I wanted to start off by saying that I've had some very horrible experiences with other dentists in the past but after not going to the dentist for 4 years, my husband finally convinced me to go.
I'm a research nut so I'll spend hours upon hours reading reviews, asking friends, and researching online before I even make the smallest decision so picking a place to trust for my dental care was a big deal. If I'm going to trust someone to drill my teeth, they better be good!
Anyhow, after looking for a dental office in the city and doing some serious reading online, I finally decided to give the folks at RiverEdge Dental a try. A friend of mine who went to their office also suggested that I check it out. All I can say is that the time I took to find this place was certainly worth it. I don't hand out 5 star ratings just like that, especially not to a dental office, but this place was worthy of that rating and then some!
First, let's start with the process of making the appointment. I sent them an email at around 11:00pm at night asking a couple of questions about their insurance policy and what sort of information I needed to bring in. I received a super friendly response literally 5 minutes later. Now that's the kind of response time I'm talking about. A lot of other offices don't even bother answering their emails so to get a quick helpful response really helped get things off on the right food. The next morning I called in and spoke to a receptionist. They always answer the phone by saying "It's a great day at Riveredge Dental", which I thought was kind of quirky but pleasant nonetheless. The receptionist was super nice and got me in for an evening appointment for a cleaning and check-up by the dentist. A couple of things to point out that I really found really different about this office. First, they are open 7 days a week and they have evening hours. It's a nice change to not have to take time off work when I can just drop in over the weekend or during the evening. Second, and this is the best part, is that they can call my insurance company to get all of my coverage details and then send the bill directly to them. So when I'm done with my visit I don't have to pay for anything that's covered by my insurance. The dental office gets paid directly. How convenient is that?
Now onto the appointment. Let me tell you that I've never seen a dental office like this. Super modern and most importantly super clean. I mean seriously the place was spotless, it didn't have that hospital/medicine smell, and was tastefully decorated. The receptionist greeted me with a smile, gave me some medical history form to fill out and I sat in the waiting room. There's a big screen TV in there and a refreshment area with free coffee, tea, water and other goodies. There's a kids play area with a toy vending machine. The hygienist later explained to me that kids get free tokens for the machine after each visit. Kind of like a little reward.
After about 5 minutes of waiting, I was called into the office and given a tour. Let me tell you, this is not your grandparent's old dentist. Pretty much everything in the place is digital. There's no huge filing cabinet of patient charts, no sharp x-ray film in my mouth. Everything from the patient charts to the X-rays are all digital and computerized. Nice for me, but also great for the environment at the same time!
The cleanliness of the dental office extended into the actual patient room. There was an overhead TV and the hygienist gave me the remote so I could control the channels. There's also another TV right in front of me that the dentist used to show me X-rays and magnified photos of my teeth as she was explaining the treatment.
The cleaning took about 45 minutes and was overall a pretty pleasant experience. I expected a lot of sharp jabbing and pricking but there was none of that at all. I pretty much just spaced out looking at the TV. After the cleaning the dentist came in for a check and it turned out I had a couple of small cavities and one really big one that I probably neglected for a while. What I liked is that everything was clearly explained to me in plain english and not some confusing medical terminology. I saw the actual X-rays on the screen in front of me and my treatment options were clearly laid out. I booked another appointment about a week later to get it all fixed up. Did I mention that they send email appointment reminders? Welcome to the 21st century!
I couldn't find a single flaw with this dentist. This is the way a dental office should be run, around the needs and schedule of the patient. Like I said, I normally don't give out 5 star ratings but this place was a breath of fresh air. The staff and the dentists were genuinely concerned with making sure that I was happy and taken care of. When I come here I know I'm going to be in good hands. read more
