I have been going to Sterling Virginia Smiles since I was a child; I have lived in Herndon all of my life, and since my family has been satisfied with their care, we have been going there for roughly 20 to 25 years now. I love Dr. Mitnick and Dr. Herbst; I think they are wonderful people, and equally as skilled. The problem is that they have both retired and left the firm to their daughter, Dr. Hubbard.
When I arrived today and sat in the chair, I actually felt rather at ease. I will give Dr. Hubbard this, she is VERY good at applying the anesthetic... traditionally. It went in pretty easy, and I had less pain than usual. Unfortunately, the monkey's paw curled, and it immediately went wrong. I have soft teeth, so I knew from my numerous encounters with Dr. Mitnick that you're supposed to let the drug set in for a few minutes. After I received my initial shot of anesthesia today, I would estimate she waited for about a single minute before she turned on her drill and dug into my tooth a bit, specifically to see if I was going to feel any pain. I trusted her and let her give it a try, but as soon as she did, I could easily tell that it was not dulling the pain at all. Thankfully, she stopped for a while, but immediately had her assistant give me an x-ray with a hole still in my tooth from the drill. I'm pretty sure they sterilize the equipment before they give it to the patient, but the idea of having my exposed tooth touch something I knew was in other people's mouths worried me. At this point I was seriously considering leaving before more drilling happened, but I didn't think it could get worse, so I tried to stick it out.
Let me tell you how it got worse. The details are blurry, and I can barely remember which order it happened in, so I will simply lay them out here. I think I received four shots in my lower jaw and one to my top; I really can't tell anymore, because the experience was so traumatic that I never want to think about it again after I finish writing this. When Dr. Mitnick filled my cavities, I would pay attention to what he was doing to pass the time, so I know that the tools Dr. Hubbard uses are very different. Most of the changes were inconsequential, but I felt uncomfortable knowing that she was not using nearly as many tools to keep the tooth isolated the way that Dr. Mitnick always did. Midway through, I motioned for her to stop and desperately begged her to let the anesthetic set in. She just gave me some lecture about how the drug "has to hit the nerve" and, since she had already drilled into BOTH of my teeth at this point, neither of which had finished being filled, I just sighed and let her continue. I remember the final shot she gave me to my lower jaw, she rubbed her finger over the spot as if to soothe it, but it only made it worse. As I whimpered in pain, she didn't even look at me, much less acknowledge my suffering. When she finished filling the tooth on top, somehow all four shots of anesthetic had worn off on bottom, and I refused to sit through another after what she did the last time, so I endured excruciating pain from the drill. And for the entire operation, she chatted with her assistant so excitedly that it made her careless; one time, she swung the pick wildly in my mouth and I almost came home with a neat new cheek piercing.
The cherry on top of this whole experience was that, when I came out to take care of my copay, the system had lost my insurance information and said I would have to pay about $480. God bless the staff at that place, and if I could, I would give them 5 stars for being the same wonderful people they were under the old management. Rather than force me to pay the whole thing, they promised to settle the issue and then send a revised bill to my address.
Now, as the numbness fades, I'm feeling such a horrible pain in my jaw that I can hardly open it to eat soup. I don't want to speculate about why she did what she did, because I think that wouldn't be fair; as a whole, I'm sure she does care about her patients, about me, and about maintaining a good relationship. However, she really does NOT know how to comprehend what a patient is feeling, and I can say that for certain. She was able to fill two teeth in about an hour and a half, so if I had to guess, I would say she went for speed over comfort, especially since she worked back and forth between them. Still, I have yet to cope with the sheer terror I had to conceal on the chair, and I would only recommend that those with extreme pain tolerances allow Dr. Hubbard to operate on them. I'm not a dentist, so I can't verify the extent of the malpractice here, but I can say for certain that I was not treated nearly as well as Dr. Mitnick treated me. I hope Dr. Hubbard learns to treat her patients with more care, and to devote her time and attention to them like Dr. Mitnick did, but I will not be there when that happens. read more