Dr. Roger D. Winland is the reason I'm petrified of dentists. Work he's done to me: regular cleanings/check-ups, braces/retainers, wisdom tooth removal surgery. Years I went to his office for work: 12. Let's start with the office itself. Mind you, it's been a few years since I was there; maybe it changed. I kinda doubt it. Dr. Winland likes to go on safari and murder animals. He then likes to have the animals stuffed and mounted all over his office. Do you have any idea what it's like to be seven years old and staring down some poor creature's head while you're having your teeth cleaned? Stuff of nightmares, that. Then there are his dental hygienists. They're all awful. Rough, mean, distracted while they work - you name it. I went in for cleanings every six months from the age of, what, five or six, until the age of 17 when I changed dentists, yet every time I went in I'd come out with my gums bleeding and sore. Time spent with the actual dentist after each cleaning: approximately 30 seconds. Which is fine - that seems to be how dentists roll if you have nice teeth. Which brings me to my next complaint: This guy's attitude is awful. AWFUL. I remember he'd never let my parents come in with me while I was getting my teeth cleaned, and that was scary for me when I was a little kid. Then, when I was getting into my teens, he informed me that my gums bleeding was a sign of gingivitis, and if I didn't "brush until your gums bleed, all your teeth will fall out by the time you're thirty." I'm 28 now. I've never had a single cavity. My gums are fine. The problem with them turns out to be his dental hygienists - what qualified dentist can't tell the difference between gingivitis and gums that've been ripped up by some crazy lady with a sharp tool??? So there was that. My teeth were never good enough for him, never clean enough, never white enough. I have perfect teeth, y'all. Never had a complaint from any of my other dentists. Just this guy. Mostly because he's a horrid man. Braces - he did them too fast, rendering me unable to sleep or chew because of the godawful pain in my skull. Took them off too fast and gave me a crappy retainer that broke after two weeks, didn't fix the retainer, my teeth went right back to how they were before the whole ordeal started. Whatever, my teeth are fairly straight. Didn't need all the braces work anyway, but he certainly made a pretty penny off it. The worst, though, was my wisdom tooth surgery. First, they didn't weigh me. I weighed in at 101lbs at the age of 17. On my chart, they wrote down that I weighed 125. The crap they injected into my arm knocked me right on out. Only it kept me out, too, so when it was time for me to go, I didn't wake up. Well, jeez, what a pain that was for them! They brought me 'round with smelling salts, then the nurse (wish I could remember her name - she was British and evil, oh so evil) told me to stand up. Funny thing about that - I couldn't feel my legs. She pulled me around to stand up anyway, and when I refused to stand, she grabbed me 'round the elbow (where they'd injected me not an hour earlier) and YANKED on me, bringing me upright onto legs I still couldn't feel. I had a hand-shaped bruise on my arm for nearly a week from that. Plus, I ended up in the floor, groggy and ill and crying. The nurse's response? Told me to shut up because I would upset the kids in the waiting room. Fortunately, my mom came in around that point and collected me, took me out to the car. When I came back to have my stitches out, Dr. Winland made fun of me for "making a scene" after my surgery (apparently you're not allowed to be upset when you're drugged and getting manhandled). Two things followed the surgery: 1) My tongue was numb on the entire righthand side. Completely numb. It's been 11 years since the surgery. I've never regained feeling in my tongue. 2) Dr. Winland removed my stitches. Two weeks later, I was experiencing serious pain in my gums, so I went back to find out what the heck was going on. Dr. Winland wasn't there, so I got to deal with the intern. The intern poked around and said, "What on earth, you still have a suture in here! He left. A suture. In my face. A suture he /missed/ while he was removing them. What. The. FFFFFFF-- That was the last time I went to Winland. Oh, also, when I told my sister (who also had her wisdom teeth unceremoniously yanked out of her head by Winland) about the suture, she went all wide-eyed because she'd been experiencing pain in her mouth since her surgery (some 3 years prior) and decided to finally have it checked out. Disgustingly, it was the same problem - she had a missed suture in the same place I had one, only hers had to be cut out because it had been so many years. Yeah. YEAH. I don't recommend anyone go see this guy for anything. He's a jerk and a quack and will damage you in some way, shape, or form, guaranteed. read more

I've been seeing Dr. Winland 18 YEARS and I have always been completely satisfied with his work. I've experienced cleanings from his capable hygenists, followed by spot checks from Dr. Winland. Also multiple cavities drilled and filled in my younger years. I went to another dentist once, while living out of town. THE OTHER DENTIST was one of the worst experiences in my life (only few cavities)! From then on I made sure to schedule an appointment with Winland's office whenever I came back to Athens! Unlike the previous reviewer, as an 8 yr old child I was amazed and fascinated by the massive collection of exotic creatures in the reception area! (Though as an adult, I find trophy hunting very sad). Gratefully, the office no longer has the display. I've been back in Athens for a decade now and continue to see Dr. Winland. read more

