I recently had an extremely upsetting and very unsettling experience with one of your dentists regarding negligent care, and possibly assault. I request that the dentist be terminated immediately, reprimanded for her actions, and/or re-trained in her profession. I also request that the work that was supposed to be done on my 14-year old son resume immediately. An apology letter to my son for the erratic care would be nice too.
On May 16, 2018, I brought my son into the Western Dental Office located at 921 South Main Street, Suite A, Salinas, California 93901. Our appointment was at 1:00 p.m., and we arrived 10-15 minutes early to check in. After a short wait in the waiting area, we were taken back to the patient area. Within a few minutes of being seated, one of the dental assistants brought over some paperwork, and started looking at the chart. I immediately confirmed with her that the reason we were here today was to get my son's permanent crowns. She said, “Yes” as she continued to look at her paper. When she put the paper down, she brought over a tray, which included a shot of local anesthesia. I immediately asked, “Does my son need a shot for this?” She said, “Yes.” “Why?” I asked. She said that I’ll have to ask the dentist. My son has severe anxiety at the dentist and started to tear up when he saw the shot on the tray.
Twenty minutes later, the dentist showed up. She picked up the paperwork, and I said, “We are doing the permanent crowns today, right?” She didn’t answer me. I waited another minute or two, and she starts to pick up a tool from the tray. I say again, “We are doing the permanent crowns today, right?” She ignored me again. Then she put the tool down on the tray, walked a couple feet away and sneezed into her gloves. I wanted to say something, but she was already ignoring me for some reason. It was extremely awkward and pretty insanitary that she just sneezed onto her gloves.
She comes back and picks up the paperwork again and looks confused. I say, “We are here to get my son's permanent crowns. Numbers 7 & 8 have already been approved, and you’ve already put the posts in. He has temporary crowns on them right now, and we need the permanent crowns. We were originally waiting for tooth number 9, but the insurance wouldn’t approve it, because 50% of the tooth isn’t gone.” She still doesn’t speak for about 20 seconds and then she finally speaks and says, “I remember. We have to do another mold.” “Why do we have to do another mold?” I asked. She says, “Because number 9 wasn’t approved.” I say, “Fine, let’s just do another mold and get this going please.” She puts the paperwork down, and I asked, “Why do you need to give my son a shot, when you are just doing a mold?” She says, “The mold has to go under the gums and it will hurt him.” Puzzled… as I’m wondering why a mold would hurt him, I just look at my son and tell him, “Sorry, I guess you have to get the shot.” She says very bluntly to him and the loudest I’ve heard her speak, “Yes! You are getting a shot!”
Then she proceeds to lower his dental chair, and she stares out the window the entire time. I’m wondering at this point whether she is on drugs or some heavy medication. My son was slipping off the chair and had to keep readjusting and she didn’t even make eye contact with him. She just kept lowering the chair as she stared out the window towards the Burger King across the street. My son was panicking a little as he kept staring at that shot. She ends up lowering the chair as far as it will go, all the way to the ground, briefly glances at him, and then raises the chair back up. She was just frozen, like a statue, staring out the window, with absolutely no expression on her face. It was a really strange moment.
