Carol L Aiken, DDS

I have been a patient of Dr. Aiken for over 20 years now and would never consider another dentist. She has done multiple crowns for me over the years and every one has been a smooth and relatively painless experience. In addition her staff is professional, courteous and caring.
Dr. Aiken’s dental assistants do a great job of performing cleanings, explaining the process and results. Dr. Aiken always does a follow up check on my teeth after the cleaning and asks about my family and friends.
In short, if you want excellent professional dental care, seek no further!

Seriously, if you live in the Boston area and you need a dentist, check our Carol L. Aiken, DDS. I’ve been to maybe seven dentists in my life and her office is the best. Everyone who works there is super skilled and also friendly and considerate. Also everything is really high tech. And they do Saturday appointments one week a month. And they give you way better free chapstick than other dentist’s offices. Fig flavored.
Ah, also, their office is one block from the Downtown Crossing subway station.

Dr. Aiken and her team were very nice, professional and I was given excellent treatment and care. I’ve had some bad experiences with dentists but will definitely become a Dr. Aiken regular! Highly recommend it.

I went to Dr. Aiken for my first dental checkup in I can’t remember how many years-​after writing them an e-​mail they got in touch with me within twenty four hours to schedule an appointment. They worked with my admittedly crazy schedule (4 nights a week at a hospital) and kept in contact with me regarding my scheduled appointment well. After the Green Line ran late, I arrived at their office to be told that I didn’t have to be rescheduled that they could still see me, and after filling out a few pieces of the usual paperwork, I was speeded through a friendly, easy cleaning and full set of x-​rays. What impressed me most was how the hygienists, office staff, and Dr. Aiken all work together seamlessly. The whole place is a well oiled machine.
Dr. Aiken is friendly, and funny! She sat me down and went over the problems I was having in a comprehensive, understandable way. I didn’t get chided for not flossing (though she of course recommended that I floss more often as good dentists should!) and she hooked me up with a free whitening pen! I’m headed back next week to get some more work done and for the first time in my life, actually looking forward to visiting a dentist!

Great! So, I’m going to ramble on for a bit starting now:
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I do not like going to the dentist. If I can make up any excuse not to go, I’m not going. Maybe this is because I was in a long-​term relationship with a dentist once who was pretty ruthless when it came to my dental care. So, I’ve had some pretty bad experiences, and I’ve also heard him and his dentist friends talk about their scare tactics. So, when I arrive to see a dentist, I am both uncomfortable and skeptical.
So ten years later (okay, not really ten, but… well… actually closer to ten than I’d like to admit), for the first time in my life, I actually had tooth pain that wouldn’t go away. I’ve had cavities and «pre-​cavities,» but I’ve never actually had tooth pain (I’m also not really sure that I believe that «pre-​cavities» are a thing; I’m pretty sure those are just called «teeth»). Anyway, now, knowing zero dentists whom I trusted, I needed to find one.
I decided to see Carol Aiken because my spouse suggested her. She happened to be in my office building, and when I saw her Unilocal reviews, I thought she seemed like a good choice.
I went in for the first cleaning & x-​rays the same day I called. Everyone in the office was nice – not Boston nice; they were like Southern nice (don’t pretend like there is no difference, Bostonians, y’all know you take a few minutes to warm up to folks).
The front desk manager was just the best (friendly, attentive, all around great). Then, I saw the dental hygienist, who did the x-​rays and cleaning. She talked with me and answered all of my questions, even my ridiculous questions, like «which is better for your teeth a vodka-​soda or a vodka-​OJ» (the answer may surprise you, folks; it’s vodka-​OJ). Then, the dentist reviewed my x-​rays with me. She showed me what she was looking at, and never said anything scary to me. She actually never even told me that there was a time period in which I had to fill any cavities. She just made a wishlist of her top three cavities to fill, and left it up to me.
So, since then, I’ve been in to take care of cavity site #1. I struck my normal, OMG-​a-​dentist-​is-​about-​to-​drill-​into-​me pose, which is ankles crossed, hands laid over my chest (just in case I need to grab someone’s drill away), breath held.
Dr. Aiken took a minute to help me calm down (so I didn’t move my hands out of the drill grabbing position, but I did resume breathing). When the procedure began, I couldn’t feel a thing, I could barely even feel the vibration. It was so painless that pretty soon I was able to lower my hands to a natural position like a normal person.
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Okay, done rambling:
In short: really friendly, no scare tactics or high pressure sales, and as pain-​free as can be. Also, plenty of personalized attention and information (Afterward, she also told me that Korea’s favorite non-​sugar sweetener, xylitol, prevents cavities! Who knew?!)
Out of all the dentists that I’ve met and/​or been a patient of, this one is definitely my favorite.
P. S. The lip balm she has there is better than Burt’s Bees & Lush.

