Hiit-or-miss hygienists, botched root canal, lack of appointment coordination, and apathy toward patients. Need I say more?
If so, let me go into more detail. I had been going here for the past few years for routine cleanings every 6-12 months. Sometimes I'd get a good hygienists and other times I'd get someone who either had poor bedside manner or was just a little too rough on my teeth (flossing usually). I'm a regular flosser and know when someone isn't doing it right. I learned after the first few times going that when you found a decent hygienist, you needed to tell them you wanted that person again. Likewise, if you found a bad one - and I found a few of those. Strike 1.
I put up with that dance for a while. I mean really, how hard is a cleaning, right? What really turned me off on them was an experience that happened three months ago when I started having massive pain in my jaw. It was on a weekend, therefore I couldn't get into a dentist immediately, so I had to goto a clinic. The doctor gave me some hyrdocodone for the pain and said I needed to see my dentist ASAP. I called the next morning and wasn't able to get an appointment for another day. Understandable. When I finally was able to see someone, the youngish doctor couldn't find what was wrong with me after a litany of tests. He sent me home without any resolution, but referred me to a specialist a few days later at the same office. Meanwhile, I'm in agony. It's difficult to concentrate and I'm feeling as if anything at this point would help. The specialist, who only works two days a week I found out, ran the exact SAME tests on me when I got into see him. This time he isolated a tooth he thought was the problem, but I was billed twice for the same procedure. Strike 2. Why couldn't this first doctor get it right? Oh, but it gets much worse, trust me.
This new doctor seemed to think it was one of my metal fillings expanding, causing issues with the molar below. He suggested I get a crown. Okay, fine. I was ready to get a crown. Then, inexplicably a few days later, he decides to call an audible and wants to do a root canal on the tooth. I'm hearing this second hand through a receptionist who is trying to set up my next appointment. When I explain to her the error, she seems fine either way - as if it was up to me what I wanted to do. I'd like to think I can trust my orthopedic surgeon, so I go with the root canal, even though that's not what he told me initially.
The day of the root canal is on a Tuesday. It's been three and a half weeks of agony with this thing and the pain is starting to subside a bit, no thanks to this dental office as I am still using my medication I got from the clinic and TONS of Ibuprofen. About 20 minutes into my root canal, the ortho stops the procedure, takes everything off my face and says he can't do anymore and that I'd have to get my tooth yanked. I'm trying to take this all in as my face is completely numb.
He tells me he won't charge me, although he's already drilled into my tooth and taken out the pulp. I'm left with a hollow tooth, painful jaw, and a massive headache. Strike 3 - you're out!
That wasn't the worst part. The worst part was when they ACTUALLY charged me. Apparently there's a difference between the doctor's time (charge) and the procedure (separate charge). Go figure. On top of that, all anyone has to say is "we're really sorry about that."
THEN when I requested my records (xrays, notes, etc. to take my business elsewhere), the woman at the front said they don't give them out unless they're subpoenaed ...SUBPOENAED!? She actually said that, without any prompting from me of legal action - as if they've done this before.
I decided I would switch dentists at this point and began my research. I found a great one and will write a review of the procedure following this debacle. To make matters comically worse, they called me in the middle of all this to ask me when I was coming in for my next cleaning. Apparently, the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing!
Horrible experience all around. Don't wait for the 3rd strike like I did. Stay far away. read more