So, she picks up a tool on the tray and starts picking at my son's teeth, numbers 7, 8 & 9. She pulls on the temporary crowns a bit, and then just continues to scrape and scrape and scrape, to the point where my son's gums start to bleed, a lot! She keeps scraping and scraping. She continues to do this for a few minutes. My son's eyes are squeezed shut and he has tears running down his cheeks as she is doing this. Then she says, “I can’t do the mold today.” “Why can’t you do the mold today?” I asked. She said, “because look. His gums are bleeding.” I say, “I just watched you poke that thing in his mouth numerous times, making him bleed!” She shrugs her shoulders. I say, “Did you really just shrug your shoulders at me?” She says, “I’m not doing the mold, but I can do a filling on his tooth number 9.” I said, “Tooth number 9 has had a recent root canal, he needs a filling too?” She says, “Yes.” Then she says, “He needs to brush and floss better, and then you guys can come back later.” I said, “Huh? I don’t understand why you are telling me now that you can’t do the mold? We came here for his permanent crowns.” She says, “He needs to go home and brush and floss for about a month and then come back.” I said, “I’m still confused as to why we are even doing this mold. You guys did this mold last time, and he has temporary crowns that you guys put on there. Now you’re telling me he needs a new mold and you’re telling me that you won’t even do the work and to come back in a month? We’ve been waiting over 2 years to get these crowns done. It’s been excuse after excuse with you guys.” She says, “You need to have him brush better like this…” and she takes the scraping tool again and runs it across his gums that are now highly inflamed! I yelled, “STOP! YOU ARE HURTING HIM!” Travis is crying a lot and is clearly in a lot of pain. She says, “If I do the molds, they might not take because his mouth is bleeding so bad.” “YOU JUST DID THAT!” I snapped back. So, she picks up the shot and starts to go towards my son's mouth and I yell again, “WAIT! STOP! STOP! DON’T!” I said, “I want to talk about this before you give him that shot. Don’t give him that shot while we are discussing this!” She puts the shot down and picks the paperwork back up. She says, “Ok, I’ll do the molds, but if it doesn’t take, you might have to come back.” “I said OK, it’s worth a try, we need to get this done for him.” She picks the shot back up and starts to go towards his mouth again, and says quietly to herself, “I can’t do the molds today.” “WAIT! STOP! STOP! DON’T!” I yelled again! I said, “Don’t give him that shot if you’re not going to do everything today! If you can’t do the mold and the filling, and you are telling me I have to come back anyway, I would rather Travis get one shot next time, and not two! We can do everything next time!” She still has the shot in her hand and confirms, “Ok, I’ll do the mold today.” I say, “Ok” and before I know it she’s jamming the shot right up my son's mouth! I was in total shock. This was an assault. She seriously jammed that shot in his mouth, without warning my son, and was very violent with it! My son kicked his feet and screamed in pain as she did this. Again, I’m literally in shock at how violent she was giving him this shot! It seemed like the dentist just took out all of her frustrations right then and there, on my son, on a 14 year old victim. She does it a couple more times, very fast and very violent! Then she walks away, and says, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I was furious! In hindsight, I should have called the police immediately and filed an assault charge for this violent, erratic behavior!
My son just lay on the dental chair, with tears coming down his cheeks, crying, in lots of pain. I ask my son if he is ok, and he doesn’t even answer me. He just keeps crying and his eyes are squeezed shut. I start texting my husband and telling him exactly what is going on. The dentist didn’t come back to us for 25 minutes. I could hear her talking in the background to other people. She finally comes back to us, and this time she brings a dental assistant with her. She doesn’t even glance at me or acknowledge that I’m there, goes immediately to my son, opens his mouth, and shows the dental assistant the bleeding. Then she says, “I can’t do the molds with all this bleeding.” I interrupted their conversation, as I was sitting only about a foot from her, and said, “What do you mean you can’t do the molds! We just talked about this!” The dental assistant says, “We can’t work on Travis’ teeth while they are inflamed and bleeding.” I looked immediately back at the dentist and said again, “We just talked about this and you said you would do the molds!” The dentist repeats word for word what the dental assistant just said. I’m beyond furious at this point! “Why did you give him the shot if you aren’t going to do the molds? I told you to NOT to give him the shot unless you were going do them!” She shrugged at me AGAIN and just looked at the dental assistant. She turns to me and says, “You can’t bully me!” “WHAT?!” I said very loudly again, “I told you not to give him the shot unless you are going to do the molds! I said if you can’t do the molds today, then we will wait, and come back in a month when you can do the molds and I told you NOT to give him the shot just for a filling!” At this point I’m convinced there is something seriously off with this dentist, and her negligent care of my son. We continued to have heated exchanges back and forth for a few minutes. Then the dental assistant looks at my son and starts lecturing him about brushing his teeth and flossing. Huh? I was pretty much yelling at the dentist at this point, confronting her AGAIN, about how she violently shoved that needle in my son's mouth, scraped his gums to the point where there was blood all over his mouth, and how she just told me that she would do the molds, and now she’s telling me she won’t! So this dental assistant keeps talking about brushing and flossing to my son? I listen to it for about 10 seconds before I yell at her to STOP! “STOP! JUST STOP TALKING!” I looked at my son and I said, “We are done! We are leaving.” Worst dentist ever! And I made sure everyone in there heard me say that!
