Paul E Winston, DDS

I went to Paul Winston because he was covered by my plan and near my office, and it was a mostly terrible experience! The office seems clean, but the equipment is definitely older. Everything has that yellowed plastic look that appliances tend to get. Like he did to some of the other reviewers here, he poked around perfunctorily at my mouth and told me it was «already clean» so I didn’t need a cleaning. Given that this is his M.O. it seems like he just really doesn’t want to clean anyone’s teeth? I had a few cavities that needed to be taken care of (boo) so he set up two appointments to take care of these. The first time, he gave me a shot of novocaine without using any kind of topical anesthetic beforehand, which sucked, but I didn’t complain.
He was kind of sloppy with the drill and caught part of my inner cheek at one point, leaving an abrasion that took a week or so to heal. So this was pretty bad.
At this point I just wanted to get everything over with, so I went to the second followup appointment for the last bit of work, and he had Fox News playing in the exam room. This time he told me he thought he could fill the last couple cavities without my needing a shot, so I agreed. What do I know? I was already anxious because having your teeth worked on sucks. Anyway, I started shaking a bit and at one point felt a fair amount of nerve pain. He started berating me, telling me that he was almost done and I just needed to calm down, it was just a few more seconds. This just stressed me out further and I started tearing up, and he says, «Oh come on, don’t cry,» and then just sat there waiting for me to calm down so he could finish working. Just horrible.
He was sloppy with the drill again this time, as well, because I ended up with abrasions on both sides of my tongue (???).
Overall it was a pretty awful, traumatic experience. I didn’t receive an itemized invoice, either; I just paid what they told me to so I could leave as quickly as possible. I felt anxious and guilty for not having been to the dentist in so long, so I didn’t speak up for myself, and I really should have. Really horrible.

The worst dentist I’ve ever been to. Winston’s office is filthy dirty. Old out dated everything. He watches TV as he works on you too!
In three visits Winston had one catch phrase he used on me at least three times. It was, «It’s gonna cost ya.» I also went for a cleaning and he told me my teeth were already clean and so he didn’t clean my teeth. I went to another dentist a month later and he said I was definitely in need of a cleaning.
Winston also took a pliers type of instrument, grabbed a bridge I have and yanked! It really hurt. It’s never been the same since. He told me, «this bridge gotta go, but it’s gonna cost ya.»
After three visits I ran and never returned. At all cost, stay away from this dentist.

I have never written a review and I was so shocked when I read this from another person that I felt compelled to. I have been going to Dr. Winston for years, and I have had several different insurances. He has never been anything but honest about charges and coverage. He is very honest, what I appreciate most about him is he doesn’t try to do work that isn’t required. I initally went to him when some crazy denist downtwon said I needed four rootcanals, Dr. Winston was like you need 0. He has made room for me for last minute apppts when issues arose which I always appreciated.

I have been going to Dr. Winston for three years. He is honest and very caring. The office is clean and the staff are great.

I have never been to a worse dentist. This was my 1^st time selecting on in NYC with dental coverage from my new job so i picked one close to the office. Don’t make the same mistake. I wasn’t really clear on my coverage and he took advantage of that by having me get a full mouth xray in addition to the several xrays normally done. This ended up costing me $ 50 out of pocket. He poked around and said my mouth was clean without actually having a hygienist do a cleaning but sure enough charged a cleaning to my insurance. Avoid Dr. Paul Winston all costs, both to your mouth and wallet.