I wanted to write this review so that no one else has to go through what I experienced at this…read moredental centre. I'd like to preface this by saying that I don't normally write reviews when I have bad experiences, I just take the loss and move on, but after my second time going back I now feel compelled to write this review.
This weekend my back molar started feeling very painful and was extremely sensitive to cold, and my regular dentist office (Corktown Dental) is closed on sundays and mondays, so I searched for a nearby dentist that could maybe do a root canal for me, and I stumbled upon Harbour Dental Centre. The glowing reviews really made me think that I would be taken care of. I gave them a call and my appointment was set for Tuesday morning.
I went in to see Dr. Wong, and we went over my history and he was willing to do my root canal. He was very knowledgeable and nice so I thought that everything should go well. I ended up being in the chair for over FIVE HOURS with my mouth wide open. I sat for so long that the freezing kept wearing off. Dr. Wong was very nice and complimented me for my patience but I did not know what was happening, and truly didn't mind if the root canal took that long if it eventually got done, but the result of my time there was a pulpectomy, a perforation in the tooth (confirmed by the specialist they referred me to) and now I was unable to brush or chew on that side, but on the bright side I was able to drink cold water without pain so that was a small plus. The result of having my mouth open for five hours meant that the corner of my mouth was irritated and there was a large cut on the inside of my cheek, and a scratch on my lip from one of the instruments. Eventually they realized that they would not be able to finish the root canal, and referred me to a specialist who I ended up seeing the next day, who felt so bad after looking at the state of my mouth that she waved her consultation fee.
I was quoted around $3000 for the root canal, $900 of that would be fixing the perforation made by Dr. Wong. Eventually I decided to just cut my losses and get the tooth extracted, it was so far back that I decided I wouldn't miss it, which is probably what I should have done in the first place in hindsight. So I called up my regular dentist and asked for them to do the extraction. Right after I requested my x-rays from Harbour Dental, the Director of Clinic Operations there gives me a call and wants to make things right, which I appreciated. She offered to completely refund my pulpectomy procedure as well as have Dr. Amir do the extraction for free. I was apprehensive but I've had my wisdom teeth extracted before and it went super smoothly, so I wasn't too worried, boy was I wrong.
It turns out that my tooth was quite infected, and I didn't know that if it's really infected that anesthetic does not work as well. I had started antibiotics only one day prior to the extraction. I go in for the extraction and it was UNBEARABLY painful, I literally wept in the chair. For context, I have a full back tattoo from my neck all the way down my spine that I've sat for 6 hours so far for, only taking breaks when the tattoo artist needed to. I am not sensitive when it comes to pain. So I never want anyone to have to go through that sort of pain if they can avoid it. But because this procedure was done for free my pain was not considered and it felt like they just wanted to get it over with so I would go away. Dr. Amir is also really knowledgeable, and I'm sure other people have had way better experiences, but in this case it just didn't go well for me. Was it my fault? I don't know but I'll let the reader decide. I was given the aftercare instructions verbally prior to the procedure, but reception let me walk out without my prescriptions or any gauze for the bleeding. I was still pretty shook up from the pain so I wasn't really thinking too straight. I had to walk back in to grab the prescriptions when I remembered, and it was only at the pharmacy when I realized that I needed gauze. I was already far from the clinic and could feel the gauze filling up with blood so I ended up going to my regular dentist office near my place and asking them for gauze and written aftercare instructions, as I did not know the aftercare instructions from harbour dental would be emailed to me (wasn't told). Luckily Corktown Dental was able to give me extra gauze and instructions.
I'm super distraught and disappointed about my experience, and will not be going back for the check up, and have booked a check up with my usual dentist. I wish you guys the best and it's clear that this just isn't the dental clinic for me. To Harbour Dental: if you feel like I'm misrepresenting anything I've said here today feel free to respond or reach out to me and I will change or delete my review, but I think this is an accurate account of my experience.