Dr. Khoe is one of the very best - gentle, kind, patient and incredibly thorough. For anyone who has any fear or anxiety of dentists - Dr. Khoe is the one for you.
However, my last cleaning was with another dental hygienist at his office, and I have never been in so much pain. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and consider myself someone that has had ZERO anxiety over dental visits as a result - yet in over 30 years of dental care, this was truly my FIRST bad experience. Keep in mind, I have a long history of cavities and fillings (weak enamel I'm told), I've had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed in one sitting, I've had 2 root canals, and had braces for about 4 years as a kid. I am a Dental Queen. It's not that I've never encountered pain or discomfort during any of my impressive history - that would be impossible - but everything was always handled by both a gentle dentist and supporting staff, who would check in consistently through any given procedure to see how things were on my end and make adjustments as necessary.
This hygienist was everything Dr. Khoe and my previous dentists were not - aggressive and unsympathetic to any voiced pains during her bloody massacre of a cleaning. I left upset but I still scheduled a follow up with the thought that I'd be seeing Dr. Khoe for the next exam and this was just a one time substitution.
The day of the follow-up appointment, I called to check who would be doing my cleaning and I let the receptionist know that if it was with who I had seen previously, I'd like to re-schedule with someone else. Given I called the same afternoon as my scheduled appointment, instead of showing any concern that I was unhappy and that I found the hygienist to be so aggressive and painful in her techniques - the receptionist instead launched into telling me over and over how I should have called before within the 24 hours prior to my appointment, and that they would need to charge me a late fee since they would still have to pay the hygienist for the appointment. I did not express any concern about paying the cancellation fee, but more importantly that I wasn't happy with the hygienist and her technique - which I would have thought would be a much more important note to consider. The receptionist however showed no concern or acknowledgement of my previous experience, and continued to go on about how they could only put me on a long cancellation list and that new appointments weren't being taken for another 5 months and if I had just called earlier ... Again, despite the fact that I did not have or voice any concern with paying the $40 dollar cancellation fee or even the length of time I'd have to wait for the next available appt - this really seemed to be HER main concern as she decided to continue to lecture me about how I had 6 months to have called and how I should have called prior to .. and how the hygienist would still need to be paid even if I didn't show up .. and on .. and on .. and on.
While I appreciate her efforts in sharing their point of view on cancellation fees and why they are a must - I did not need to know in detail the inner workings of the office and who had to be paid what .. totally inappropriate. And while I agree I could have called earlier, I never asked them to take responsibility for my cancellation fee or demand another appt by an unrealistic date. I was looking for a simple acknowledgement of concern over my previous experience and their next available appointment - easy enough. If she had simply stated that I would still have to unfortunately pay the fee but that she was truly sorry to hear that I was so upset over the last appt & they would make efforts to bring me in at their earliest ability with another hygienist, this would have been enough and would have shown me her concern for the office's patients and her efforts to be empathetic with them if they were unhappy. I did not expect her to fix my problem, but I also did not expect her to immediately blame me for not dealing with the unhappiness better. I told her once more, the cancellation fee was not an issue, but that given our interactions, I would be taking my business elsewhere. Outside of uttering a "I'm sorry to hear that", she did nothing to try to alleviate my concerns or assuage me to stay - and that was that. We hung up and Dr. Khoe lost a once perfectly happy patient who had recommended him to other friends with aplomb.
I am so sorry to have to give this review because Dr. Khoe is lovely and wonderful and I would recommend him with 5 stars all around. But combined with having on staff an overly aggressive and unsympathetic hygienist and a receptionist who shows little grace or interest in handling client concerns - I would prefer to find another dentist, where I can trust both him/her as well as the staff employed to handle my cavity-ridden future with a competent and efficient albeit soft touch. read more