I love this practice! Dr. Malinconico is wonderful and his staff is, as well . Everyone in this practice is competent, friendly and caring. If you need to go to a dentist, this is the practice! read more

An excellent dentist. Competent and compassionate. Highly recommended for any dental work that may be needed.

If I could give this dentist 0 stars, I would. Firstly, quality of care here is substandard. My spouse got a root canal done here 3 years ago, and the crown has fallen off. On top of that, a month ago, our current dentist round 'debris' , some kind of abnormal finding on the x-ray and thought it may need to be redone. Now with the crown fallen off, it likely confirms that finding. A root canal / crown well done should last at least 10, if not 20 years. After reading the rest of the reviews on here, I completely regret even bringing us here and entrusting our health to this practice. Poor quality of care here is apparently not a one time occurrence. Secondly, their billing practices here are poor. I had an insurance change about 6 months after coming here, which was right around the time before my second routine visit. After my second routine visit, apparently they had still billed the old insurance. It wasn't until over a year later that they reached out and notified me that they had billed the wrong insurance, that it was too late to get reimbursed by the new insurance for a visit over a year ago. They told me that because I had never notified them of the insurance change, that I had to pay for the routine visit. However, they refused to acknowledge that they themselves had poor protocols in place to update patient insurance information at each visit, discovered their own billing error over a year late, delayed communication with their patient, and forced the patient to pay for routine visit that they couldn't address with the insurance. Trying to communicate all this with the long time administrative person at the front desk was such a complete nightmare that I cut my losses and paid before moving out of state. Long story short, listen to the reviews and do not entrust your dental care to this practice. read more

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. Dr. Malinconico aka "Dr. No Pain" was not only incompetent but completely oblivious and out of touch with the times, at best, and completely insensitive and borderline CRIMINAL at worst. I went in for a routine cleaning when he recommended I get two fillings done. Fine. I took a look at the X rays and couldn't see any cavities, but who am I? I'm not a dentist. The next dentist I went to, by the way, who performed my fillings procedure flawlessly, sensitively, and painlessly, said that these so called cavities were so small that they only needed to be monitored and did not need any sort of drilling. What this guy did was completely slimy. I came in for the filling appointment and he proceeded to stick me over 20 times with the lidocaine needle. I lost count the number of times he stuck the needle in my cheek, the gums, my tongue. I've had fillings before and never in my entire life had I had to endure a more uncomfortable more ham handed and completely insensitive approach than I did with Malinconico. It was awful, painful, and took forever. It lasted for nearly 10 minutes of constant poking and prodding. In the end, he didn't even numb up my bottom gum where he was performing my procedure! When he started drilling and hit my nerve I yelled in pain and he asked with stupid disbelief "are you ok? What happened?" I answered that he hit my nerve and that the novocaine didn't work. Duh. As he proceeded to prod and stick me again he completely missed the nerves and numbed up my nose and half of my face instead of my lips, bottom teeth and gums. He hit my nerve again while drilling, which was extremely painful, and then he gave up and put in a temporary filling. What I later learned was that he is still living in the 1990s and treats tiny little cavities with huge drilling procedures that are completely outdated. My current dentist told me that the type of cavity I have now could be managed with normal flossing and prevident, a toothpaste with fluoride. Now I understand accidents happen and teeth are sensitive but NOT ONCE did this imbecile APOLOGIZE for hitting my nerve the entirety of my visit. "We sometimes have anxious patients and the novocaine doesn't always work." He was BLAMING ME for having freakin NERVES IN MY TEETH. I wonder WHO or WHAT could have made me nervous after poking me and prodding my mouth countless times, who inspired such confidence with not knowing the source of my EXCRUCIATING PAIN when he drilled into my FREAKIN NERVE. You blame me for your utter incompetence? I was livid leaving that office, to be treated with such incompetence and lack of empathy. To all who wish to get dental care in new haven ABSOLUTELY DO NOT come to this place. The cherry on top was this secretary named Karen, of course, who after my wonderfully painful appointment was telling me why I should pay more a certain type of insurance instead of the one I have and how I shouldn't skimp out because I'm a student yada yada yada. Kindly mind your fucking business. There was one kind secretary who was extremely helpful and sympathetic to me and for the life of me I can't remember her name, but if you're reading this you're the only consolation for such a sorry establishment. read more

This dentist is incredibly unethical. He initially told me that he did not accept my insurance however he was actually in my plan. When I showed them that they were in my plan they went ahead and billed in advance of treatment. Very sleezy including his wife that works there. read more

