Greater Washington Endodontics and Periodontics

Called for same day appointment and they gave me one. Not knowing exactly were my tooth pain was coming from, Dr Pollock exactly pinpointed the pain. He proceeded with the treatment plan and pain went away… The staff was friendly and provided Spanish translation… Fully statisfied with this dental experience…

Dr. Pollock was great when I had my root canal done and the rest of the staff were super too.

So here’s what has happened since. The office manager reached out, apologized, & offered help. I felt a little better about the situation, I was moving on. The follow up was at the Woodbridge office (hoping for a better experience), initially I was seen at the Arl. office, a day before my follow up, they called me and asked to reschedule my appt. because they scheduled a staff meeting. Umm. I already requested off from work and made other plans for the rest of my day. no, I’m not rescheduling! I show up and the girl sitting behind the desk is the one who sees me. Not the doctor… she says she’s «trained». ok whatever. I’m hoping to never come back here. AND THEN my other tooth flared up (it was originally 2 teeth I was getting work done on) and I needed another root canal (lucky right?). The last time I checked my insurance, the next closest was 25 min., remembering how horrible I felt after the last go round, I opted to go back. I figured perhaps the because the receptionist who did my f/​u was nice, I’d go back. BIG MISTAKE. BIG GIANT MISTAKE! I must enjoy making myself miserable. I get taken back to the room, the girl asks me which tooth it is? I say, «I don’t know the #, it’s the one behind the one you guys just did». She hangs up my old X-​ray. I look over and say «Oh, that one there», she replies with, «you still need an X-​ray», umm… ok. I say to her «Who said anything about not doing an X-​ray?» she says. «well it’s been over 3 months, so you have to get one». and I respond with «I’m not sure what you’re talking about, who said anything about not getting an x-​ray? If you have to do an X-​ray, do an X-​ray» (exit assistant lady while I’m talking– yea, she walked out of the room). me sitting there. another lady comes in and looks at my X-​ray, and says, «I’ll ask the doctor about the X-​ray, and see if she can use it?» I respond with «I thought you guys were doing an X-​ray, the other lady said you couldn’t use that one?», she responds with «Well she said you didn’t want an X-​ray?» WTF? Really? I correct her, the lady lied to you, I said no such thing, she asked me which tooth it was, and I pointed it out, and she started ranting about the dang X-​ray. Ugh. move on people. in comes Dr. she comes in rubbing sanitizer all over her hands, not waiting until her hands dry, and shakes mine. thanks for the sanitizer lady and the nasty wet handshake!.. She asks me questions, starts to do an exam, and then takes the bottom of her metal tool, and starts tapping on the teeth, she gets to the one that needs to root canal and I flinch, and tell her that it’s going to hurt, she says, «I need to do the exam», and I say, «I know, but you’re going to hurt me, and I don’t want to be hurt», and she then says, «well I need to do the exam, and I say I get that, but I don’t want to be hurt, and if you do that, it’s going to hurt», she then replies with «well if I don’t do it, I can’t do the exam», and I told her that «I get that, but you are hitting my teeth, and that one hurts really bad, and I don’t want to be hurt, I’ve already been traumatized through the last experience with your last doctor, and I don’t really want to be hurt, but I guess you don’t care about that, so if you have to hurt me then just do it, I just want to get this over and done with and get back to my life», and then she responds with, «I think you have an attitude with me…» WHAAATTTT??? I interrupted her and told her that I am not going to be irritated anymore by their office, I took off my bib, and walked out of the chair. I went to Lake Ridge Endodontics (See my awesome review on them)

Their participating Dr. Richard Pollock (they have 6) was arrogant and unprofessional! I saw this doctor at the Greater Washington Endodontics at their 3801 Fairfax Drive, Arlington Office (they have another office in Falls Church). He was annoyed because I had a couple of questions with regard to root canals and my two options that he mentioned. I asked him to provide a report explaining my options because I needed more time to think about it and discuss options with my husband. He refused to give me a report! And said I had to sign «Patient Permission for Endodontic Treatment» (pic attached). Mind you, this was a consultation –i wasn’t getting anything done with him and his abrasive attitude! Also, I had filled out the endless paperwork the ladies at the reception had already given me and they already verified my dental coverage! I mean what am I going to do with the report? It’s not like I was going to take it and run to Mexico! I simply wanted a better understanding of the entire procedure! Horrible experience! To add insult to injury, I called them a couple of hours later with regard to an inquiry my dental health insurance had, they just kept putting me on hold then hanging up on me until a nice lady finally gave me the info. I needed! I should’ve just read the reviews on Unilocal first!

Extremely disappointed with this practice. They run the business not by providing quality, but by chasing the money.
I went to the practice with terrible toothache, and they did a full hour of evaluation to find «nothing wrong» with the tooth. However, not only I had to pay for the evaluation, but later I found out that they did something peculiar that my insurance does not cover at all.
My toothache got worsened after I was sent home. Two days later I visited the office again, and was told that the tooth was badly infected and I needed a root canal. So what were you thinking when I came in the first time???
Before the doing root canal, the staff did show me the estimated out-​of-​pocket costs, which was about $ 350. But what they didn’t do intentionally was to explain that they’d use all of my annual allowance for insurance coverage. That means, no dollar left for a crown. Unfortunately, I found out that too late. I ended up having to wait a full year to get a crown because I didn’t want to pay another $ 800 for a crown.
A few weeks after the treatment, they sent another $ 100 bill for services during the root canal that were «not anticipated». Completely outrageous. My out-​of-​pocket expense and insurance payout for this episode ended up to top $ 1,300– and that was already a negotiated rate! The average expense of a root canal in my area is about $ 850, only 65% of what they charged for. Thanks for this information from my insurance website. How I wish I had done this research earlier. The bottomline is that you can easily get the same quality of service with way less money than this place!

Dr. Sidor did an amazing job. The staff is awesome also. I would highly recommend them!

I had my first root canal today. Needless to say, I was expecting a trip to hell and back because of all the horror stories told by friends and family. I went in with tense shoulders and a constipated look on my face. The receptionist warmly greeted me and was very friendly. Then I went to the scary little room, where Deedee, Dr Pollock’s assistant, escorted me to the dreaded chair. She was very sweet, and explained everything she was doing, from the safety glasses to the X-​ray. She also offered me a bite block, which I eagerly accepted.
Dr Pollock came in after 15 minutes, and introduced himself. He explained everything: This is your infected tooth, this is the decay, this is what we are going to do. Great, can’t wait, I thought… as I imagined planning an escape route in case I couldn’t handle the pain. He numbed me up with a couple shots of novocaine. 20 minutes later, I couldn’t feew my mouf. He didn’t explain every move he was making, which I was quite alright with because I didn’t want to know. I closed my eyes and prayed for the best. I’m pretty sure I was scrunching my face, because he kept asking if I was ok. Yes, I was just fine, just nervous for no reason at all. Next thing I knew, 30 minutes later, he was sealing up my tooth. All done! he said. I hadn’t felt a thing except my shoulders, which were sore from scrunching. The assistant hooked me up with a couple of different crazy analgesic prescriptions, yet I haven’t been in any pain at all, up to 24 hours later. I’m still taking this opportunity to have ice cream for dinner.
I don’t know how I could give a root canal procedure 5 stars, but if it happens again, I’m definitely coming back to Dr Pollock.