Today, one day later, My son's temporary crowns have completely come out. He now has two posts sticking out of his gums, his front teeth are now just posts! He also has severe pain in his gums where she scraped and scraped and poked them violently. My son is now deathly afraid of ever going to another dentist ever again!
I wish I could tell you the name of this dentist, I assumed it was “Potdar” as that was the name on the computer when we checked in. But when I did a quick google search of Potdar, turns out he is male, and was also working in the office that day. I don’t even know who was working on my son. I don’t even know if it was a real dentist! Whoever she is, and it probably won’t be hard to find out, should NOT be around anyone in this line of work. She was completely unprofessional, very erratic, had terrible communication skills, and acted very violently in scraping his gums, forcing them to bleed and become inflamed and the way she gave my son the shot…!?!!! My son told me she even squirted a bunch of the anesthetic into his mouth and he had to swallow it. We have never experienced this amount of trauma, distress, and negligence! What a total nightmare trip to the dentist!
In conclusion, this dentist acted unprofessional and irresponsible. She took out her frustrations about our conversation, and probably with me, on a 14-year old child by violently injecting anesthesia into his mouth, after violently scrapping his mouth with a dental tool. By definition, this is an assault on a minor child. This dentist should be reprimanded immediately for her actions and should not be working on other patients.
Additionally, and most importantly, My son, the victim in all of this, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. He deserves to receive professional dental treatment.
Western dental complaint & assault
I recently had an extremely upsetting and very unsettling experience with one of your dentists regarding negligent care, and possibly assault. I request that the dentist be terminated immediately, reprimanded for her actions, and/or re-trained in her profession. I also request that the work that was supposed to be done on my 14-year old son resume immediately. An apology letter to my son for the erratic care would be nice too.
On May 16, 2018, I brought my son into the Western Dental Office located at 921 South Main Street, Suite A, Salinas, California 93901. Our appointment was at 1:00 p.m., and we arrived 10-15 minutes early to check in. After a short wait in the waiting area, we were taken back to the patient area. Within a few minutes of being seated, one of the dental assistants brought over some paperwork, and started looking at the chart. I immediately confirmed with her that the reason we were here today was to get my son's permanent crowns. She said, “Yes” as she continued to look at her paper. When she put the paper down, she brought over a tray, which included a shot of local anesthesia. I immediately asked, “Does my son need a shot for this?” She said, “Yes.” “Why?” I asked. She said that I’ll have to ask the dentist. My son has severe anxiety at the dentist and started to tear up when he saw the shot on the tray.
Twenty minutes later, the dentist showed up. She picked up the paperwork, and I said, “We are doing the permanent crowns today, right?” She didn’t answer me. I waited another minute or two, and she starts to pick up a tool from the tray. I say again, “We are doing the permanent crowns today, right?” She ignored me again. Then she put the tool down on the tray, walked a couple feet away and sneezed into her gloves. I wanted to say something, but she was already ignoring me for some reason. It was extremely awkward and pretty insanitary that she just sneezed onto her gloves.
