The Davis Square Community

I just had a pretty bad experience at Dental Arts and need to decide whether to go back to get the damage fixed or go elsewhere and spin the wheel of fortune.

I've been a patient there for a while. I had a few fillings done, a crown put in, checkups, etc. There have been some signs of problems, though. The crown sat way too high, so they had to grind it down to nearly flat (so what was the point of taking a mold of my bite?) and I can feel the bottom of it with my tongue. And at my most recent checkup, it *hurt* when the hygienist was doing her inspection and cleaning, like she was stabbing me repeatedly with a needle. But I didn't say anything.

Most recently I came in to get an amalgam filling replaced (it was pulling away from the tooth) and a cavity filled on a nearby tooth. It was deeply unpleasant.

- The dentist (Dr. Idrizi?) was very rushed. I kept hearing her and someone else talk about needing to hurry, and I could tell she was hurrying and impatient.
- The assistant was clumsy and kept stabbing my tongue and the floor of my mouth with the suction tube and hurting my lips by pressing them against my teeth.
- The dentist kept sniping at the assistant for being clumsy or doing the wrong thing. I felt bad for the assistant and I didn't want someone irritated in my mouth either.
- The bite on those teeth is now out of alignment, there are two places with sharp edges, and there are big rough patches and places the floss catches. I think she didn't clean up her work.
- I didn't have a chance to speak to the dentist or the assistant about any of this because they rushed out of the room and left someone else to send me out the door.

I called and spoke to the manager afterwards, and she offered to have Dr. Dobrin, who I saw some years ago, fix whatever is wrong and do my remaining filling work. I declined, but now I'm unsure. After all, he's something of a known quantity, whereas if I go elsewhere, well... dentists are of pretty variable quality. Also I'd have to have *two* appointments at the new place, the first one being an intake and comprehensive exam. I'm had a lot of doctor appointments recently and I'm getting sick of it.

I guess my question is: How wrong is it to conflate the individual dentist with the practice?