If you’re downtown and looking for a good dentist, call the office of Carol Aiken. She and her dental hygienist were both very thorough. Definitely the most thorough dental exam I’ve had in a long time, with both my teeth and mouth were thoroughly examinated. I paid privately, as I don’t have dental insurance, and the price was right for the level of care I received. You can certainly pay less elsewhere, but it likely won’t be as thorough. I also was given a box of high end teeth whitening treatments since I mentioned I found the office on Unilocal,so that was really nice too.
Credit cards (and FSA credit cards!) are accepted, so that made my visit really easy.

Smile on, Bostonians.
Dr. Aiken’s practice is convenient, friendly, and just the right level of treatment for someone like me. I always leave feeling like she and her team care about my health, but are not pushing me to take on cosmetic procedures that I don’t need, or needlessly making me feel guilty about not flossing as much as I know I should (really, who does??).
Most of all, I love having a reliable, affordable, kind dentist near my work who I can see at lunch if I have an emergency, in the morning before work for my bi-​yearly cleaning, and call anytime to schedule an appointment. Definitely not giving up this dentist anytime soon — luckily, even with all the people who stick around, she still always has room for new patients. Win!

Okay, just wrote my first review, and it was a scathing (but honest) one expressing total disappointment with my (now former) community health center, and so I need to cleanse my palate, channel positive energy, and rave about something good. No challenge to come up with somebody to write about in that light… it would be my dentist and her staff. These women rock.
Having read the first reviewer’s glowing assessment of Dr. Aiken, and being in need of a dentist since my last (great) dentist, Dr. Jon Ochab, moved to the ‘burbs, I called to see if Dr. A was taking new patients. To my amazement she had something available that very week, and her office then called me back to see if I wanted to take a slot even earlier which had just opened up. I jumped at the chance, and from that first cleaning/​exam on, with every procedure and visit, I have only become more and more impressed with the whole staff, the way they treated me and interacted with me, the vibe in the office, the care… EVERYTHING. Beyond the things I NEEDed done, they also talked WITH me about teeth whitening (something I’ve been curious about), explained the regimen/​products they use, and didn’t try to «sell» me on it. I made the decision that I wanted to have it done, had it done, and it made a big difference. Totally feel like I got results, and more than I paid for.
Seriously, it’s all been great. My only hesitation about recommending them is that, if you’re all smart, you’ll all catch on, and sign on, and it will be hard for me to get an appointment in the future. But, so be it. I can’t keep a good thing to myself.
Dr. Aiken, and her entire crew, are a good thing. If you need a dentist, pick up the phone and call, right now. Don’t put it off another day. Everybody deserves good dental care, and Dr. Aiken will provide it. So do this for yourself.

Dr. Aiken is a wonderful dentist who has a professional, gentle, and calm approach, and a well-​informed, downtown dental practice.
All of her hygienists follow after her. I’m never chided for not flossing or not doing this or that, although, I’m definitely given full disclosure. She also has the latest doohickeys to provide as painless a visit as possible. I’ve been going to her for something like 7 years, and will continue to do so as long as I have teeth, which, thanks to her, should be a very long time.

Dr Aiken is extremely knowledgeable and pleasant. She is thorough but will not recommend any superfluous (and costly) procedures. Her staff is super friendly as well.
As someone who has had a mild fear of dentists (after years of orthodontics hell), she has made me feel very welcome and comfortable!