Cook Earnest DDS

Iv known Dr Cook for well north of 30 years, but decided recently to start using his services. I have been to many dentist over the years and unfortunately Dr. Cook is by far the worst.
His skill level is basic. — He struggles with finding the correct tooth color (his nurse argued with him many times, and sure enough when it came, she was right. The color was waaay off), and mixing the filler for a root canal fill (it fell out 2 days later),
1. He doesn’t listen to patient requests. — Politely asked if I could get non-​amalgam fillings and he took it waay too personal. He had an attitude after that.
2. Takes out hostilities on patients — He wanted to put a gap in the front of my mouth (Iv never had one in my life mind you, he wanted to make one!), after expressing that I did not want to do that, he demanded that I do it. Once again his nurse had to step in and remind him that if the patient doesn’t want a different look to their smile that he should comply. He said he liked the look of a gap. His nurse had to remind him that it wasn’t his smile. By this time another nurse in training came in and agreed that a gap would not be best. He angrily agreed to not do it, and then when numbing me he slammed the needle into the roof of my mouth as hard as he could! I literally screamed and began crying. Never has a Dr done that to me before. I brought my husband for the follow up appointment, and Dr Cook acted super professional, like I have never seen him do before.
3. Billing is crooked — There is no other way to phrase that. In fact I will go so far as to say they are swindling the insurance companies. I was billed one amount and what they would turn in to my insurance company was MUCH higher. It blew through all of my insurance. They also lied so many times about my billing that I had to secretly record them on my iphone. Sure enough when they lied the next time, I told them I had taken «written notes in my phone» and pretended to look at them. Then told them the amount they quoted me. The «office manager» then agreed to «lower it to that amount» but she insisted that «thats not what I told you». She was very nasty to deal with. There was always billing discrepancies.
4. Makes an average situation worse — I had a passable smile before Dr Cook. After he butchered (yes! butchered) my mouth I now have an embarrassing smile. He literally cut into my gums and left a scar (in my gum!). Hammered (yes with a giant hammer!) a tooth-​post in wrong and now the tooth is crooked (wasn’t before) and has a giant space next to it than can only be repaired with orthodontia.
5. Not up front with patients — I needed extensive work. Dr Cook gave me the impression he could do it all. We discussed what needed to be done and I told him the ones that were my top priorities. We seemed to be on the same page. –He did non of what I asked or needed. When I could see I had maybe one more appointment before he was done, I politely asked about all the other stuff. He never answered and shrugged my question off. I learned later from a friend who works in a dental office, that I would’ve needed a specialist for what I was requesting, and that my dentist knew full well he couldn’t do it, and should have never lied to me saying he could. She further said that he should have printed out a ‘dental plan’ that would detail all the work to be done and the cost (he never printed out any kind of plan or cost analysis).
OVERALL: For basic cleanings and simple drill and fills (not root canals though). I would say he can cover it. But anything beyond that will not be within his ability level. I hate to say that, because Iv know him since I was a child, and I now have grandchildren. But there are far better dentists out there. Proof positive: I went to get three 2^nd opinions on something he said I should let him do, and ALL 3 dentists said that he shouldn’t do it! I have now pulled me and my family from his practice.