H. Alan Belinky, DDS & Associates

Shocked and appalled, these are the words I’d like to start off with… Yesterday I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned, x-​rays and an exam. Let me state my part I was late, yes, late, I must own my part. I used to live in the area and have since moved 35minutes away. Grossly underestimated the drive time. Nevertheless, when I arrive 15min into my appointment, I am told that the hygienist was waiting on me. She was not the lady, Jo, that normally cleans my teeth but oh well. As we are walking down the hall so that I can be seated she tells me that she may have to cut my appt short b/​c the office has a mandatory meeting at noon. I stopped her and asked why she would stop my appointment and what exactly was she going to do. She restated the mandatory meeting and that she get as much done as possible. I said, absolutely not and she retorted, «Well you are late». I said, «Excuse me» and she told me to «Calm down». That’s a no-​no!!! I said to her, «You calm down and I don’t want you anywhere near my mouth». She walked back to the reception area and told the receptionist that someone else would have to clean my teeth as she didn’t think it was going to work out between the two of us. I’m thinking, «you’re damn straight!» Who does that!!! I am walked to the back again and Jo is there. Whew!!!
Jo begins to work on my teeth. She asks the normal questions and I let her know what’s going on. I tell her I haven’t been in 2yrs b/​c I lost my job and therefore my dental insurance. She says well I feel like I really need to do the x-​rays now b/​c we haven’t seen you even though your teeth look beautiful. She told me to stop brushing so hard and reiterated brushing instructions (giggle). Now, a man comes to the rear and they whisper, Jo excuses herself and comes back and says, «I tried but we have to have our meeting at noon». I am shocked and appalled, I am in the chair, drape around my neck. The dentist, Dr. Belinky comes back, sits down and begins looking in my mouth. I stop him and ask, «Who are you, I’ve never met you?». He tells me to read his jacket. I give him a look as sarcasm is not what I needed at the moment. You see, there has been a relief dentist in the times I’ve been there, I’d never seen him before… He finishes the exam and leaves, he never tells me what the condition of my teeth are… Jo is frantically looking for a baggie to put my courtesy toothbrush, floss and paste in. I take it from her and jam it in my purse and tell her it’s ok… When I get to the front to pay, and pay out of pocket, I am given my total and I hand over my card. I am then told to come back at anytime and have the x-​rays done. The whole office is huddled at the front, scarfing down lunches and awaiting a meeting, the blessed meeting. Me, I leave with a partial service and an attitude.
Why wasn’t I simply told, «You are late and we will have to reschedule» or Why wasn’t the hygienist allowed to finish my procedures, I was in the chair. Would you get a partial pap’s if at the general practitioners, would you get a partial heart exam, a partial anything regarding health care? I was floored and don’t believe I’ll ever return. I called the office today and expressed my disappointment and asked that someone let me know the results of my visit. I was rushed out of the office without even rinsing the polish out of my mouth. Simply awful!!!
They need to put Jo the Super Hygienist on a pedestal as she is the only person saving this office.

Today, my first-​ever cavity filling. It wasn’t a deep cavity, so everyone tells me the experience was minimal. Maybe, but I’m a total wuss when it comes to having a drill or any other «tool» inside my mouth. So I was still nervous.
I give this four stars instead of five for two reasons:
1. I didn’t get much of an explanation of what would (or was) happening as the cavity was filled. Might not matter to some, but it’s always nice to hear an overview of what’s about to happen. In all fairness, I could have asked… Instead, I was too busy wringing my hands and trying not to have an anxiety attack while my mouth slowly went numb.
2. My appointment was for 9:30. I wasn’t in a rush and they told me it’d be a little wait before I’d be called in. But nothing even happened until 10 a.m. so if I had been on a tight schedule, it would have been kind of annoying to wait 30 minutes.
I received a shot of Novocaine without having to ask for it (my mom said Novocaine isn’t always necessary, but… um, how could you NOT be numb for a filling?!?). It was a good shot — the entire left side of my face, my whole tongue and all of my lips were completely numb (for about 3 hours… a long time in my opinion, but I’m not complaining). The procedure took about 20 minutes and he did a good job of smoothing out the filling and making sure my teeth comfortably rested on each other. I’m also happy they have «white» fillings (which, btw, are not entirely white, but are a vast improvement from a mouth full of silver).
All in all, only a semi-​traumatic experience. I felt they did a good job (hey, I just ate lunch without any problems) and my insurance covered about 70% of the procedure (which they told me about prior to my bill being given to me, so there were no surprises there).