Kirksey Charles D, DDS – LLC & Associates

Currently filing a complaint against Charles D. Kirksey, DDS with the Commonwealth of VA’s Department of Health Professionals Enforcement Division.
It’s that bad.
Here’s why:
Went in to this practice on a Sunday with extreme mouth pain and a 103 – 104 degree fever due to an infection.
Was charged $ 300 almost immediately for what Kirksey’s assistant indicated as «weekend rates». Kirksey wasn’t present for this.
Later, when I was told that nothing could be done for me at their office (after an unexplained CT scan and a couple DSLR photos taken of my mouth), Dr. Kirksey tells me that he’s going to waive his regular «weekend» fee for me. My wife and I say that we’d already been charged for that by his assistant. I show him the receipt. Dr. Kirksey pauses for a bit and eventually says «oh, no, that was for something else». Still don’t know what that charge was for.
He claimed at one point the $ 300 was for X-​Rays… which is pretty impressive, seeing as how he hadn’t even seen me at that point yet and thus wouldn’t have known what X-​Rays I’d need. He also claimed that it was for a «deposit» to ensure that he and his people were compensated at least something for coming in on the weekend. His story changed on the multiple requisite phone calls made to his office.
The itemized bill I had had to request after the fact does not match what happened/​was billed the day of my visit. There is still no concrete explanation for why I was charged twice that day. All rates listed on my bill were «adjusted» per Kirksey’s own admission. Which… kind of defeats the point of a rate, doesn’t it? How else can you be sure you’re paying for what you’re supposed to be if the vendor can just change up or down to fit the final total?
In the middle of the inspection, Kirksey asks me how I heard of his practice. I tell him Unilocal.He wants specifics. He literally stops checking my mouth and has me shown him, step by step, how I used my phone to find him on Unilocal.I did this while my teeth were literally chattering due to my fever.
To this day, as I write this, his office has failed to file claims with either my dental insurance provider or my medical insurance provider. Inexplicably. When you call his office to ask why, you’re told that you «have to wait to speak to the bookkeeper who only works between 2 and 6PM». When you get her on the phone? She puts you on hold and then passes you off to Kirksey or someone else. Rinse, repeat.
To each their own… If you’ve had a good experience here, I’m certainly glad. But I 100% believe I was taken advantage of in a very weakened state by this office. And, in my area, this office is one of the only ones open on the weekend if you need emergency attention.
So again, your experience may be different, but mine was completely muddy and still ongoing.
Buyer beware.

—It’s a nightmare
—horrible experience
—do not like the treatment
—was charged $ 10,005
—big mistake to choose him, unfortunately, it’s too late when I recognized it.

Dr Kirksey took me in on a snowy Sunday night after breaking my front tooth. He not only opened his doors for me but also helped with advice for the legal side of things. Him and his assistant Diana spent 5 hours repairing my broken tooth and a few months later I have a perfect smile. He is direct and to the point which can catch you off guard, but he only means well and does amazing work. Almost look at him like a father figure with all the advice he gives about my mouth and life!

On a Sunday about a year and a half ago, a tooth that had been bothering me a little bit for a while suddenly became very painful, and my cheek swelled up. My regular dentist didn’t do emergency/​after hours calls, so I did an Internet search for a local dentist who did, which is how I found Dr. Kirksey’s office. I called, and he answered the phone himself; when I described my symptoms, he told me to meet him at the office in an hour. Turned out I had a granuloma and he did a root canal that day.
I switched to Dr. Kirksey as my regular dentist after that. I have a horrible gag reflex and a lot of anxiety about dental visits, but he’s gentle and patient. Same goes for his partner in the practice, Dr. Simanek. At my last appointment, one of the assistants was having trouble doing an X-​ray on me (like I said, bad gag reflex), and Dr. Simanek, who happened to be walking by, came in and got the X-​ray done without gagging me.
The staff at the practice are efficient and gentle; some are better than others, of course, but I have no real complaints aside from «I really hate having things poked in my mouth.» :-) I won’t say I look forward to the dentist — there’s probably no one on this earth who could do that — but this is one of the better practices I’ve gone to.
My one complaint about Dr. Kirksey: he tends to berate his assistants. I get the impression that some of them are still in training, so I understand that he’s trying to teach them to do things right, but he could be a little nicer about it, especially in front of patients.

