopped and got Caley.
When he came into the room he stopped behind me, not introducing himself or asking what was up...guess he was looking at my file. He sat down and showed me the x-rays saying I had issues (which I knew) but he couldn't tell what the problem was with the molar I told him I was having trouble with. He asked the assistant about my insurance and confused my $1750 plan with $17500 and said to her, "Really, that much"...then got up and looked at my file (reviews here speak of him being money conscious, I guess so...he was more interested in that than me). When he sat back down he grabbed something that looked like a drill (it was electric and whirring) and said he was going to see what he could see and try to figure out what was wrong. I asked if he was going to numb me and he said, "No." I said, "I think we need to talk." I then discussed my anxiety issues and requested he be attentive to that.
So he grabbed a pick after digging around in a drawer (I watched, I'm not even sure if it was sterile) and started digging around my mouth and picking at my teeth all over, explaining all the work I would need. I mentioned being put to sleep and he asked the assistant to get me a brochure and told me it was $1300 an hour, and that was just for the anesthesiologist. He then turned his pick around and started pounding the back, blunt end around my molar saying he was trying to find out where the issue was...guess the problem wasn't to be found by pounding. He basically gave up then and wanted to write me a prescription. At that point, I decided this guy was not a good fit for me, or anyone with dental anxiety. I told him I didn't think we were a good fit...he was offended, but I just said he should write it off to my paranoia and left.
That day I got a referral to a 'real' anxiety aware dentist and made an appointment. The receptionist there called me back several times because she was being treated rudely by Caley's office, when she requested my x-rays...they even suggested I wasn't a patient. Upon going to my new dentist today, who is wonderful, I discovered there were still issues with getting my x-rays, despite having signed forms requesting their release. I got a call from Caley's office requesting I call because they "urgently" needed to talk to me, though didn't say why. I called, the person who answered had no clue what the issue was and wanted me to call back...after asking me if I was even a patient...shessh. I finally called Delta Dental, explained my situation and a supervisor agreed to call Caley's office. After the call the Delta supervisor was obviously annoyed and said that Caley had gotten on the phone with her saying he wasn't refusing to provide the x-rays (I never said he was refusing, just that his office was not making the transfer easy or even professional) but needed money to make duplicates and that I needed to call to make arrangements. Instead, I'll pay for new x-rays because I don't have any desire to interact with this office ever again. I will be filing a grievance with Delta, though (something Delta said was my real recourse to alerting Delta to such an unprofessional dentist).
To finish, I've never written a Yelp review before, but created an account solely for the purpose of writing this as a warning to other folks, like me, who have had to deal with dentists like Caley my whole life. His office was understaffed, completely ignored me as a person, did the kinds of things that gave me anxiety in the first place, and extended their unprofessional and adversarial stance to the folks at my new dentist who are innocent bystanders of my horrible experience with Caley and should have been treated with respect and professional courtesy, but were not.
I walked out of Caley's office a nervous mess, for good reason - and REALLY angry that he would present himself as someone who works with anxious patients. Avoid this guy and force him into retirement before he does any more damage to people who are uneasy with dentists, yet come to them in need and wanting help, but get indifference and a lack of respect in return. read more