Grad students- I would recommend you avoid this office. tldr: they are not covered under the graduate student insurance network (they are a premier office) but will not be clear about this upfront leading to high fees when your insurance inevitably rejects their claim. I went to this dentist on the recommendation of someone in my department. I was told on the phone that my insurance would be covered, when I arrived, I asked them to call the insurance and double check- as I have had issues with coverage before and this ensures that both the insurance and dentists office are on the same page. Karen called Delta Dental and gave them incorrect information about their office (she told them they were covered in network, when in fact they are "premier" in network), which led to the insurance falsely guaranteeing that I would be covered for my visit. A week later, I received an explanation of benefits saying I owed the office $170. I called the insurance and asked what happened- they told me that on the call with Dr Malinconico's office that the office had given them incorrect information (that they were in the regular network and NOT premier) - and so the claim wasn't going to be covered. When I came in for my followup appointment I informed Danielle and Karen that they had made a mistake- instead of apologizing or explaining the error- they told me it was because I had "bad grad student insurance" and that my filling would cost upwards of $400- and that I shouldn't bother going elsewhere because my insurance only covered "bad dental clinics" that wouldn't be able to help me. I was so shocked that I burst into tears. I left the office, as I am unable to afford such a high price and called my insurance, who then directed me to a covered office- New Haven Dental where it cost a fraction of this price ($80 for an x-ray, consultation and filling correction). Months later, I received a threatening voicemail from the office saying it I didn't pay my $170 bill they would take me to small claims court. I then called back and tried to explain that the bill was a mistake on their end, and Karen told me that people who work at my insurance have "emotional problems" and that I also must have "emotional problems" (referring to me crying in the office over the threat of a four hundred something dollar bill). Both Karen and Danielle repeatedly interrupted me - refusing to even listen to the circumstances- and kept threatening to take me to small claims court. I paid the $170. If you are a graduate student, I would recommend avoiding this office, as they don't seem to understand how our coverage under delta dental work and cannot guarantee a clear price range upfront. If you scroll through these reviews, you will see similar reviews from graduate students in the past who have received this kind of treatment. I don't normally write reviews, and I had avoided writing this one, but they repeatedly blamed my experience on my "bad grad student insurance" and not on the fact that they had made a mistake, which is dishonest. I understand navigating insurance is difficult, but that is no excuse to disparage graduate students seeking quality care covered under their insurance. read more

I had an absolutely awful experience with this dentist and it seems I'm not the only one. Shortly after moving to New Haven I went hunting for a new dentist, and went with Dr. Malinconico, mostly out of convenience. I live in the East Rock area, and his office is just a short jaunt away. After my first visit, I left feeling extremely uncomfortable. His assistants were friendly, but I got a weird vibe from Dr. M. He just didn't seem very trustworthy. During my exam, he noticed some dark spots on my teeth, and suggested they were cavities. I explained to him that I had pointed out these spots to my previous dentist, and that he had told me they were stains. With a very dramatic tone, Dr. M insisted that no, these weren't stains, they were definitely "decay". Since I've only had one cavity, I was surprised to hear this information, but I wasn't immediately suspicious. As the exam went on, he kept saying things that struck me as odd like "oh, so you have had a filling before" or "wow, it looks like your gumline is actually in good shape." After the exam, he asked when I'd like to return to get the fillings taken care of. I indicated that I wasn't interested. I still booked a 6 mos check-up with his office, because I was trying to be rational about the situation--maybe I did have cavities. Shortly after my visit with Dr. M, I spoke with a colleague who'd had a similar experience in his office. She too was told she had multiple cavities (around 6 to 8, I believe), but didn't buy it. After visiting another dentist and hearing that she had 1 cavity, my friend was convinced that Dr. M was shady. After learning this information, I contacted Dr. M's office, asking if I could pick up my x-rays for a second opinion. I was told that I would have to wait until my insurance covered the appointment, which made little sense to me, but I didn't argue. Shying away from confrontation, I decided I would stick with Dr. M. through my next cleaning, then pick-up the x-rays at the end of this appointment. Around 3 mos before my next cleaning, I started receiving calls from Dr. M's office. Since they often called at times when I could not pick-up, they left messages. Some were about the cleaning, and others were about the fillings. Now, maybe it's just me, but I've never had a dentist's office call so far in advance to remind me about my cleaning, nor have I had one continuously bug me about fillings that I'd already declined. These calls continued up until the time of the appointment. At some point, I was able to confirm my appointment. Unfortunately this did not stop the calls, and I received 2 MORE after this exchange. The shadiness started early with the next appointment. After arriving, the assistant asked if it was okay for her to get another set of x-rays on a tooth that Dr. M thought they needed to "watch." Honestly, I was confused about what this meant, since I hadn't complained about any pain before, but I allowed it. After my cleaning, Dr. M asked about the fillings again, and again I insisted that I wasn't interested. He asked, "Why?" At this point, I was feeling a lot of pressure to come up with something, so I responded that I couldn't afford it. I kid you not, he started going on about a payment plan of some sort. No interest rate, etc. I was completely shocked by this response. I seriously felt like I was on a used car lot, and not in a dentist's office. This time, when his assistant asked if I'd like to schedule an appointment for another cleaning, I told her "No thanks." On my way out, I grabbed my x-rays, never to return again. After leaving his office, I scheduled a consultation with Dr. Gormley's office to get a second opinion on my teeth. My appointment lasted about 5 minutes since, according to Dr. G, I didn't have any cavities! Moreover, she too was confused about why they would take multiple x-rays of the same tooth when there were no visible signs of decay, and I hadn't complained of pain. Shady! Since explicitly telling Dr. M. that I was not interested in the fillings, I have received 3 more phone calls from his office asking when I'd like to come in to get work done. The last time they called, I explained that I was no longer interested in Dr. M's services, and the calls stopped. One more thing--I felt compelled to write this review after hearing that another person (a friend of a friend) had a negative experience with Dr. M. Apparently, on her first visit, she was told she had 2 cavities, and had those filled. Upon returning, she was told she had ANOTHER cavity, and had that one filled. My friend contacted me because her friend is worried the dentist is being dishonest with her, and my friend thought it may have been the same person with whom I'd had a negative experience. Sadly, it was Dr. M. Until visiting Dr M, I'd had nothing but positive experiences with my dentists. This guy made me lose a little bit of faith in the system. Please, save yourself the stress, and go with someone else! read more

