Advanced Dental Specialists

"I came into this office with what I considered to be a serious health concern. My dentist was certainly a nice, friendly man, and I don't feel great about honestly, publicly reviewing my experience there, but I feel like it may be helpful to do so, all things considered. He joked around a lot, kind of teasing and insulting me, even joking about shooting me with a gun. If that sounds kind of bullying, yeah, it felt that way, too. His tone was confrontational, familiar, and condescending, which I played along with as a defense, but I found it disruptive and inappropriate to the context of a dental exam, or to the situation of strangers meeting for the first time. While I appreciate the desire for levity, it felt forced upon me at times, and it evolved into genuine unpleasantness the more I attempted to resist it. I don't need to be challenged by my dentist. Coach? Yes. Therapist? Yes. Professor? Yes. Dentist? No. This is not the service I'm paying for or what interests me when visiting a dentist's office that has "advanced", and "specialists" in one of their names, and for some ironic reason they also have another business name with "professional" in it. These adjectives do not describe my experience. "Football Coach Dental" might be a more descriptive business name, but then nobody would go there, would they? When I pay for professional advice on my health, I want straightforward answers to my questions given with a certain degree of indicated sympathy and concern for my emotional well-being, and I want thorough, complete answers to my questions that you can't get on the first google result. A dentist is not a plumber. You work with human fear, and that's why you get paid so much more. If you can do the job successfully, both the plumbing part and the bedside manner part, and on top of that you can also manage to be humorous, not just to yourself but to your audience as well, then this sort of thing would be valuable and welcome. As it is now, it's just awkward. I walked out of there feeling like I may have to schedule an exam with another dentist, just so that I can ask the questions I want to ask without the hurdles. He was really pushy about scheduling a follow-up, and I lied and made lame excuses because none of your business get out of my face. I would never go back there. I felt utterly dominated. I felt like I lost a game. Lol."