I have been taking my son here for about a year now and we will never return. Dr. Rodriguez is a skilled dentist and does good work. But she is more interested in shaming the parents it seems. My son had A LOT of cavities at the age of 2, I was giving him bottles at night to sleep with and was just unaware of the damage it caused. Dr. Rodriguez fixed them all and we have taken him off bottles and established good brushing routines.
Unfortunately, my child is very difficult to work on, he is 3 years old now and terrified of the dentist. He cries and kicks and moves around the entire time they are trying to work on him, which I understand is frustrating and hard to deal with. He does the same thing to me when I try to brush his teeth so unfortunately it causes me to not be able to brush his teeth very well. We basically have to hold him down and force the toothbrush in his mouth.
We went back for a check up and he had multiple cavities again. Dr. Rodriguez was shaming me and acting like I was neglecting his oral hygiene, which was not the case. He just makes it so hard to brush his teeth properly. He also has weak tooth enamel, which I also had as a child. But Dr. Rodriguez denied that this was part of the problem and said that it's because we are not brushing his teeth. Again, absolutely not the case.
I was just in there this morning, my son was scheduled to get a crown and the rest of the cavities filled. He started his usual routine of crying and moving around so I laid down on top of him to help restrain him and allow Dr. Rodriguez to finish her work. She was understandably frustrated, as was I, at how difficult he is to work on. She made a comment stating that "This is too much, I can't keep working on him after this." She has also said at our appointment before this that if he gets another cavity, or his teeth get bad again, she will not work on him. After she made this comment again this morning, I said "Don't worry we will be taking him somewhere else after this." She stopped working on my son and looked at me and said "You're taking him somewhere else?!" I responded with, "Yes. You are obviously stressed and have said multiple times how you can't do this because it's too much and he is too difficult to work on." She then said "You are so ungrateful, someone else can put the crown on." and the she walked out, with my child's tooth half way drilled out.
I understand it is difficult to work on a child that does not cooperate. But she is supposed to be a professional. Meaning, she should not be shaming me and making comments in front of me about how she can't work on him anymore. I don't understand why she got into the pediatric dentistry field if difficult children stress her out so much. Children are not always the easiest people to work on...
We left and I have found another dentist that has a much more welcoming and professional way of operating.
I will say this, the rest of her staff are ALWAYS kind and welcoming. The facilities are clean and kid friendly. read more
