Dr. Douglas Seymour was my dentist from 2001 until early this year. To be honest my husband chose this practice because the location was convenient for us. Once we started going I didn't want to change dentists after having come from a really bad one (Dr. Felix Marcial on Capitol Hill). Dr. Seymour seemed very competent and skilled although he never spent much time with me - exams were 5 minutes, tops. I was always kept waiting and watched as he covered 2 or 3 patients at once. It was like they overlapped appts to maximize his time. I didn't like their office practices of doing this (minimal pt/dentist time), always booking a different dentist for exams unless you insist on one dentist, etc. It was always in the back of my head to find another practice/dentist because this place never sat right with me. I had two crowns done here and as I said before I always felt that Dr. Seymour did a good job. It all went downhill after I called to make a routine exam/cleaning appt for fall of 2006. They told me that Dr. Seymour was out for a family matter. I asked when he would be back - I was willing to postpone my exam so that I could see the same dentist. They kept saying, "We don't know". Same answer when I asked if he was ok. Yes, he's fine but we can't give any details. That was fine with me and I saw Dr. Coulier, his substitue. That was Octoberish 2006. I got a letter December 2006 announcing Dr. Seymour's retirement (!) and that two dentists (Drs. Lin? brothers) had purchased the practice. This was sounding strange. Don't people plan their retirements and tell their patients? What about saying goodbye? I shelved it and moved on. Around Feb 2007 I had to go back for a cleaning and got a glimpse of the new dentists. They looked friendly enough. March 2007 I went in for a 10 min fix for a front tooth and took this as my chance to evaluate the new dentist, Dr. Thomas Lin. He seemed competent but his bedside manner needed polishing to say the least. I could barely communicate or connect with this guy. That's when I decided I needed a better dentist. I still had this nagging feeling that something was not right about that place. I Googled "Douglas Seymour DDS" and that unearthed a trove of information. I found a WA Dept of Health (DOH) link that tells of Dr. Seymour having had a suspended license in fall of 2006. That must have been the "family issue" that nobody wanted to talk about when I tried to make my appt with him. Then there was another link to a court document that detailed the charges of his suspension and eventual loss of his license to practice dentistry for seven years. The reasons were related to billing practices and possible compentency issues. Yikes!!! This confirms how unprofessional these people are in covering up this whole mess. At least they should have the decency to tell their patients the truth. Thank goodness the WA DOH has all their docs in electronic version on the web. Look him up there and you'll see the whole thing, court transcripts included. BTW, my new dentist is supposed to be very good - came recommended from my toddler's pediatric dentist who is one of Seattle's best rated ped dentists. I have an appt with Dr. Gordon Sako in a few weeks and I'm excited to be rid of my experience at Oak Tree Family Dental. I hope this long post helps anyone who is even considering going there.
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