Look no further. Trust me…read more
I have been to dental offices all over the U.S. I have poured so much money into my dental work, only to watch my teeth go one by one. For reference, I had a spot in my mouth that no matter what I did, the dental work kept failing, and no one could figure out why.
I was temporarily living in Delray and went to Spodak for a cleaning. The office was incredibly modern and had every specialty under one roof. I haven't been able to find anything like that anywhere else.
Dr. Spodak, who is the patriarch of the practice, came in and he was so warm and comforting. He had a terrific bedside manner. He looked at me and said, "You don't have bad teeth. You probably do your dental work all at once, and they offer to do the left side and then the right side."
I nodded.
For the first time, I felt truly seen in a dental chair.
He explained that all of the dental work had caused my bite to become off and told me, essentially, that if we started then, he believed he could save my teeth. If we didn't, I would likely continue losing the other side.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the money at that point.
I asked if I could at least get a bite guard. He told me that it wasn't going to solve the problem.
That might sound like a small thing, but to me it said everything about their integrity. They knew a bite guard was all I could afford, and instead of bringing me in and charging me $500 for something they didn't believe would actually help, they were honest with me.
I eventually moved to Arizona. When I finally did have the money to address my teeth, I couldn't find one dentist here who could help me or, more importantly, really listen to what I was saying.
They offered bite guards. They told me to brush and floss more. I am not joking when I say I have seen more than 30 general dentists and specialists combined.
And through all of that, I kept coming back to the same thing: this wasn't simply a brushing-and-flossing problem. My bite was the problem.
Out of all of those providers, Dr. Spodak was the only one who ever talked to me about actually trying to prevent further damage and save my teeth.
Sometimes I honestly feel like dentistry has become more focused on fixing problems once they happen rather than figuring out how to prevent them in the first place.
If I could go back, I would have stayed in Delray and continued seeing Dr. Spodak.
I am seriously considering flying back there just for a visit.