Relos Apolinar D DMD

Making the appointment on the phone the staff seemed unprofessional and scattered. The office is disorganized and outdated. After arriving I waited for a while before anyone even spoke to me and then I waited even longer to be seen — probably an hour after my appointment time. The dental equipment in the rooms is not modern. The cleaning I received was not great. The dentist seemed more concerned with an upcoming trip than my health or care. It was recommended that I come back for 3 fillings, but scheduling was difficult because of the dentist’s upcoming trip. After this terrible cleaning I was worried about going back, but had recently gone onto Denti-​Cal and didn’t think they would pay for me to visit another dentist for an evaluation, so I felt stuck.
Almost a month later I came back for the fillings and had the worst experience yet with this office… or any dentist ever! During the process both the dentist and the hygienist insulted me for moving too much and forcefully held my tongue down while ineffectively using the suction straw — causing me to choke on the equipment and my own saliva. I’ve always had positive experiences at the dentist, had braces, multiple cavities filled and even had in-​office oral surgery once (translation hundreds of hours spent in the dentist chair in my life) = I know how to sit still, keep my mouth open and tongue out of the way for the dentist to do their work. I think the sight, hand-​eye coordination and senses of both the doctor and hygienist are not very sharp.
THE DENTAL WORK WAS THE WORST I’VE EVER HAD — the dentist was sloppy and left the filling compound all over my other teeth. It always takes while for the mouth/​tongue to adjust, but before leaving the office I could feel it was rough on certain surfaces. When I got home I found I could not even floss between my teeth at the site of 2 of the fillings. Dr Relos had effectively fused my teeth to the ones next to them. Every other dentist I’ve gone to checks that kind of thing by flossing around the filling before you leave, to ensure the gap is healthy, flossable, will stay clean and not so big as to become a food trap. When I phoned to raise this problem the dentist didn’t believe me and I had to insist on coming back for him to repair the work.
I think Dr. Relos and his staff are genuinely good people, but the service I received was terrible. I enjoy going to the dentist, but hope I never have to return here.

I was referred to Dr Relos by another dentist that didn’t take my insurance. I got in to see him within 2 weeks. He has a family practice as his wife of 50 years works with him. She was very pleasent and examined me throughly. She then told me she would send a request to my insurance company. Two weeks later she called with the good news. I was covered. I made an appointment for two weeks later. I had to wait in his office for less than. 5 minutes. NI got my impressions done and have made a follow up for next week. I am writing this prematurely because I know that Dr Relos works from the heart not his wallet. I have seen some of the work has done and it was perfect. I will add to this as the work progresses.

I AM BEYOND DISAPPOINTED, I CAN’T EVEN BEING TO EXPLAIN THIS HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Dr. Relos had been my dentist since I was a child, since I was 7 yrs old. I had a major toothache, he recommend a root canal. Procedure on Thursday, before his vacation. By 4PM the swelling seemed to be getting worse, by 7 pm, one side of my face was beyond recognizable, and the worst part was my eye was beginning to close shut, the pressure/​swelling was affecting my vision.
I called his office and there was no after-​hours number to reach him or a back up dentist.
When the ER personal saw me, they rushed me in, their concern was my eye, the nerves near it were in a acute condition. After an all-​nighter at the ER, I went home and my husband stood guard all night… afraid I would die in my sleep.
First thing Friday morning, we went to his office, no note on his door, no forwarding number to call, nada! I walked into the dentist office next to his, and this dentist looked at me and said…“This is not normal, you need medical attention quickly”. Thank goodness this dentist was around, without him, I have no idea what I would or could do!
He was in the middle of serving a patient, and I heard him say to the other patient, if he didn’t mind that he had an emergency and if could wait, while he helped me out. (That’s how serious this was — another dentist, in the middle of a procedure, stop working on this paying patient to help me out). He looked at me, took xrays — all these for free. He called another doctor and told him my case, and mentioned once again the word «acute».
He ended up sending me to Dentist Darren Machule, an Endodontist. He saw me walk in and told me not to worry, worst case he has ever seen from a root canal. Both dentist called and left messages for Dr.Relos.
Monday @ 10:15 am, phone call from Dr. Relos office — asking how I was doing. I informed the lady over the phone that I was not doing well, that I was in major pain, about my emergency visit, my personal experience hunting for care in the middle of the night and the huge concern that ALL the doctors that saw me said, the eye… it’s a huge concern because I could have lost my vision!!!
I remained calm, I did not yell, but explain the situation. After all, I felt his was a a friend of the family and you don’t cross longtime friendships. Her reply was, «Ok, so you’re doing better now», I said no — I’m not. Her next sentence is what made me write this long review, «Do you want the dentist to call you at his convenience?» WHAT? At his convenience? I almost lost my vision, I just spent about $ 2000.00 for an emergency root canal with sealing. An additional $ 140.00 for the emergency room visit and meds. My husband lost a day of work. The worries, the pain, the humiliation about how I looked and the fear of losing my vision!!! AND, you’re telling me, he’ll call me at this convenience?!? I told her, I was bother at the fact that he was not making the call, at the aloofness of her concern (this was not the wife-​I know her voice). The feeling of a «friend» not caring.
This was suppose to be a friend of the family — NOT!!!
He never called, his wife never called, neither one followed up… NO ONE GAVE A SHIT ABOUT ME ALMOST LOSING MY VISION. This is not how you treat someone that you have seen for 30 yrs.
All I can say now is, thank God he was away on vacation. I’m going to assume that if he would have seem me the following day, he would have most likely «tried» to fix the situation and most likely try to cover up his huge mistake (for the fear of being sued). Which I feel, he would have cause more damage, maybe even causing me to lose my vision.
He is an awful dentist with no character.