She comes back and picks up the paperwork again and looks confused. I say, “We are here to get my son's permanent crowns. Numbers 7 & 8 have already been approved, and you’ve already put the posts in. He has temporary crowns on them right now, and we need the permanent crowns. We were originally waiting for tooth number 9, but the insurance wouldn’t approve it, because 50% of the tooth isn’t gone.” She still doesn’t speak for about 20 seconds and then she finally speaks and says, “I remember. We have to do another mold.” “Why do we have to do another mold?” I asked. She says, “Because number 9 wasn’t approved.” I say, “Fine, let’s just do another mold and get this going please.” She puts the paperwork down, and I asked, “Why do you need to give my son a shot, when you are just doing a mold?” She says, “The mold has to go under the gums and it will hurt him.” Puzzled… as I’m wondering why a mold would hurt him, I just look at my son and tell him, “Sorry, I guess you have to get the shot.” She says very bluntly to him and the loudest I’ve heard her speak, “Yes! You are getting a shot!”
Then she proceeds to lower his dental chair, and she stares out the window the entire time. I’m wondering at this point whether she is on drugs or some heavy medication. My son was slipping off the chair and had to keep readjusting and she didn’t even make eye contact with him. She just kept lowering the chair as she stared out the window towards the Burger King across the street. My son was panicking a little as he kept staring at that shot. She ends up lowering the chair as far as it will go, all the way to the ground, briefly glances at him, and then raises the chair back up. She was just frozen, like a statue, staring out the window, with absolutely no expression on her face. It was a really strange moment.
So, she picks up a tool on the tray and starts picking at my son's teeth, numbers 7, 8 & 9. She pulls on the temporary crowns a bit, and then just continues to scrape and scrape and scrape, to the point where my son's gums start to bleed, a lot! She keeps scraping and scraping. She continues to do this for a few minutes. My son's eyes are squeezed shut and he has tears running down his cheeks as she is doing this. Then she says, “I can’t do the mold today.” “Why can’t you do the mold today?” I asked. She said, “because look. His gums are bleeding.” I say, “I just watched you poke that thing in his mouth numerous times, making him bleed!” She shrugs her shoulders. I say, “Did you really just shrug your shoulders at me?” She says, “I’m not doing the mold, but I can do a filling on his tooth number 9.” I said, “Tooth number 9 has had a recent root canal, he needs a filling too?” She says, “Yes.” Then she says, “He needs to brush and floss better, and then you guys can come back later.” I said, “Huh? I don’t understand why you are telling me now that you can’t do the mold? We came here for his permanent crowns.” She says, “He needs to go home and brush and floss for about a month and then come back.” I said, “I’m still confused as to why we are even doing this mold. You guys did this mold last time, and he has temporary crowns that you guys put on there. Now you’re telling me he needs a new mold and you’re telling me that you won’t even do the work and to come back in a month? We’ve been waiting over 2 years to get these crowns done. It’s been excuse after excuse with you guys.” She says, “You need to have him brush better like this…” and she takes the scraping tool again and runs it across his gums that are now highly inflamed! I yelled, “STOP! YOU ARE HURTING HIM!” Travis is crying a lot and is clearly in a lot of pain. She says, “If I do the molds, they might not take because his mouth is bleeding so bad.” “YOU JUST DID THAT!” I snapped back. So, she picks up the shot and starts to go towards my son's mouth and I yell again, “WAIT! STOP! STOP! DON’T!” I said, “I want to talk about this before you give him that shot. Don’t give him that shot while we are discussing this!” She puts the shot down and picks the paperwork back up. She says, “Ok, I’ll do the molds, but if it doesn’t take, you might have to come back.” “I said OK, it’s worth a try, we need to get this done for him.” She picks the shot back up and starts to go towards his mouth again, and says quietly to herself, “I can’t do the molds today.” “WAIT! STOP! STOP! DON’T!” I yelled again! I said, “Don’t give him that shot if you’re not going to do everything today! If you can’t do the mold and the filling, and you are telling me I have to come back anyway, I would rather Travis get one shot next time, and not two! We can do everything next time!” She still has the shot in her hand and confirms, “Ok, I’ll do the mold today.” I say, “Ok” and before I know it she’s jamming the shot right up my son's mouth! I was in total shock. This was an assault. She seriously jammed that shot in his mouth, without warning my son, and was very violent with it! My son kicked his feet and screamed in pain as she did this. Again, I’m literally in shock at how violent she was giving him this shot! It seemed like the dentist just took out all of her frustrations right then and there, on my son, on a 14 year old victim. She does it a couple more times, very fast and very violent! Then she walks away, and says, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I was furious! In hindsight, I should have called the police immediately and filed an assault charge for this violent, erratic behavior!
