I recently had an appointment for a cleaning and a couple of fillings at Dr. Sullivan's office. The cleaning was done by one of the hygienists, and she was great. The doctor unfortunately wasn't.
I feel as though Dr. Sullivan had no regard at all for my right as a patient to make informed decisions about my treatment in his office. He did not discuss which of my teeth he would be filling before he began, nor has he shown me on my x-rays which of my teeth actually needed fillings. When I asked to see the x-rays, he completely ignored the request and brushed off my concerns.
Another major complaint I have about the service I have received at Dr. Sullivan's office is that I was not informed about the materials that were used for my fillings ahead of time. I was not told that the amalgam material he used in one of my fillings contained mercury. Had I known that prior to the filling being done, I would NEVER have consented to it.
When Dr. Sullivan finished the amalgam filling I mentioned that the edge of it felt extremely rough. He told me that roughness was normal for an amalgam filling and refused to check it. I ended up calling them the next day and asked them to fit me in to grind it down so it was flush with the neighboring tooth. It was an extremely quick fix, but I had to make a 60 mile round trip into Kingman to have it done. Had he listened to my complaint the day before, it would have saved me an awful lot of inconvenience.
I will not be returning to Dr. Sullivan's office for the remainder of the work he says I need to have done. I am planning to seek a second opinion from the dentist I used to see in Avondale, as he was always more than happy to keep me in the loop where my dental treatment was concerned.
Edit: Today, four days after I returned to Dr. Sullivan's office to have the amalgam filling fixed, several relatively large chunks of it have fallen out. The tooth is now extremely painful, which leaves me to find a dentist in Prescott who can squeeze me in between my college classes tomorrow to have a look at it. This is by far the worst experience I have ever had with a dentist. read more