My wife and I had both been looking for a new dentist after we were underwhelmed with our last…read moreappointment (about a year ago). Our stretch of Danforth is really well-served by dentists, but we were very interested in this new, well-appointed "Dental Hygiene Spa" kitty-corner to our local park. We'd heard good things, but only went ourselves very recently.
First, and this is important: Impressions isn't a dentist's ofice - it's run by dental hygienists. (The Ontario government made it possible for dental hygienists to operate without a dentist's supervision with the Health System Improvements Act of 2007.) While they can refer you to a dentist, all they can do in-house is cleaning (scaling), polishing, sealing and fluoride treatments. That's enough for me, and I trust that someone who sees teeth all day can recognize a cavity, but they don't have an X-Ray machine, so they can't see between teeth; if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere.
I was really impressed with Impressions. Georgia, the hygienist who worked on my teeth (potentially their only hygienist?), was gentle but very thorough. I had a full examination beforehand, then a full scaling & polish. Before she starts the examination, though, she dips your hand in a bath of (hot, but not boiling) paraffin wax, then puts your hands in plastic bags and then (and I found this part cute!) oven mitts to keep the wax warm longer. I'd never had a paraffin wax treatment, and I really found it made my hands lovely & soft. And to have it at the dentist? unthinkable!
My wife generally has trouble with her teeth and needs a lot of thorough cleaning, but she said Georgia was gentle and didn't hurt her gums much, a huge plus for her.
Natalie, the receptionist/administrator, was really organized, and she contacted my insurance provider to find out exactly what was covered under my plan, then laid it out for me in a document she prepared. My only gripe is that we had to pay, then wait for the insurance company to reimburse us, rather than the thing I've seen a lot of other dentists do, send the form in to the insurance company and get them to send a cheque directly. She did send the form in for us, though, so it's not all bad news.
All-in-all, we were really impressed, and we'll definitely be back. Impressions is a really great addition to the neighbourhood!
