1 /5 Marion Slatter: I attended Pacific Smiles Parkmore on Saturday the 15th of March, I had made a note on my patient form of my PTSD diagnosis and my anxiety, and I informed my dentist and her assistant of this diagnosis as soon as I sat in the chair. For these reasons I can’t recommend Pacific Smiles:
During my appointment my dentist:
Instead of taking my admission at face value, asked me what trauma I experienced that caused my PTSD: “is it because of your job?”
Asked me to sign a consent form AFTER numbing, instead of before.
Did not explain how many injections were needed to numb (it was four), and as a result I panicked at the seemingly never ending needle being poked at my face.
Spent an uncomfortable amount of time pulling unsuccessfully at the tooth without explaining what was going on, then announced “we need to do a surgical procedure”, grabbed a metal rod and began sawing my tooth apart without care or concern for how terrifying that could be.
The door was open for almost the entire procedure, with staff and patients walking past.
At one moment I asked for music, as the sound of silence and metal scraping against my teeth was causing me to panic, I informed the dentist and assistant about what was going on, leading the dental assistant to fumble about, looking for YouTube playlists. The dentist did not wait for music to begin and simply continued. This caused me to panic further, trying to signal to my partner to turn on a playlist on his phone instead - and my hand collided with the tray of sterile utensils next to the chair - these utensils were not replaced.
No follow up call was made, as promised.
The cynical side of me believes the dentist was rushing my procedure so she could finish her shift - as I was asked to arrive half an hour earlier for my appointment, and the office was closed when I went to pay at the point-of-sale.