William T. Martey, DMD,

Avoid!

Initial x-ray and evaluation apt for exaction of wisdom teem: Calling to place the apt after being referred there by main dentist included repeat calls as they looked up our discount plan wrong repeatedly as "expired insurance coverage," before informing us that they did not accept discount plans (*see later paragraph regarding this!). Insufficient, dangerous parking lot and undersized waiting room packed with people did not make a good second impression. Paid full $275 in advance. The 30 minute wait resulted in the xray and a 5 min "evaluation" consisting of "you should have had them out in your teens," the possible risks of permanent numbness in the face and mouth, and no eating 6-8hrs prior to extraction.

Extraction apt: Got the first apt of the day, arrived early and were made to park in the back, paid full $2165, and was taken into the room on time and left there alone for 30min. Didn't even see the surgeon until shortly before being given gas, and wasn't spoken to. While I was under, the receptionist tried to give the post-op information to the wrong person in the office, telling it to an elderly man taking his wife in for a far simpler procedure before a name alerted both my mom and the man that a switch-up had been made. When I came to, I was "checked out" into my mom's care by an assistant--who again rarely addressed me and said I may not even remember this. I remembered everything just fine. No bedside manner at all. She provided the 3 prescriptions (antibiotic 1/6hrs, pain med 1-2/4-6hrs, and an anti-nausea which I did not need but they insisted on anyways), stated to change the cotton over the open pits every 20min, ice face 20min a time on first day and heating pad 20min on days thereafter, rinse with warm salt water 4x/day staring day 2, and liquid/mush diet with no straws. Apparently no stitches were put in and bleeding kept up for hours. Pain was *extreme* even with ice, heat, and taking pain med 2/4hrs so ran through prescription in 2.5 days--and I have a high pain tolerance. The facial swelling at this point was also rather severe.

When called about the issue, we got "oh, weren't you taking ibuprofen?" Since we weren't told it was even an option and not wanting to mix meds, the answer was no. They refused to write the directions for taking the 2 together but dictated the directions to my mother when she picked up the extended prescription (as I was unable to speak clearly or above a whisper): alternate 3 ibuprofen/2 pain-med at 3hr intervals--which made us rather nervous, but was more effective and took down the extreme swelling over the next several days.

Follow-up apt: One week after extraction and at end of anti-biotic and pain meds, the follow-up apt was a mere 15min spent with one of the assistants showing me how to irrigate the lower jaw open sockets with a syringe-fulls of warm salt water--nothing was said of cleaning the upper ones--and that I was to do so for 4-8 weeks, and to avoid chips, nuts, and seeds. She also provided a third different pain-med plan when she asked about how it'd gone after the exaction and I informed her about the severe pain. Her demonstration caused pain for the rest of the day and resulted in some bleeding. No other information was provided, i.e. nothing said as to length of time to avoid crunchy foods, etc. This did nothing to reassure me to the quality of care. I still 2 weeks later have 3 numb patches on the inside of mouth and cannot chew at all on one side without pain.

***looking up the surgeon on our discount plan today 2 weeks after the extraction, it turns out they are registered as accepting our plan. They lied to avoid providing the 15-50% discount and we have reported them to our provider. Our provider is investigating them now. We will be avoiding this office from now on for many reasons.