Donald F Bowen DDS & Associates

Ghetto. My first time there some ghetto chic starts arguing with me because I signed in while she was waiting in the hall. So we exchange words and the office staff did nothing after that chic started it because i went to sign in. Like I know the process. I WOULD NEVER GO THERE AGAIN.

1000 e broad street
Columbus, OH
Worst dentist experience ever. They didn’t clean any of my teeth. They polished some stains out and then they flossed with string. Only the dentist removed tarter from one gap and said i needed caps for cavities that are not there. The dentist never looked me straight in the face the wait was terrible and none of their decisions were explained. 1 star is too kind they deserve 5 thumbs down. I should have left when i did not see any tools prepared for cleaning and no bedside sink to rinse. My daughter was not even assisted to rinse at the hand sanitation sink and had to wait for her mom who also had a similar experience as me with little attention to cleaning and unexplained decisions.
I never though I would be so enraged after a visit with a dentist, I love the dentist, but this office does not have a dentist at least one that isn’t a fraud or committing fraud. Oh and it was dirty inside and shared a wait room with a health clinic.

Wonderful staff and Dentists! They made me feel very comfortable and did a great job on my crown.

I had a tooth infection and they said i should start my antibiotic prescription immediately but they forgot to call it in to CVS. Now i have to wait until tomorrow. Very unprofessional.

STAY AWAY!!! Walking in, you know this place is scary. The receptionist is rude, and the «office» and equipment is from the stone ages. Despite the extremely odd and outdated office and employees, my biggest gripe is that they CHARGED MY INSURANCE COMPANY INCORRECTLY. I went simply for fillings and somehow they charged me for a cleaning, which never occurred. Please, anyone who is considering this place, for your health and money, STAY AWAY!

Do not go to this dentists office. First, the front desk offers terrible customer service. They are impatient and unkind on the phone. The filling that I received was done so poorly that I had to get it taken out and have a crown placed on top so that my tooth wouldn’t break down. They also overcharged me for my services compared to the newer, higher-​end dentist office I go to now. Your teeth are not something you want to leave to these people.

Super scary place and I literally walked out after a toothless guy said that this dentist did that to him… Yikes!

I’m a no-​frills kind of person. I don’t need a lot of fanciness to think I’ve had a good medical experience. However, a trip to the dentist should not feel like an admissions exam for Shutter Island.
To say this dental office is «no frills» would be an understatement. You arrive to check in and sit in the hallway on high school cafeteria chairs. When the tattooed receptionist finally gets around to greeting you (5 – 10 minutes later), she tells you to go back in the hallway and wait.
Oh, and wait you do. You wait in the hall, you wait in the examination chair, you wait everywhere. All the while staring at dirty walls and stained carpets, not a magazine in sight.
It’s not so fun to sit and wait while listening to one of the hygienists screech about her freckle-​lightening cream, which apparently has not yet worked on her legs. It’s pretty alarming to be ushered into the «x-​ray room», (not a real room but a corner with a partial wall) and have a lead vest thrust at me before I could remove my coat and purse. «Hold it» the hygienist said. Since it had no straps to speak of, I clutched it against my organs while I literally felt the x-​rays zapping my skull (is that normal?).
I then waited 40 minutes to be seen by the dentist. Since I had no magazine and was growing uncomfortable gazing at the filth of the place, I asked a hygienist passing by if someone could actually start cleaning my teeth. «The doctor will be right in», she snapped, without breaking pace.
Granted, the doctor gave me a quick exam that got me out of the office within the hour. But wait… a 45 minute wait and a 10 minute «cleaning» and «exam” — is that good or bad? It was a quick scrape and polish. No floss, no rinse, no courtesy.
Bad. So bad. Bad bad bad.

