New patient & was really looking forward to it. Our family has been driving an hour to our previous…read moredentist so were excited to find a location around the corner.
The good: The office staff was really easy to work with by phone in setting up appointment & letting me know what needed to be sent over. This is a huge benefit. The office is clean & conveniently located if you're in the NE Ft Myers area. Front desk staff seemed capable & knowledgeable. Appreciated reminders they sent over. The dentist I saw, Dr. Lopez, seemed nice, reasonable, articulate. Only saw him maybe 3 min as he did a quick look & I didn't have questions for him or issues with my teeth.
The bad: This office uses temps to fill in as dental hygienists. I didn't even know that was something I needed to ask about. I got one & it was AWFUL!!!!! I am one of the few people who actually looks forward to my 6 mo cleaning and this was the worst experience I've ever had. I may b joining the rest of the world in dreading/postponing dental appts. To b fair, the temp gal was very sweet & I would have loved to have given her a pass, but it was really that bad. Also, I don't think it was entirely her fault but rather demonstrates leadership/management issues as somebody should have been checking in on her, ensured she was capable of what they expected, trained her better on the machines, sat in with her for some cleanings. To start, it was a little difficult to understand her, but I was able to make it work. No big deal. Then came the 18(!!) xrays required & it was quickly obvious she was newer at it. Although the piece put in ur mouth is never comfy, my mouth was getting beaten up!! I sucked it up & made it to the next phase thinking perhaps this will get better, but red flags were flying. Then came time to poke the gums to c if there's gum recession. In every office I've ever been, one of the front desk gals comes back & records the numbers while the tech does a quick poke around the gums. Not here - poor thing was left to do it all solo so she poked 3 times then turned to the computer to log the numbers. Over and over for 30+ min. Aside from that, the poking is typically a pretty gentle quick read but today I received jab after jab. My gums still hurt. Just wanted that wonderfully clean teeth feeling so still sticking with it, although glad I chose to b the family guinea pig or I never would have heard the end of it from the family. She then pulled out the Cavitron, which is a vibrating metal pick that is scraped across the teeth, mostly at the gum line to get rid of plaque. Don't enjoy when they scrape your teeth by hand w/scaler, well this takes it up another level w/a squeal that accompanies the metal on tooth scraping. Sounds more like the drill they use when fixing a cavity. I definitely prefer hand scaling, but was able to mentally overcome the awful noises, water filling my mouth and water running down the side of my face. I've had a cavitron used b4 but in doses & a little more exact about where they scale with it. She his some nerves that obviously have less bone coverage and by the 3rd time I was done! I took off the bib, got up & was walking out. These are open rooms so it must have been apparent by this point that the cleaning was not going well, but nobody who is a FT employee came to check in, offer to take over, watch to see what she was doing...nothing. Even after I very clearly stated that we were done & I didn't want her to touch me anymore & was leaving, she was left by herself. (of course I tried to do this as calmly and politely as possible) She pleaded to polish my teeth b4 leaving & after ensuing she was using a typical polisher, I agreed. That was the best part of the cleaning even though it left lots to b desired. For example, when someone polishes ur teeth, they typically do a section of the mouth, rinse thoroughly, suction, then move on. She did the ENTIRE mouth without rinse & then started rinsing but only rinsed (and not well) the bottom teeth. Never rinsed the top. Thought she'd come back and do it. Nope - went on to flossing, which of course meant she was flossing the paste up into my gums b/c it had never been rinsed out. Seriously...this was 1 bad thing after the next. Truly felt like I'd signed up to b a test patient at a teaching college. Again, the temp was trying her best, very sweet and was not trying to hurt me, but she was definitely not up to the level necessary to c patients independently & I put that ownership on the practice that allowed her in the room solo.
I would imagine a lot of my issues r due to having a temp as a hygienist. Front desk offered to have me c someone experienced next time - too little too late as we will NOT b returning. Also, b sure to look at ur treatment plan b4 starting as there r several extras on there u might want to decline such as fluoride for adults or $60 mucus test. Gave 2 stars for the positives that did happen, but would NOT recommend.