Wow.
If you read my other reviews you will note that I always try to write an honest appraisal: the good, the bad and the ugly as the saying goes. It could also be said that while I am not as frequent of a reviewer as most people seem to be I do bring a lot of passion to the table. Thus I tend to write a review when I am «moved» (aka: passionate!) in either direction, i.e. thumbs up or down.
I have been to a number of dentists over the past few years, basically ever since I was in an accident that caused me to lose some of my back teeth. My dental situation has been rather challenging subsequently and I am going through the whole drawn out (long) and expensive process of getting everything fixed.
Recently I was in the Washington DC area for business. While there I had a major dental emergency. This was especial worrisome due to the fact that it was a weekend (Sunday to be specific) and I had some important meetings on Monday and Tuesday.
I contacted the front desk of the hotel as well as the concierge. More often than not good hotels have a roster of medical and other personnel that are available on an emergency basis. In this instance they were not able to help with a solution, pointing out the obvious that it was on a Sunday. Undeterred I began to do my own research on my quest to find a doctor (dentist) on Sunday. But as it turned out I found a dentist that was willing to see me on Sunday, in Fairfax Virginia. He indicated that he would be willing to call one of his dental assistants and that they would both meet me at his office. From my hotel to his office was a bit of a hike but thanks to Über I made it there in fine time.
What happened next surprised me in a major way. What I found (I should say «who» I found) was an extremely capable dentist and top notch dental assistant (a young man named Ali) that went way, way above and beyond the call of duty.
To begin with he did a complete oral exam. He took x-​rays of the two teeth that were ailing me. When he indicated that he also wanted a panoramic x-​ray (the expensive kind that operates in a circular motion and enables the practitioner and patient to see every tooth both top and bottom) as well as a 3D image (even more expensive) I wanted to focus simply on the teeth that were causing me a severe problem and that compelled me to see a dentist on a Sunday in the first place. No doubt in my mind that all of this was going to be time-​consuming and expensive. After all, when was last time a dentist saw me on a Sunday? NEVER.
As it turns out I am very very glad that they took the extra images of my mouth. This gave the doctor a much better overview and it enabled he and I to have a much more informative discussion. And as for the cost: NOTHING. Yes, he did charge what I considered to a MORE than reasonable office visit charge but he refused to take ANY money for the two enhanced images. I know what those things cost and they are far from inexpensive. In fact he INSISTED that I not pay for those films (or whatever the 3D imaging is called.) He then offered to remove a lower back tooth AT NO CHARGE because it was infected and needed to come out on an emergency basis. (I left the tooth in because I didn’t want to have an extraction immediately prior to some key business meetings.)
After being at his office for almost three hours and having REMARKABLE work done on an emergency basis and that helped get me through my meetings I began to think about my visit to this doctor and his office on a SUNDAY for goodness sakes.
The fact that he got me out of pain and genuinely helped me get through my business meetings was exceptional. BUT BEYOND doing that I had a very informed discussion with him and he was so impressive that I almost wish I had recorded every word and every sentence. Oh, and here is what he charged me for all of the x-​rays: NOTHING. I paid only for the office visit, which turned into a three hour event as necessary. Elsewhere the charge for what he did would have been well over $ 1000.00 dollars and maybe much more.
What this dentist saw was a patient away from home and in significant distress. As I was leaving I said: «Where have you been all my life?» He was so good and so gifted in terms of his skill set that I am actually considering flying back and forth over the next year or so just to have him help me finish resolving all dental issues as I finish getting my mouth back in shape. This guy and his son (also a dentist) and his dental assistant are quite simply the best dental team that I have ever had, period. I hope to see them all again soon. When it comes to dentists I know talent, and this guy and his son and dental assistant are about as talented as it gets. I now consider myself rather lucky re: dentists: a great one where I am working, another where I live and now a true superstar in Washington DC. Totally an amazing and unexpected experience.

