I've been a long time Ballard native; I absolutely love our community. For most of the long-termers who live here I think we can all agree that our area continues to evolve in ways that we don't particularly prefer -- the taxes on our homes continue to increase, the parking has become more of an issue, population density continues to increase as our condo overlords expand their commercial interests, crime rates continues to inch up along along with the changing demographics, and there has been a notable increase in the homeless populations around our neighborhoods as other Seattle communities have discouraged these troubled souls from remaining in their previous haunts. Along with these developing issues, at least to this point, our culturally rich community has been able to maintain that particular welcoming and authentic characteristic and charm which makes Ballard a special place to live -- but I see signs more and more every day that we are beginning to lose that specialness that makes us a welcoming home for our families and friends. Do you realize how many of our long time businesses have simply closed down? How many single family homes have been replaced by apartments, condos, and townhomes? Have you noticed that the closer in proximity that we live, that it's become quite typical that we become less friendly, less community aware; that people have less concern or interest in their neighbors that ever before? It's as if the move toward increased density and convenience has forced people inwards upon themselves. People just don't seem to care about each other as much as in previous days. Do you remember when the shop owners knew most of their customers by name; or at least when we customers knew our shop owners names? People just can't be bothered anymore -- it's like some of the grace of our humanity has been lost -- a very strange thing to see over the course of one's life. All of these thoughts to say: if your desired experience of professional dental care is to feel like a faceless person in a faceless crowd, to become simply another payment for services on a conveyor belt of payments for service, where you have no relationship or friendship with your practitioner or her/his massive staff, then please -- by all means do NOT become a patient of Dr. Simunds. Because that will not be your experience. To Dr. Simunds you are not a number, you are not a paycheck, you are not a procedure, you are not a means to an end -- quite wonderfully and contrarily to many of our experiences in this 'modern' world, instead you surprisingly are treated as ... a PERSON -- a 'you'. You're treated with dignity and respect; respect for both you, your insurance coverage, and the money you work so hard for to make it all happen every day. If you can appreciate the difference between being treated like a person versus being treated like a commodity, if you can appreciate actually knowing your doctor, and having the kind of specialized patient attention that is usually only reserved (let's be honest) for close friends or family members, then Dr. Simunds' office is the office you should be calling on. I discovered this dental office nearly twenty years ago, and can say, with nothing other than a patient's experience to go by: you will not find a better dentist or better patient care. He's commuted all the way in from his home to attend to a dental issue for me on one of his days off -- completely unsolicited by me. Combine that with the expertise and focus on patient comfort that I've experienced, and I couldn't dream of attending another dentist's office. No other medical practitioner that I've ever utilized cares about the patient in the way I've experienced here -- and I like my other doctors! read more
