As a child terrified of needles, I had a lot of teeth pulled without novocaine. This of course led me to associate the dentist with riduclous amounts of pain. Once I realized my mother couldn't actually make me do anything, I pretty much stopped going.
And as aresult of only going to the dentist like...once....from the age of 18-24 I soon developed problems. Right before I left Detroit in 2004 I found an amazing dentist who was incredibly understanding and gentle....and gassed the hell out of me to do an intensive and painful cleaning procedure. Of course I then moved around the country for a while, leaving this awesome dentist behind. I finally started looking for another one last year, and made an appointment with a different dentist who examined my teeth and told me I needed $9000 worth of work done - $4000 of which would be out of pocket!!! No thanks.
Enter Perfect Smiles.
Wow, I never thought I'd say this, but I think I love this dental practice. Every single satff member that I interacted with was so nice. They introduced themselves and each one seemed to really care about me and my experience there. Irma was fantastic and totally put me at ease. I was given a remote for the tv or the option of the radio, my chair massaged me, I had a parafin wax treatment for my hands and she took my rings and put them in a cleaner. She was super fast with the smaller xrays (I gag on them) and then for the large ones took me down to a machine that takes them from the outside. While they were being developed, I got a mini massage that was also great and relaxing!
As I figured...I needed a lot of work done. Irma and Dr. Dotson went over everything that needs attention and showed me pictures of each tooth that needed work. I needed the intensive cleaning (a scaling and planing) done again, as well as 5 cavities filled.
Normally I'd freak out and start planning excuses for cancelling my appointment, but this time I had no fear. This time, I knew I would be sedated so that the procedure (along with the filling of multiple cavaties) could be done in one session. I was also given nitrous and I barely felt the novocaine needle at all. The three hours passed quickly, with very little discomfort and the headphones helped to distract me. When it was over my husband came to pick me up and put me in a cab, and the staff went over all the instructions for my care, and gave me a prescription for vicodin for the pain.
Last time I was sore for a week, it's been 3 days and while I'm not ready to tackle any crunchy foods, I have very little soreness left.
Since I pre-paid, I got a 5% discount, and somehow my insurance covered more then they originally thought, so I ended up paying only $1050 for the whole visit. I'm still not a huge fan of going to the dentist (something I need to get over, since I now need to go every 3 months!), but Perfect Smile makes it much easier!
Pros : Excellent staff, very comforting for nervous patients, sedation offered
Cons : none
Price Range : $1000 - $1500
Recommended : Yes
Review Date : 10/16/2008