Found this place in the phone book… HORRIBLE experience! I was told I needed braces during my first visit which was partially true. However, during my visits over the course of 2 yrs I only saw the dentist for about 1 min (or less) during each visit. The dental assistants basically serve as orthodontists. Furthermore, the dentist is an old windbag who yells, demeans, and berates all his employees in front of the patients. The atmosphere in this place is not a good one. in addition, I was told I needed a filling just about every visit. This consisted of another dentist drilling a tooth for 2 – 3 min and telling me I was done. The crescendo was when I told the dentist that my teeth have been straight for about 6 months now and that I thought it would be good to take the braces off he insisted that I put the remaining $ 900 balance (we set up a payment plan for $ 150/​month at the beginning) on a credit card or the braces were staying on (true story). I’m sorry, the REAL crescendo was when I got my braces off I was told that I now need FOUR CROWNS which were going to cost $ 800 each!!! Yeah you get the picture… DON’T GO TO THIS PLACE or better yet go for one visit just to see what everyone on Unilocal is talking about THEN do not go again!

Writing this review based on the experience of my wife and I…
I can see how some other reviewers can find Dr. Kirksey a bit direct when giving his advice, but I see this more as a positive: he’s going to tell you his professional opinion and get right to the point, with no BS… Both my wife and I appreciate that, some people may not. So that’s something to consider, but I think it’s helpful to know that going in…
As a dentist I can say the experience with Dr. Kirksey has been fantastic. My wife needed an emergency procedure, Dr. Smilek saw her right away, and fixed the issue.
After the procedure we met with Dr. Kirksey about getting braces along some special considerations for my wife… he was thorough, sometimes saw us multiple times in the same day for adjustments with little notice, and really has taken the time to make sure my wife was comfortable through the process.
Beyond that the facility is brandnew, as is the equipment, the dental nurses are young, but really good, and Dr. Kirksey is always involved. Really happy we found Dr. Kirksey and Fairfax Family Dental!

This is the 4^th review I have posted for this dentist and for someone reason Unilocal IS DELETING MY REVIEWS. I have no agenda other then informing the community of my wonderful experience with this practice.
My daughter had her two front permanent teeth broken during an after school activity and we were unable to get an appointment at our regular dentist.
We were able to get an appointment in 10 minutes with. Dr. Kirksey. Dr. Kirksey and his staff are fantastic. My daughter had to have 2 route canals and temporary teeth done, the process took 5 hours but Dr. Kirksey and his staff were professional from beginning to end. Dr. Kirksey was wonderful and caring with my daughter during the entire process and my daughter’s temporary caps looked almost as perfect as her original teeth. I highly recommend this dentist, he made this traumatic event for all of us bearable. Thank you Dr. Kirksey. and your staff for a job well done with our daughter, we will be back, hopefully under preventative circumstances next time.

Horrible experience … Very rude and unprofessional. Just trying to rob me… will never go back here… didn’t do any treatment here after hearing all bs and now it they send me a bill of $ 170 …

I had a tooth ache on a weekend. I called my regular dentist office and they said they would charge an on call fee to come in to the office on a Saturday so I called around looking for an open dentist on a Saturday. I found Dr. Kirksey online. I was told they were open and to come in right away before they closed. When I arrived, I was examined by Dr. Kirksey for 3 minutes when he told me the cost was already $ 600 including $ 300 for an emergency weekend visit (not reimbursable by insurance) and another $ 300 for the 3-​minute consult without any procedures performed yet. He made me feel like if I walked out now, I would owe $ 600 and if I had a problem the next day (Sunday) I would not be able to be seen by any dentist so I just let him do a root canal. My total bill was $ 1200 when I walked out of the office. I felt very coerced and I feel that it was very unprofessional of him not to disclose his emergency office visit fee until after he had me in the chair. Stay away if you don’t want to be ripped off.