I visited Dr. Winland's office yesterday with much hesitation, given that he'd received terrible reviews! The person who referred him said he had a horrible bedside manner but knew his stuff, and the comments that I read online did little to encourage me. However, I was able to get an immediate appointment to remove a wisdom tooth that had been causing me a lot of stress, and the cost was quite reasonable so I decided to give it a go. I arrived 30 mins late, due to transport problems, and thought I would have to reschedule. However, I was greeted by two calm, mild-mannered ladies who immediately attended to me. Within 10 minutes or less, I was called in to see Dr. Winland. I wouldn't describe him as engaging, but he was very pleasant. He reviewed my x-ray and carefully explained what he was going to do. He then told me my options regarding the local anesthetic and laughing gas, and explained how they would both work. After 10 mins, his assistant checked to ensure that the area was fully numb. Within 1 minute of Dr. Winland inserting a device into my mouth, my tooth was out and it was all over! I couldn't believe it! The experience was not at all what I expected! I had prepared for the worse but was pleasantly surprised. He was very encouraging throughout the process. I received detailed after-care instructions, both in writing and from the lady at the front desk and, thankfully, it's been 24 hrs and I'm doing well. I gave a 4-star rating and not a 5, as the office looked a bit depressing, but overall I was totally pleased! read more

I'm 31 years old and this was - by far - the worst dental experience of my life. I had two fillings done by Dr. Winland during an appointment early this week. In fact, my experience with Dr. Winland was so abhorrent, that I'm also filing an official complaint to the Ohio State Dental Board. #4. The patient room has several taxidermy, exotic animals hanging on the walls. Not only is this shocking to see, but I question if it's even legal - the sanitary issues seem obvious; I imagined particles of deteriorating animal hairs and skin floating into the mouths of patients. #3. He anchored his entire arm on my lower jaw, pressing his knuckle so hard into the membrane that attaches my lower lip to my gums (while he was pushing in the filling) that I was at the brink of my pain threshold. If he had pushed any harder, he may have actually torn my lip. In fact, he actually strained my left jaw muscle and - four days later - it's still very sore. #2. Amazingly, he didn't floss between my teeth after he finished putting in the fillings. This is a very basic and important step to do, because the filling may (and often does) bridge the neighboring tooth, preventing the patient from flossing between them later on. Well, it did; I had to shove floss hard down into my teeth at home until I was able to chip the bits of amalgam filling that were wedged between my teeth. #1. Most shockingly, he didn't even offer or provide a sink in which I could rinse my mouth after he finished. He simply said "Okay, you're all done." and walked out. I stood up and awkwardly asked the assistant if there was a bathroom I could use. She directed me to it and I had to rinse out my mouth in the bathroom sink! There were bits of amalgam filling, teeth, and blood in my mouth - evidently I was expected just to swallow that and be on my way. I noticed in the mirror there was even a smear of dried blood on my chin. I strongly believe Dr. Winland should not be practicing dentistry. read more

This man provided grossly substandard care to 38 year old female patient with history of chronic tmj and generally good dental care. He said he performed seven fillings. There is evidence of only four. He extracted three molars with tissue incisions both proximal and distal. No sutures were used to close the socket. Three other molars were prepped for extraction with similar p&d incisions but then he decided not to extract. Instead, he drilled out the core of each tooth leaving a thin but strong enamel shell of each tooth. No sutures were used. Very poor pain management was employed despite the patient indicating her pain per Winland's instruction to do so. Follow up exam was denied to the patient. The patient is in chronic pain with exposed tooth interior tissues with neural tissue intact. She is scarcely able to move her lower jaw, and her lower lip is split from the manual pressure applied by Dr Winland. Patient is currently scheduled with an oral surgeon to clean up Winland's barbaric attempt at dentistry. When record of procedures & care and x-ray images were requested the staff provided one printer-produced copy of a two year old image. The s raises the question of staff incompetence or doctor incompetence because apparently there is no current x-ray image taken prior to such extensive procedures. Meperidine was Rx'd despite the modern standards of pain management all but eliminating this drug from the pharmaceutical use. An investigation will be initiated with the state dental board. I strongly urge this dentist be avoided at all costs. read more

I went to this Dentist for the first time today. It was the worst medical experience of my life! I was getting a upper molar extraction. After giving me laughing gas, he left me sitting for 15 minutes. He came back in the room, told me to lay back and started poking his instruments into my mouth and actually grabbed my lips with the plier type instrument. I asked him twice to stop grabbing my lip. He became very angry and continued to roughly poke inside my mouth. While trying to pull the tooth, he broke it into several pieces. He refused to fill the tooth beside it. He said I'd have to come back for that. I asked him why would I have to come back for that and he repeated his statement that I would have to come back. I told him I would not be back to see him ever again. After going home, I just found out that a friend of mine had went to him for an extraction and had the same horrible experience with him. She said she would never go to him again and if she'd known I was going there, she would have advised me to find a different dentist. Truly horrible dentist. I am contacting the Ohio State Dental Board. read more