The BEST dental practice! Everyone has a genuinely kind vibe, and a thoughtful sense of humor. This is really appreciated, as I can become anxious over dental issues. Dr. Malinconico is a compassionate guy, and a skillful dentist, with a truly honest approach. He did an amazing job fixing cracks in my front teeth! read more

I've been coming to see Dr. Malinconico for over two years and his staff and him are great. They're efficient and very good at what they do. They care about my teeth and my comfort. I've had past negative experiences with other dentist so it's great to come to a practice that know what they're doing. read more

Been going here for 3 years during graduate school. I have had great experiences here and I appreciate that he covers the difference in cost that Yale's Dental Plan does not for preventive care. They are flexible and I have felt that they truly care about my dental health. Front Desk: Pleasant, Informative, Helpful Dental Hygienists: Experienced and Thorough Dr. Malinconico: Passionate, Experienced, Conservative (rather than invasive) read more

Beautiful office, courteous staff, flexible hours and no pain! Dr Malinconico is great!

THE WORST! I had a similar experience to Jackie. I live in walking distance so I called the office and asked in the took the Yale grad student insurance. They enthusiastically said yes and that they get a lot of Yale grad. students. I did not think to question the receptionist, I figured she was good at her job and trust worthy. I went to the appointment, sat in the hygienist chair, and only then was told that my copay was going to be about $60. I was confused and should have left then. Why would I spend over $200 on insurance if I would have to pay an additional $60 copay? They were like "Oh yeah, the Yale insurance is just really bad." So I stayed. They asked if I wanted an x-ray. I asked if it was covered and they said nope, it's an additional $90. So I skipped that. They then said they were going to take pictures of my teeth with a camera, which I have never had done before. At the end they told me I needed two fillings "immediately" because I had small cavities that would spread rapidly if not taken care, about $150 each. Before I left I asked again why my cleaning was not covered and then they finally told me that I needed to go to a PPO covered dental office to be 100% covered and they knew of none in the New Haven area.. Liars, I now know that there are many in New Haven that cover the Yale grad dental plan, just not the liars I went to. They also only decided to tell me about the student 10% discount after I paid...thanks again. Oh, and now I just received another bill for a "comprehensive oral examination." They did nothing special for this supposed examination. My only guess is that they are claiming the pictures they took of my teeth because I refused an x-ray are the comprehensive examination. They did nothing special... They just want to make their fat pockets fatter by taking money from people who cannot afford it. read more

My experience with this dentist was terrible and almost very expensive. I went to see Dr. Malinconico because I live walking distance away from his office in East Rock and had called and asked whether they accepted my new dental insurance plan, which they did. I've had several cavities in the past (though rarely more than one at a time), so when Dr. M told me that I had 8 cavities--EIGHT--I was distraught, but I believed him, in part because it had been a while (18 months) since I'd had a checkup. On top of that, he suggested that after we got all those cavities "cleaned up," we could start replacing the silver fillings I'd gotten when I was younger with white fillings, so that they would look better--these are on molars in the back of my mouth, which I'm pretty sure can only be seen if you're actually in there cleaning my teeth. And if I wasn't already feeling terrible enough about all this, he suggested that I get veneers on my front teeth to cover up some discoloration. I do have a few stains, but I have good-looking teeth and a normal smile, and before this appointment I'd never been so self-conscious about them. After they told me that it would cost about $800 to do the first 4 fillings and asked me to set up an appointment, I decided to first double-check my insurance policy because I thought that I did have some coverage for fillings, which they told me I did not. However, it turned out that if I went to a different type of dentist (PPO), I would be charged for fillings at a lower rate, so I picked up my x-rays from Dr. M's office and went to another dentist. At my appointment, the new dentist told me that I had one cavity and that there was a dark spot underneath an old filling that was worth keeping an eye on but didn't need to be filled at the time. Other than that she didn't find any other cavities. I was shocked but extremely relieved. I would have gone through the pain, discomfort, and expense of having 8 fillings, which probably would have led to more fillings down the road. In retrospect, it seems crazy that I would have believed that I needed that many fillings, despite my dental history, but I think they managed to make me feel so ashamed about the state of my teeth that I didn't consider the possibility that what they prescribed was overkill, to put it mildly. It seems that this dentist is more interested in making money off of patients than doing what's best for them. read more

