Should I have written this bad review of my dentist online?

Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
2
So I wrote a not nice review of my previous dentist online. I had been going to one for 3 years and he was fine...never had one cavity while seeing him and my last cavity was probably 15 years ago. He retired and I automatically got the one who took his place. She was MAYBE 30 years old so not that experienced. After my exam with her she tells me I have 3 cavities! Kind of odd after not having a single one for 15 years and 2 other dentists.

So I get all three filled. One is fine, one is a little painful and the other one is horribly painful when chewing on anything. I go back a week later with the pain and she grinds them down and tells me to wait a few weeks to see if things get better Well the one with the lesser pain gets better in about 4 weeks but the other one still hurts just as much. Finally three months later I go back because it's ridiculous that the pain has not subsided at all in the one. At my appt the hygenist seems mystified as to why it still hurts and then the dentist comes in and asks me on a scale from 1-10 how much it hurts and I tell her "pretty much a 10" and she seems mystified. Once again all she does is grind it down, no x-rays or other opinion as to what could be the problem) and then tells me to bite down on a wad of cotton when she's done as it should apparently be miraculously healed. Still just as much pain to which she says "Well give a few weeks and see if it gets better". I've been waiting 3 months for it to get better I don't want to keep waiting!

And then this is the kicker that really stuck with me. She says "Well if this doesn't work then my bag of tricks is empty"! Even if she said it in jest, you don't say that to a patient! If the tables were turned and she was the patient would she not be miffed by that statement? What about x-rays to find out what the problem is?

I went to a new dentist who took x-rays and saw that not only was there an air bubble which was causing the pain but that there was also some decay left in the tooth! No amount of grinding was going to take care of that! I got a new filling by the new dentist and my pain was immediately gone!

I decided to write a bad review of my previous dentist on Yelp and I got a personal letter in the mail from the dentist saying it was never her intention to cause me pain, yadda yadda. Then about a week later I got a response on Yelp from the other dentist who runs the practice saying "We are very sorry to hear about your bad experience. We pride ourselves in high quality, honest dental services along with a good patient experience at our office. We also always stand behind the work we've done and take concerns very seriously, making every effort to resolve problems personally when they're brought to our attention. Immediately upon receipt of this complaint via indirect sources we refunded all costs associated with the treatment to allow for full patient satisfaction, despite the review otherwise. The claims asserted do not reflect the standard of care we hold ourselves to, and we always make every effort to ensure a high level of dental health and patient happiness are maintained."

That's all well and good and thank you for refunding my money. However I responded back to him about that comment from the other dentist of how "If this doesn't work then my bag of tricks is empty" and if he, as a patient, would return a fourth time to the same dentist to have a painful tooth fixed if the past 3 times didn't work and he had heard that comment? I told him that after that comment I wasn't coming back even if the tooth DID get better. Haven't heard anything back yet.

Was it wrong of me to blast this dentist with a bad review? What would you do if you had heard that comment?
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
7,568
Messages
22,155
Members
11,349
Latest member
https://reduslim.at/

Latest Threads

Top