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Review content:
Let me give you some background on myself to help you understand where I'm coming from on this review. I worked in many dental offices for over 20 years and I have a degree in dental assisting.
I was told the dentists at Cambridge Dental Associates are nice, which they are!!! But my experiences both consistently put my health at risk. I've been to this practice twice and will never return. I returned the second time because I thought the first visit was(hopefully) a fluke and that they *had* to be much cleaner than what I'd previously experienced.
Both times the procedures were composite fillings. My first visit, when I was sitting in the dental chair, I noticed the counters were dirty, it was from a previous patient. The assistant had gloves on and left the room(the place is very open, few walls, so you can see very well). She went into the lab to clean some instruments, then she comes back to my cubicle and starts touching counters, the overhead light, etc. I was mortified!!! I asked her to change her gloves and she realized what she had done. She didn't say a word to me and changed them. The dentist came in, did not wash her hands and proceeded to glove. Then the dentist picked up my chart and a pen(big no-no....charts and pens have been handled by everyone in that office and are considered non-sterile) with her gloves on, then puts them in my mouth to exam my tooth.
My second visit was worse, if you can believe it. I went in for a routine filling and there was a lot of dentist-induced contamination, I was mortified.
Here's a short list:
The room was not properly cleaned. The sink was filthy, the counters had dental medicaments spilled on them from the previous patient. The plastic cover on the overhead light had "goop" on it from the previous patient. Dentist touched mask, chart, pen, wall with gloves on then put his gloved hands in my mouth. No one washed their hands before or after gloving. The assistant gloved before she took the radiograph and touched several non-sterile/non-clean things before she put the film in my mouth. The dentist lowered his mask while he was drilling in my mouth. He was breathing into my mouth!!! I asked him a question and he left the room to go get something to show me. He never changed his gloves or washed his hands when he returned to my mouth!!! At the end of the procedure the dentist pulled off his gloves and touched my face and mouth "to see his handiwork". This is a BIG NO-NO. You never touch a patient with an unwashed hand, I don't care how clean you "think" you are.
As far as the quality of dental work at this practice I would give them an average rating.
The name of the game in safety is preventing transmission of bloodborne and salivaborne pathogens. When this type of contamination occurs the patient is put at risk for contracting life-altering illness(es) such as HIV, hepatitis A, B and C, tuberculosis, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, cytomegalovirus, staph and strep, just to name a few. If a patient is infected and the dentist or assistant touches their saliva or blood then touches walls, counter tops, charts, pens, light switches, etc. and they are not properly sterilized or disinfected between patients, there is a chance it might be spread to your mouth if they ignore infection control procedures.
Please, if you hear nothing else I've said in this review, understand this....it won't matter how fantastic or inexpensive your fillings and crowns are if you contract a life-altering illness from your dentist. Make SURE the office you patronize strictly adheres to infection control practices.
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