Dr. Herrera had been my dentist in Reno for almost 10 years. Over the years, however, there were some glaring issues piling up that I really couldn't ignore any longer.
1) For the entire decade that I was a patient of Herrera, the office used those old school film x-rays that have to be held up by hand to a light source in order to be read. When I asked the office hygienist why they hadn't transitioned to the safer, lower radiation digital x-rays, she gave a spiel about the old x-rays being just as safe as the new ones.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
This was obviously a cheap ass way of cutting costs. The office may have very recently transitioned to digital--I'm not sure--but, damn, were they ever resistant to upgrading.
2) During one of the mandatory 5 minute exams that you have to pay 150 bucks for if you want a dental cleaning, Dr. Herrera was flicking across my teeth with a dental pick when he made the comment, "Hmm, is that a popcorn kernel stuck in between your teeth?"
I didn't know what the hell he was talking about since I don't eat popcorn, but my five minutes of time was up and Herrera left one of those cartoon dust clouds behind in his rush to leave the room. Now, admittedly, I wasn't super concerned about this mystery kernel and dentists tend to be on the weird side anyway. I didn't really dwell on this incident until minutes later. . .
. . . The hygienist popped out my loose filling, a.k.a. "popcorn kernel." She informed Herrera of the filling, to which he replied, "I knew there was something off about that area."
Really, ya think?
3) Because I ride a short yellow bus and am very slow on the uptake, I recommended Dr. Herrera to my seventy year old mother.
Soon to be relevant background: My mother was in the process of completing a dental implant in San Francisco before moving to Reno. Obviously she didn't think it was feasible to travel back and forth between SF and Reno for basic dental care such as cleanings, but she did want to complete the final stage of her implant in SF (an implant crown). Keep in mind that the surgical post, which is the actual "implant" portion of a dental implant, was already completed and healed so it made sense to finish up with the original doctor she was comfortable with.
On arriving to her scheduled appointment with Dr. Herrera for a cleaning (and the mandatory 5 minute exam), she was informed by the staff that Herrera's practice would not be willing to accept her as a new patient UNLESS she allowed him to perform the implant crown ($1500). My mother had CLEARLY stated when scheduling her appointment that she was ONLY interested in a cleaning and basic dental care.
The office manager informed my mother that Dr. Herrera, quote, "Needed to perform the dental implant crown, because seeing her as patient makes her dental care his responsibility, and he could not be responsible for another dentist's work."
Now, someone reading this review (all three of you) may be saying, "David, isn't the doctor just doing the professional thing? After all, he is responsible for your mother's care once she's a patient, right?"
Did you have to remove all your previous fillings, crowns, implants, bridges, etc., and get them redone by your current dentist before he/she would accept you as a patient? Have you ever had a filling crack or pop out, go to a new dentist, and have them tell you they would not fix another dentist's work? Herrera didn't have any problem accepting me as a patient, and I most certainly had previous work done by other dentists. Then again, I wasn't worth $1500 right out of the gate.
Dr. "is that a popcorn kernel?" Herrera wasn't being responsible or professional; he was being a greedy little prick.
4) I feel like I could make that "what do you call a med school drop out?" joke right about now, but instead I'm just going to move on to my fourth issue:
Herrera pushes sleep apnea testing and funky breathing technique advice at almost $300 per session in his office (he recommends three sessions). He admits that because he's a dentist, a DDS not a MD, he can't legally give medical treatment. So, if he finds something wrong on one of your sleep study reports he needs to refer you to a pulmonologist. Which begs the question, why not just save the $900 and go to the pulmonologist?
5) In 2018, after finally (derp) coming to the realization that I need a new dentist, I tested the waters with three new dentists trying to find one I like. In an effort to keep this review from going on forever, I'll just say that one thing all three dentists agreed on after reviewing my x-rays was that Herrera's fillings aren't red hot.
They have gaps in them where Herrera struggled to inject the filling material smoothly into the band that wraps around your tooth during the process. This issue creates the possibility for bacteria to get trapped inside these filling defects, increasing the chance of future decay and refilling. read more
