Steven A Corben, DMD, FAGD

I’ve been going to Dr. Corben for several years in the Danvers office. He’s very thorough and has a good sense of humor. The hygienists are also friendly and thorough. I think they push some extra services a bit aggressively. I’ve decided to switch to a new dentist for 2 reasons: they are not in my insurance network and his services seem expensive compared to other dentists. 2. There is a woman in the front desk staff that is extremely rude. She’s always been very curt and not very good at explaining the itemized billing. Perhaps they are not cooperative if they are not in your specific insurance network. I canceled my last appt with her after she basically yelled at me over the phone regarding the reimbursement process and then sent me a $ 100 cancellation invoice.

I went to the Dr. Corben’s offices in Salem (on Essex st.) and felt this practice is concerned with one thing only: ensuring maximum profit with little to no regard for the care of the patient, even to the point of potential dishonesty. I arrived for my first appointment no more than one year from my previous dentist, and they very quickly «discovered» five new cavities! Now, up until I turned 34 I had never had any cavities AT ALL, and even then I only got three very small ones with no new ones for the five years after. So five new ones in less than a year seemed incredible, if not outright impossible. I eat healthy and am not a big sweets consumer, and obviously brush and floss as directed.
Then, before cleaning they informed me I had an «unusual» amount of hard plaque that would require two «special» cleanings, even requiring some local anesthesia for the procedure. This was also nothing I had ever heard of, but as I was there I consented to the first cleaning, which of course was quite expensive. Along they way they gave me a hard sell on all sorts of additional procures from whitening and other cosmetic possibilities, even after I said I was not interested. I left feeling like I had just been expertly scammed by a team that clearly knew how to maximize profits for the practice.
A few days later I canceled everything and went to another dentist for a second opinion, (not telling them what had happened in order to get an unbiased checkup). Guess what? They found two (not five) very minor cavities that they said almost were not worth doing any work on, but to be on the safe side I should get them worked on. So now we are THREE years later and I have not had ANY additional cavities! So the other three cavities found at Dr. Corben’s office apparently went away by magic and never came back?
Obviously I’ve never been back from the day I found my new dentist, but felt it was long over due to relate my experiences to hopefully save a few others from getting the same treatment. I am almost always inclined to trust my doctors and care professionals because by and large they do really care, so this was a pretty disturbing experience for me. Luckily there are many other offices around who are more concerned with patient care.

First of all I should preface this review by saying I grew up in the UK so yes, I have stereotypical bad British teeth ;) but thanks to Dr Corben and his amazing team they’re really not so bad anymore…
Quick version: Moved to US 10 years ago and saw dubious dentist after rip off dentist — they wanted to pull my (absolutely fine) wisdom teeth, throw in a few crowns, fill all my teeth etc etc. I then avoided going to the dentist unless I had a toothache. In 2007 I was about to get married and realised my bad British teeth would be forever immortalised in our wedding pictures. I found Dr. Corben and literally 10 days later (Zoom whitening, a couple of filings replaced, a tiny corner filed down and a chip bonded) I got married in Las Vegas with a HUGE smile. I’ve been a loyal patient ever since then and couldn’t imagine going anywhere else.
Want more details? In the mood to read an essay? Grab a glass of wine and settle in — just make sure to brush your teeth and floss afterwards…
There are two practices, one in Salem, MA and one in Danvers, MA (that’s the one I go to, it’s maybe 5 miles from the NorthShore Mall).
The ladies on the front desk are awesome — super friendly and helpful — they always call a couple of days ahead of your appointment to give you an estimate of the cost of your visit. And they’re great with reminder calls.
Dr Corben has all of the latest dentistry wizardry — Invisalign (I just got fitted today!), Snap On Smile, Zoom whitening etc etc — and here’s the best part (trust me as an official dental-​phobe due to the local anaesthetic shots) — you usually DON’T NEED SHOTS!!! Dr. Corben has some kind of ultrasound/​vibrating??? (not sure how it works) drill that unless you have a crazy deep cavity — doesn’t require numbing shots. This (apart from how lovely everyone is) is the main reason I drive for almost 2 hours to see my dentist.
You can watch TV while your teeth are cleaned which is good. I enjoyed some HSN today ;)
Marina usually does my cleaning — she’s very kind and gentle but incredibly thorough — she notices my hands start to clench up (I’m such a chicken) and will check I’m OK, get me to relax. I had my teeth cleaned this morning and they feel awesome now.
Kelly is Dr Corben’s dental person (dental nurse? assistant? not sure of her official title but she’s very good at it!) and she’s amazing too. I was getting impressions done for invisalign and she was so kind and patient with me (believe me when I say I’m a nightmare dental patient)
And Dr Corben himself is just great. He’s a little goofy (in a totally good way, I imagine he’d be awesome with child patients) and I really can’t speak highly enough about him. He always takes the time to explain your options in terms of treatments and why he’s doing this.
He can show you on the big screen his view of your teeth and point out any issues and what he’d be treating (so so so much better than the cowboy dentist experience I had in Andover, MA — let’s call him Dr., R — wanted to give me something like 27 filling, 2 crowns and if I could pay for it all in advance that would be awesome!!! :O)
When I first found the office I had like 10 days until we flew to Las Vegas to get married and I had a couple of discolored filings that needed to be replaced and just dull/​yellowy teeth. Dr C was beyond helpful, assured me that he’d personally work late if we needed to get everything done in time. I had some much overdue cleaning done first (the practice is very much into cosmetic/​aesthetic treatment but they focus on the underlying dental health first in every case) including a little gum scaling (ugh — but they were very gentle), then the zoom whitening (BEST thing ever to do before your wedding, no messy trays etc) then my filings replaced (so they could be matched to my new whiter teeth). Dr Corben also bonded a couple of chiped corners and filed down a pointy corner and it made a HUGE difference.
I was smiling like crazy on our wedding day because I was so happy but the fact that I wasn’t super conscious about my teeth when I smiled felt amazing.
OK — enough of the essay about my dental history — if you’re looking for a great dentist in a super clean and modern office with a lovely team of staff I can’t recommend State of the Art Dentistry by Dr Corben in Danvers, MA highly enough. Go floss and call them tomorrow…