I took my 4 year old son to Pine Dental in Chicago for a regular checkup and was told by his Dentist, Dr. Tehemina Richardson, that he would need a pulpotomy (which is a baby root canal and a tough proceedure for an adult let alone a young child). She said he would need to have the proceedure done within two weeks as the decay was significant.
Our first difficulty was with the office staff. We were told that there were no appointments for weeks - even when I reiterated Dr. Tehemina's two week timetable and said we were willing to see another dentist. I was told a staff meeting regarding the appointment would be necessary for them to find time in the schedule. After several days of waiting we were given the last appointment on a Saturday afternoon. They made sure to let us know that the doctor would have to extend her hours to do this proceedure for us. Dealing with the office staff was very unpleasant.
On the day of the appointment, Dr. Tehemina began by rather emphatically explaining the means by which my son could communicate any discomfort he experienced during the proceedure. He was instructed to raise his hand if he became uncomfortable in any way. The dentist stated that she would stop if he raised his hand and take care of any issues he had. I was initially grateful that she established a trust between herself and my son so that he might feel more at ease.
At first everything went well. My son tolerated two novacaine shots calmly and without incident. Then, after a rather tedious and curiously clumsy process of setting up the dental dam, the dentist began to drill and my son raised his hand almost immediately. The dentist's assistant promptly put his hand back down. My son began to show clear discomfort and raised his hand twice more. Each time the assistant put his hand back down despite the fact that he was doing exactly what he had been instructed to do! Any trust between them was now irrevocably broken. I stopped them and insisted they check with my son as they had promised, to see what the problem was. When the doctor pulled back the dental dam we all saw blood and realized that she had been cutting into his lip with the drill!
Dr. Tehemina immediately apologized and appeared to be flustered. She cleaned the wound and we decided to try once more - a decision I will always regret . When the doctor began to set up the dental dam again, my son, who was understandably frightened at the thought of going through the whole process again,became upset. It was then that Dr. Tehemina leaned over him and in a totally inappropriate tone, repeated over and over to him loudly that if he didn't stop crying "everything would be bad," and that "he was not being a good helper and he was not being a good listener". At that point I had reached my limit. I stopped the appointment, my husband arrived and we decided to have the tooth temporarily filled until we could figure out our next step.
This is a PEDIATRIC dental office, where one would expect a certain level of expertise in dealing with upset children going through difficult proceedures. Instead, after physically hurting my son, Dr.Tehemina frightened him with her behavior and berated him for crying. The incident was utterly disturbing for us all and, needless to say, will not soon be forgotten by my son.
The following Monday I contacted Dr. Nancy, one of Pine Dental's owners to voice my concerns. Although she at times seemed sympathetic, she asked several bothersome, leading questions, including - whether I thought it was a bad time of day for my son to have such an appointment; was he normally tired around that time? In my opinion her question was a poorly disguised way of blaming me for not knowing better and arranging a better time in the schedule. I told her my son was never tired around this time, and as I mentioned before, we had to struggle with the staff to get any appoinment at all.
When I told Dr. Nancy that my husband and I were more than doubtful about returning to Pine Dental to complete the proceedure, she told me that she herself would see my son. She insisted that she would do her best to "make things better" if we were to return, and that she would have her staff call us within a day or two to give us time to think things through, and - if we wanted- to set up an appointment. NO ONE EVER CALLED US.
This is a very poplar Pediatric Dental practice in Chicago. We were referred by our pediatrician, so I am sure there are some good dentists in the practice. But - even if I were to give the doctor the benfit of the doubt - maybe Dr Tehemina just had a bad day - my son ended up paying for it, and no one ever did anything to "make things better," despite Dr. Nancy's claim. I would not want any other child to have to endure what my son did should Dr. Tehemina have another "off" day. I shudder to think of what may have happened had I not been there to stop her when things got bad. I would NOT take your child to this dentist! read more
