The office staff are courteous. The office environment itself is lovely. The dentist is the issue and the reason I will not be returning to Dr. Gaston's office. Every in-depth interaction I have had with Dr. Gaston (a visit that required work performed by Dr. Gaston beyond a routine exam) has been tense to say the least and plain offensive due to the doctor's own rude, unprofessional behavior. The doctor's behavior during routine exams is direct, to the point, and he typically enters the room with a pleasant demeanor. The way he begins every exam or visit I have experienced is with a cordial attitude. It is only when he has gotten to work on my teeth, or had to answer my questions concerning the course of treatment that he turns from Jekyll to Hyde. Dr. Gaston seems to have a bit of a temper, and a large level of intolerance for his clients (and his staff for that matter). Under his care, the doctor has gotten visibly frustrated because I was moving away from him when he was cutting into my gums with a sander, and grinding my gums with "pliers" while trying to complete work on my teeth during multiple visits. None of those visits were with the use of anesthesia. Every time Dr. Gaston has to complete physically strenuous work on my teeth, he seems to get frustrated with the difficulty of the procedure. He seems to get down right mad (at me) if I react to pain when he is careless in how he maneuvers his tools within my mouth. On one occasion when he continuously scraped my gums and I moved away, he asked in a very short manner if I felt pain. When I said yes (as much as I could with my mouth wide open), it seemed like he was threatening me by asking if I wanted to be numbed up. It did not seem like an offer of concern. On another occasion, he insisted on using anesthesia while adjusting tension on my braces, even though the appointment was nearly over, and I had requested that he not numb my mouth. He said that he has a "no pain" policy and used the anesthesia anyway. In this instance, I could have tolerated the pain, but he disregarded my preference despite my objections. In other instances, he has not seemed to care at all about my pain, and neither chosen to anesthetize me nor use a gentler approach. So much for the no pain policy. With regard to my comment about the doctor's treatment to his staff, although every staff member I have met seems absolutely wonderful, and concerned with patient satisfaction, they seem to be on edge every time Dr. Gaston enters the room. I have never heard Dr. Gaston say a cross word to his staff, but he always seems very short and curt when he speaks to them. He also comes across as frustrated if he has to request they do something without having whatever it may be prepared in advance of his needs. My husband is a patient of Dr. Gaston's too, but says he has never had the experiences I have. My husband has never had the more in-depth treatments that I have either, but it may still be worth mentioning. In short, the dental work I have received from Dr. Gaston is satisfactory and not the reason I am unhappy with his services. It is the doctor's attitude entirely that I cannot accept. It isn't that I expect procedures to be painless, I just expect the medical professional to be...professional, and to have some modicum of concern for the welfare of the patient. read more