My daughter has been going to the dentist since she was about 18months old. Over the last couple of years she developed a lot of dental anxiety that stemmed from a gag reflex that increasingly got worse as she got older. We decided to take her to a pediatric dentist vs a general dentist because we thought she would have a better experience. Her first visit went pretty well, she did struggle but the team helped her through her visit and did inform us she needed treatment.
We brought her back for a second visit with nitrous to help her anxiety. Due to her anxiety, she was very scared and took some breaks but eventually got through the treatment. The assistant, Joanna, was very sweet and helpful.
Most of the appointment we were sitting in the room just waiting for Dr. Spatz to come in. I do understand my daughter was scared and nervous but we were waiting upwards of 20 minutes at a time for the doctor to come back to the room. For example, she would come in with a mirror and explorer check the area then leave, then come back 20 mins later, then she would gel her, then leave, come back 20+ mins, give anesthetic, then leave for another 30+ minutes. The whole process took about 2 hours for one occlusal filling. The Doctor asked me to leave a review at the end of our visit, so here I am.
During the time the doctor was in the room, she very clearly expressed her frustration with my daughters anxiety. She made a comment saying "we cant do this, I cant do this!", and snatched her gloves off and walked out of the room. This was because when she tried to insert a cheek retractor/bite block, my daughter started to gag.
She also made a comment about my daughters brushing during her filling appointment. I did explain to her that we recently had a house fire and she lost all her belongings, including electric toothbrush, so she's been using a manual one in the meantime. The dentist responded to me she herself uses a manual tooth brush and that's not the issue. The issue here is not the comment by the Dr, its the way she did said it. The way she tried to belittle my thought process. It was very condescending and at that moment, I knew this was not the best fit for our family.
During her filling appointment my daughter was supposed to get a bwx/pa of another area but it was not taken. At her initial visit we were told she had 2 areas of concern, which quickly changed to one area during her filling visit. I am quite certain the tx turned to a "watch" due to the teams frustration with my daughters anxiety.
Her appointment that was made for her 2nd visit was pushed out "6 months" to watch. This appointment was changed without my knowledge. I only knew because the morning of her scheduled appointment, I called to confirm because I did not receive any reminders. Either way, from December to March that's 4 months. I am also not comfortable "watching" decay. I was also told, "its a baby tooth and might fall out soon". And since her last visit was rough it will "only be worse next time".
I should have went with my first instinct with this office. When I first scheduled, I shortly after received a spam call with all my families information due to their online scheduling system being hacked.
I am a very open minded person and not against patient education. I do not deny that my daughter was "difficult" and I am sure it was frustrating trying to work with her dental anxiety/nervousness. However, being at a pediatric office, I thought the Dr would be more sensitive to this and to have her visibly show her frustration mixed with an insensitive bedside manner is the reason why I am switching offices. read more