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| - Often, in the past, when I go to a new dentist, I get the reaction of "Ooh, it's been six months plus one day since you last saw a dentist? [shaking head sympathetically] Tsk, tsk. [gesturing vaguely to invisible problems on an Xray] Well, I'm sorry, but here's the list of 14 things that NEED to be done. You do have insurance, right?"
This was so not my experience here.
I explained that my insurance runs out in two weeks and I have a sore tooth, so they squeezed me in to a short-notice cancellation. Two points for them there.
I arrived late (my bad - had the address wrong) but they still whisked me in fairly quickly, and everything was done quite efficiently. I've been going to older-fashioned dentists in Oakland, CA where the Xrays were still being done with that horrid cardboard stuff and put up on lightboxes, so the digital ones that went on the overhead TV were kinda cool. Nice to be at a 21st century office.
Dr. Walden and the hygienist were both really, REALLY nice. They were friendly and helpful, explained what they were doing and what the jargon meant, and despite the fact that it's been about 18-20 months since I'd seen a dentist, were not patronizing or casting about for things to stick my insurance company on. Actually, Dr. Walden was quite complimentary on my oral hygiene - so many dentists are rude or patronizing about it.
The only problem they did find made complete sense (the corner of a 30-year-old filling was broken off on the tooth that was sore - now I understand why the floss kept snapping!), and the receptionist offered to fit me in this afternoon to get it fixed.
Like other reviewers have said, no one LIKES to go to the dentist, but when they make it an almost pleasant experience, you can dislike it so much less.
Addendum:
I'm back from having that filling fixed. I will admit that dental work and needles in my mouth terrify me - a previous experience with an awful dentist in California that left me unable to chew on the left side of my mouth for *three years* - and Dr. Walden was very, very considerate and careful dealing with an obviously extremely uncomfortable patient.
She kept up a reassuring patter throughout, interrupting herself frequently to keep me in the loop about what she was doing, explaining, checking on me, at one point informing me that I might want to clench my hands just a wee bit less since one of my fingers was clearly losing circulation...
I sent my neighbour to her recently, too. His assessment? "She rocks!" And how often, I ask you, does someone hear THAT about a dentist?
Second addendum:
Have -you- ever heard of a dentist who emails you at 9pm on a Saturday evening to check how your new filling is holding up? I hadn't, either. Until Dr. Walden.
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