Excellent dentist and hygienist! Thorough cleaning and very professional and friendly.I have been his patient since he took over the practice and I can guarantee no pain!! The staff makes you feel welcome. I highly recommend the practice. read more

I had a terrible experience here. This dentist didn't take the time to properly diagnose the tooth and I ended up with a root canal and crown on the WRONG TOOTH! And he maxed out my insurance in the process. I came here because it was convenient but sorely regret it now. read more

Dr. Malinconico is an excellent dentist. Him & his staff are so gentle, kind & accommodating. They really make an often painful experience as pleasant as possible. read more

Based on my brief experience with Dr. Malinconico, I cannot recommend him as a dentist. However, my experience isn't one that many are likely to encounter, so it's worth reading other reviews and judging for yourself. My regular dentist, Dr. Levine, was away on vacation and had Dr. Malinconico covering for him. I had an acute situation where the bonding on my front tooth broke and needed to be fixed, so my regular dentist told me to call Dr. Malinconico. I booked an appointment there, asking whether they would accept my graduate student dental insurance, and, when I was on the phone, Dr. Malinconico's office told me that it would be fine: they would fill out paperwork and I could submit a claim through my regular dentist's office. Once I arrived, the lady at the front desk informed me that I would NOT be able to submit a claim through my regular dentist's office, as work done by a covering dentist is not covered. We then spent 10 minutes talking through my insurance issue, getting my insurance on the phone, and discussing the possibility of seeing a different dentist the following day. At this point, except for the earlier miscommunication about whether I could get reimbursed for the work Dr. Malinconico did, all was okay. I still thought I had the option of paying for the dental work out-of-pocket. However, when I decided that it would be worth it for me to pay out of pocket to get my broken tooth fixed, Dr. Malinconico informed me that he no longer had time to work on my tooth and told me my only option was to see someone else. I have never heard of a doctor of any type turning away a patient who arrived on time and was willing to pay out of pocket! Certainly, mayble 15 minutes had passed from the time of my appointment to his decision to turn me away, but this 15 minutes passed because (a) his office had miscommunicated my payment options when I made the appointment and (b) his office needed to communicate with my insurance. It's also worth mentioning getting bonding/filling on a tooth is at least an hour-long procedure, if not more. The office had either not left enough time to complete the procedure, or Dr. Malinconico was simply being a jerk. In any case, if time was of the essence, Dr. Malinconico should have communicated with me right away to tell me that I needed to pay out of pocket or he wouldn't see me. His decision to turn me away -- and the manner in which he communicated it --- left a bad taste in my mouth. Finally, when I called back to thank the receptionist for helping me find an appointment elsewhere (the receptionist really was very helpful), she told me that my dental insurance had expired. However, when I called my insurance the next day, that clearly wasn't the case. I'm not exactly sure what is going on with Dr. Malinconico and his office, but I didn't have a good experience there. read more

Free cleanings for yale student insurance, early, late and weekend appt and genuinely cares about your teeth!

They are terrible. I live a couple houses away, so the location was convenient. I called and specifically asked if they take the Yale graduate dental insurance. I got a very enthusiastic yes. Only once I was in the dentist chair, the hygenist informs me that the cleaning was going to be $58-59 and that together with x-rays it would bring me to $90 (which I skipped). I should have walked away then, but I thought it was the fault of the insurance. They then tell me I need two fillings at $170 each. Only after I pay the $59 for the visit I am told that there was a student discount. I have voiced multiple times that known of these payments were making sense and as I was leaving they finally told me it was because I needed an office that takes a different type of insurance and that they knew of no others in the area. After I went home, I found about 50 dental offices that would have covered the cleaning 100%. They are greedy people and should care more about what their patients can afford rather than overcharging and trying to suck of money from the insurance companies. They told me they thought that Yale was paying the insurance. Nope, the money is coming out of my pocket and now I have paid $283 for one cleaning this year. Thank you for that. read more