My kids were patients of Dr. Mickey's for several years. The service there was okay for cleanings. It was when I brought my nine year old in with a toothache that things went down hill. He was seen by a woman dentist (not Dr. Mickey) and she said the tooth should be pulled. My son was very scared. She did nothing to help cope with his anxiety. She was completely insensitive, and pulled the tooth in spite of his screaming in pain. When I interrupted the procedure she insisted it was psychological, and that he ""couldn't"" be feeling pain, with the anesthetic she had administered. My son is NOT one to over-react or cry easily. He was SCREAMING and they held him down to pull the tooth. She kept telling me it didn't hurt, and ignored my pleas that she stop and give him more anesthetic.
A few months later, the same child needed a filling. This time I asked for Dr. Mickey himself. The experience was equally bad, except this time the dentist actually implied that I was too sensitive, saying, ""you know, some parents will reward this kind of screaming and crying..."" I am utterly confident that I am not an overly-indulgent or over-protective parent. I just couldn't believe that dental work should proceed on a child who appeared to be in pain.
I have since taken him to another dentist, who was horrified by my story. He told me that when there is an abscess, sometimes the area is not easily numbed. He said he would never proceed with work on anyone who complained of pain. He also insisted that even if some of what we were seeing was anxiety, forcing him to go through with it was NOT the thing to do. When my son needed another tooth pulled, our new dentist gave him lots of anesthetic, lots of reassurance and humor, and he did great. No pain. No problem. I will NEVER go back to Dr. Mickey's office. I think they're sadistic.
more