I have been going to Old Town Dentistry since 2019, but unfortunately I have decided to move on. There have been different things the past year that have not sat well with me and today was the final straw.
To start, over a year ago I had a severe cavity that required a crown. I had this procedure done in April 2023. It felt fine after a few weeks in terms of there was no lingering pain, but I could not chew on that side because the bite didn't feel right. I went in multiple times and each time the bite needed to be adjusted which I found odd that it took so many tries. But then it still did not get better. Finally I was told I should see an endodontist because they did not know what was going on. I finally got the referral about 10 months after I had the initial procedure done. For almost a year I could not chew on the left side of my mouth. Come to find out, I needed a root canal and that was causing the bite issues. Even though I'm seeing a general dentist, I expect these type of things to be diagnosed/figured out a little faster than me going almost an entire year of not being able to chew on an entire side of my mouth. Due to this, I had to put off a filling on the other side of my mouth so I could at least have one side of my mouth I could functionally chew on.
Other things that have bothered me over the years is one female hygienist I had been paired with quite a few times made me pretty uncomfortable with the way she would talk to me. I think she was coming from a place of caring, but she would continually try to pry into my personal life and ask me questions/expressed concern about why I had missed almost a year of dental care in 2020. I didn't feel it was her place to be asking these kind of questions or talking to me in that way. It frankly made me uncomfortable because I did have a lot of personal issues due to the pandemic and it made me uncomfortable a complete stranger was probing me on this. She's not my doctor or therapist so it really felt weird and off to me. Luckily the past few times I've been in, I have not been paired with her but I do believe she still works there.
In addition to these two items, there have been multiple billing issues. I unexpectedly received a bill for dental work that should have been covered by my insurance. My insurance informed me that their office had lapsed on some sort of agreement with them and that I would have to pay out of pocket which was never disclosed to me when I went in for that appointment. When I called the office, I was informed that they were working it out but it took about a month for that to be cleared up. I felt that was unprofessional and a little alarming. Then for my last service I received a notice from my insurance that my bill was not covered because they put in my ID number incorrectly. Again with these little issues, it makes me question the office's ability to function as a whole.
Now lastly as to what the final straw was for me, I had scheduled a cleaning and filling for today. I unfortunately have been having coughing fits all last night. Have barely been able to sleep because this consistently went on every 20 minutes with little relief. I wrote the office to inform them I would not be able to come in because there would be no way to get the work done with the way I am coughing. I told them I had tried calling, but no one was in to answer the phone. I informed them I had been sick last week and unfortunately I had a lingering cough and mind you these unrelenting coughing fits started last night. So I had every intention to make my appointment, but the coughing fits were not making that feasible.
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