odonnell and phillips

As like most people I am a very nervous dental patient. I spent weeks/​months looking into who I should choose. From my first call to the actual end of the visit everyone there was very nice and extremely understanding and my fears. I knew going in that I would have to have a tooth pulled but doctor Daniel O’Donnell gave me all the options i could go with. He knew when to small talk to keep me from being nervous. The dental assistant was very personable too, she talked to me about every and anything. I highly recommend Mr O’Donnell and his office to every and anyone.

This is going to be a long review and parts may not apply to everyone so I’ll defy convention a bit and summarize at the top then blather on down below.
PROS
–Nice office, lots of parking, pleasant and helpful staff
–Prices in line with what I found at other offices
–Efficient, the doctors and staff of O’Donnell and Phillips won’t waste your time
CONS
–Get it in writing
-«Commando Dentistry”* may not be everyone’s style
–The process takes a long time
–Follow up appointments are the responsibility of the patient
*Commando Dentistry isn’t in itself, used as a derogatory term here but it does apply to Dr. O’Donnell’s style of get in quick, take care of what is needed and get out. It’s not a contemplative process in any sense.
My story
I needed dentures. So I spent time doing research online (a dubious undertaking sometimes). I talked to dentists. I called them and their offices. I visited several. I actually went to one office and had the complete consultation done, x-​rays and all before finally deciding on another provider, O’Donnell and Phillips.
One mistake I made, and it’s one that cost me a $ 500 service, I didn’t get the entire program Dr. O’Donnell and I discussed in writing (like I had with the other dental offices). More on that later.
Dr. O’Donnell is the picture of efficiency. His office moves like the proverbial well-​oiled Italian racing machine. There is no waste. No fluff. Patients check in, go to treatment rooms and are moved out. At one point I called it «Commando Dentistry» in both a positive and slightly negative sense. I truly appreciate that the doctor doesn’t count on wasting my time while also not wasting his. Some doctor’s are terrible about wasting the patient’s time while strictly regulating the doctor’s time. I also think that there are times when if the process moved just a little more slowly, it might be better for the patient. I’m not a dentist and I hate to presume that Dr. O’Donnell’s methods have been developed for anything other than the best way to deal with patients.
Dentures aren’t something, by definition anyone comes to with experience. It’s a new process for the patient and it’s definitely a process. I’m three months into the process and it will be another three months before I have anything close to a permanent set up. And those are what is called «immediate dentures». This isn’t specific to Dr. O’Donnell, it’s the way it works everywhere.
I was impressed with the amount of care and attention I got during my brief office visits. Somehow I expected the whole thing to be more time intensive, it’s not. While the process take time, the procedures themselves take very little time.
Scheduled follow up visits aren’t the norm for this procedure at O’Donnell and Phillips, the patient needs to manage those themselves, making an appointment when there is a need. This may or may not be specific to Dr. O’Donnell, I do not know. I do know there have been more than a few times when I felt as though I was pretty much on my own to figure things out. And I have. That might or might not be good for you. I can see where it is reasonable from the dentist’s point of view.
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The only complaint I have centers around my comment above about getting things in writing. At both dental offices I visited, the initial one I ended up not using and O’Donnell and Phillips, I was told the following.
You get your dentures, after two months you come into the office and they do an «office reline» for free. At six months, you come back and you do a «lab reline» and that costs between $ 200 and $ 300 (it actually costs a little more than $ 600 but my insurance covers 50%).
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Both offices told me almost the same exact thing. Yet, when I went back to O’Donnell and Phillips for the first «office reline» at two months, I was also told that my insurance didn’t cover a reline at two months only at six months (something I was actually well aware of) and the office charge for this service just over $ 500.
See where getting the terms in writing, before launching into it is important?
And to explain, a «reline» is a procedure where the interior portion of your dentures are updated to fit your gums, which change significantly for the first six months.
I haven’t decided whether or not, in four months, I’ll be going back to Dr. O’Donnell’s office or not for the permanent reline. I do like them and in a way, this disagreement is my fault for not making sure I had this covered but it does bother me. I felt rushed through the initial process and that, no doubt, contributed in some small way to where I am right now.
I think Dr. O’Donnell is a nice guy. He’s personable in in his own high speed way and his office staff is efficient and friendly. Would I recommend Dr. O’Donnell to others with the caveat, and this applies to any dentist, get everything in writing before you start. Know what the costs are, what the treatment plan covers and you’ll get no unpleasant surprises like I did.