Yay for having dental insurance! As soon as I was on my own health insurance for the first time and dental benefits were awarded to me (just a few months ago!), I found what dentists were covered by my plan and came upon Dr. Bowen’s practice. It is within walking distance from my house, so I decided I should give it a try. I was new to Columbus dentists and had only been to family dentists back home in nowheresville.
So I found the number and gave the place a call. I was surprised when they said they’d take me as a new customer later that week. So, later that week, I walked over to the dentist’s office for my appointment, which was pretty early in the morning, I think around 8:30 or so.
The place wasn’t exactly easy to spot. There weren’t really any signs on the outside, it was just the address printed by the door. I can’t really speak much about the parking, but it looked as if there were some spots right in front, but they may have been metered.
Upon walking in, I was confused. Where was the dentist’s office? I was standing at the end of a long hallway that looked as if it was in the middle of a remodeling process. I made my way down the hallway and turned the corner at the end to find a dentist’s office. Kind of.
The entire place looked as if it was being remodeled. Off to the left of the area at the end of the hallway was more hallway and more construction. To the right was a row of chairs (the waiting area) and past that, the front desk. I walked up to the desk and a very friendly receptionist greeted me and had me sign in and fill out some paperwork. She seemed swamped with the phone ringing off the hook and there were a lot of people in the office coming to her with questions, but she maintained her cheerful demeanor.
While I was filling out my paperwork some elderly people came in and I got the impression that the receptionist was used to dealing with them and she had to tell them to sit down and wait about 10 times. When I handed her my finished paperwork she rolled her eyes at them and giggled to me like I knew the inside joke. I didn’t, but I returned the smile anyway.
I only had to wait about 10 minutes for my name to be called, and then I was off to a little side room with a very large X-​ray machine in it. The nurse was pretty nice and a little chatty, but in a good way. She had me kind of wear this big lead vest thing while the machine took X-​rays of my whole face, while I was biting down on those things — I don’t know what they’re called. She was nice about putting them in my mouth, though. And she wore gloves.
Then I was escorted to a dentist’s chair in the craziest office I’ve ever seen. Let me see if I can paint this picture for you: Open cubicles, each one with a dentist chair, each one a different dentist office I suppose, kind of out in the open so not really any privacy except you’re facing the back wall and each «office» is sectioned off from each other so when you’re in one you can’t see what’s going on next to you. Not like I was needing privacy, but if that’s your thing, this is probably not your place.
The doctor came in and didn’t even introduce himself, so I can’t tell you which one it was. He and the nurse proceeded to clean my teeth — with the scrapey thing I hate, and then the nurse had this vacuum she kept in my mouth the whole time to suck out my saliva (gross, I know) and it kept sticking to my tongue and that just was not fun. Then she’d use this thing that squirted water in my mouth and suck out the water with the vacuum. I’ve always been used to spitting out the water in a little sink. Not here. They go vacuum happy, and it’s not that bad, it’s just awkward and loud and a little frightening if you’re not used to it.
Then the dentist showed me the X-​ray of my entire skull. Just whipped it out in front of my face and it was very unsettling to suddenly be staring at a photo of your own skull that was staring back at you. The nurse said, «Oh, I forgot to have you take your earrings off! Haha!» And sure enough, my skull X-​ray was wearing huge hoop earrings, making it even more freakishly me. Not cool.
But they proceeded to tell me that I had beautiful teeth and lightly scolded me for not flossing everyday and then they gave me a toothbrush and two little packages of floss. And that’s it, I was done. It was by far my quickest trip to the dentist, ever. And with my insurance, I didn’t even have a copay. The receptionist gave me a friendly goodbye as I walked back towards the hallway.
So everyone here was really nice, I was just a little overwhelmed by the X-​ray (sure I’ve gotten them before, but never quite like this) and the lack of privacy and the speediness of the whole process. It did feel a little rushed. And I should mention that it was kind of loud and crazy and cluttered in there. And the construction made it look… not so great. Hopefully when the construction is completed it will look and feel a lot more comfortable in there.