My son just lay on the dental chair, with tears coming down his cheeks, crying, in lots of pain. I ask my son if he is ok, and he doesn’t even answer me. He just keeps crying and his eyes are squeezed shut. I start texting my husband and telling him exactly what is going on. The dentist didn’t come back to us for 25 minutes. I could hear her talking in the background to other people. She finally comes back to us, and this time she brings a dental assistant with her. She doesn’t even glance at me or acknowledge that I’m there, goes immediately to my son, opens his mouth, and shows the dental assistant the bleeding. Then she says, “I can’t do the molds with all this bleeding.” I interrupted their conversation, as I was sitting only about a foot from her, and said, “What do you mean you can’t do the molds! We just talked about this!” The dental assistant says, “We can’t work on Travis’ teeth while they are inflamed and bleeding.” I looked immediately back at the dentist and said again, “We just talked about this and you said you would do the molds!” The dentist repeats word for word what the dental assistant just said. I’m beyond furious at this point! “Why did you give him the shot if you aren’t going to do the molds? I told you to NOT to give him the shot unless you were going do them!” She shrugged at me AGAIN and just looked at the dental assistant. She turns to me and says, “You can’t bully me!” “WHAT?!” I said very loudly again, “I told you not to give him the shot unless you are going to do the molds! I said if you can’t do the molds today, then we will wait, and come back in a month when you can do the molds and I told you NOT to give him the shot just for a filling!” At this point I’m convinced there is something seriously off with this dentist, and her negligent care of my son. We continued to have heated exchanges back and forth for a few minutes. Then the dental assistant looks at my son and starts lecturing him about brushing his teeth and flossing. Huh? I was pretty much yelling at the dentist at this point, confronting her AGAIN, about how she violently shoved that needle in my son's mouth, scraped his gums to the point where there was blood all over his mouth, and how she just told me that she would do the molds, and now she’s telling me she won’t! So this dental assistant keeps talking about brushing and flossing to my son? I listen to it for about 10 seconds before I yell at her to STOP! “STOP! JUST STOP TALKING!” I looked at my son and I said, “We are done! We are leaving.” Worst dentist ever! And I made sure everyone in there heard me say that!
Today, one day later, My son's temporary crowns have completely come out. He now has two posts sticking out of his gums, his front teeth are now just posts! He also has severe pain in his gums where she scraped and scraped and poked them violently. My son is now deathly afraid of ever going to another dentist ever again!
I wish I could tell you the name of this dentist, I assumed it was “Potdar” as that was the name on the computer when we checked in. But when I did a quick google search of Potdar, turns out he is male, and was also working in the office that day. I don’t even know who was working on my son. I don’t even know if it was a real dentist! Whoever she is, and it probably won’t be hard to find out, should NOT be around anyone in this line of work. She was completely unprofessional, very erratic, had terrible communication skills, and acted very violently in scraping his gums, forcing them to bleed and become inflamed and the way she gave my son the shot…!?!!! My son told me she even squirted a bunch of the anesthetic into his mouth and he had to swallow it. We have never experienced this amount of trauma, distress, and negligence! What a total nightmare trip to the dentist!
In conclusion, this dentist acted unprofessional and irresponsible. She took out her frustrations about our conversation, and probably with me, on a 14-year old child by violently injecting anesthesia into his mouth, after violently scrapping his mouth with a dental tool. By definition, this is an assault on a minor child. This dentist should be reprimanded immediately for her actions and should not be working on other patients.
Additionally, and most importantly, My son, the victim in all of this, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. He deserves to receive professional dental treatment.