First Dental

Bob M. Wow! When the heck does anyone say wow unless they are writing about a restaurant. Trust me I know being a part of First Dental in Medford. Well living in Charlestown and working in Wakefield and going to First Dental in Medford on the Recommendation of a friend for six crowns, fillings, cleanings… Wellllllllllllllll­llllllllllllll…but I did. Well you should to. Dr: G was Awesome. Explains everything he is doing. What he recommends. I am to long in tooth (Get my Drift) and a Salesman to let someone pull something over me. Honest and just bang right to the point of what is, and what will happen… preventative talk. I am not related, not a friend… well now I am… so if you want a great dentist… hhhmmm…dentist and office, and staff… listen they only allow a five star here. this place from the hello to the Goodbye is a ten. For a restaurant… we hope to get a wow. From this restaurant guy… let me tell you, you get a wow of a dental practice. Go for it.

I’m not even sure how to explain my experience at First Dental. What I will say for those of you who don’t have time to read my entire review is– DO NOT GO HERE. I don’t think I’ve ever written a poor review on Unilocal so I guess there is a first for everything…
It started before my husband and I even got there. He made an appointment for their Somerville Ave location and then, the day before the appointment, he was told we’d actually have to go to Medford. We weren’t thrilled, but hey– it could always be worse! And then it was.
When we got to the Medford location, the receptionists seemed nice. We sat for a little while waiting to be called back and they were chatting, chatting, chatting about everything under the sun. Still, not such a big deal. What WAS a big deal, though, came next. When I was called back, I was moved chairs several times as if the assistant was on the first day of the job. She took my x-​rays in one chair, then told me to move, then told me not yet– to go sit back down– then told me to move again.
When I was finally moved to another chair, another assistant came over to me, pointed to my husband and said «Oh! Is that your son??». I don’t look a day over 28 at most (I’m 26 and most people think I’m still a teenager half the time) and when I corrected her and said «You mean my husband?» she looked at me in disbelief and said «No, no… that must be your son.» This went on for about a minute or two where she absolutely didn’t believe that the man next to me with a full beard, was my 26 year-​old husband. I was horrified-​such rude staff! Beyond that, my husband and I both got the worst cleanings of our lives– he had toothpaste all over his face when he was done and mine felt like nothing but a normal toothbrushing that I can do for myself at home. When we were finally done, on our way out, the dentist stopped us and said he thinks he wanted us to have another x-​ray done. It turns out the assistants didn’t know what they were doing– shocker! So we had to go back in and get MORE x-​rays done.
While all of this was happening, the receptionists were running around like chickens without their heads, the assistants were totally confused and the doctor was ACTUALLY rolling his eyes at everything going on. What a joke of a dental practice!
TO TOP IT OFF: When I got home that day, I realized there was further discoloration of some bonding I had on my front tooth. I will admit, the bonding was old, but this was new discoloration– and the bonding felt loose and my gums/​that tooth was very sensitive. I decided to wait a couple days and thought it was due to the cleaning. TODAY my bonding actually came off completely at 8:00AM so I called them, already angry about my experience, and they didn’t even call me back until 4:00PM! I went to another dentist who was wonderful in Waltham (NK Family Dental on Main St) and they were able to help me.
DO NOT GO TO THIS PRACTICE!!! You’ve been warned!

My experience at First Dental wasn’t absolutely miserable, but it definitely wasn’t even remotely good. I went in for a cleaning/​bitewings/​exam and waited for 5 minutes to check in because the only receptionist was attending to a crying baby behind the desk (yeah… what?). She told me to sit down, and it wasn’t until 20 minutes after my scheduled appointment time that the hygienist came to fetch me, but oh no! The receptionist forgot to have me fill our required paperwork. I spent 10 more minutes doing that before I was allowed to even sit in the chair.
The «cleaning» I received was barely any more thorough than what I do every day with my own toothbrush. The hygienist even tried to sell me an electric toothbrush to get rid of coffee stains (which my previous dentist would have… ya know… CLEANED). The whole cleaning was done in 6 minutes. She then called the doctor for the exam. I waited another 10 minutes in the chair until he walked into the open area where the chairs were located (oh yeah, the chairs are in a common area with no walls and no privacy). He spent, I kid you not, 10 seconds looking in my mouth, said «no cavities. How did you hear of us?» and walked away without another word when I said «the internet.»
Oh, and this is unrelated to the dental care, but on my way out I used the restroom and the door didn’t even close, reminiscent of a dumpy high school bathroom stall.
I made an appointment for a 6 month follow up just for the hell of it, but called back 20 minutes later to cancel once I looked at my teeth in the mirror and found that the hygienist had done essentially nothing.
I basically paid $ 100 (which they insisted I pay up front… I wonder why?) for X-​rays, but that was a «special» price… next time would be $ 100 plus ambiguous «additional costs» which no one was able to quote me.
But hey, free street parking.
Avoid.

I found this dentist online and I gotta say that if it wasnt for my move to NY I would still be a patient. LOVE the whole staff there you definitly get treated right. I will be back when I move back to boston in a year or so.

New Network Health insurance coverage brought me to this place. Nice receptionists, tv in the waiting room that seems to always play Ellen Degeneres. Vogues, Ws, and Boston magazines abound. There are plants, light, they even took me in early. First appointment there was a really nice talkative hygenist who did my x-​rays and cleaning. Second visit was to get 2 wisdom teeth out and the doctor assured me I wouldn’t have to be knocked out, it would be easy and I’d heal fast. I disbelieved him, but HE WAS RIGHT! I got them out Monday and it’s Thursday and I’m almost completely healed! He wouldn’t let me keep the teeth though

I got a referral to see Dr. Ghobbeh from a friend who used to be his dental assistant (or hygenist? Sorry babe, I can’t remember which you are!). His office was sunny, tidy, and the receptionist was friendly.
The assistant/​hygenist was really great when I had to have a couple of awkward x-​rays done. They were really uncomfortable but she talked me through them, telling me to relax and breathe normally, etc. Very sweet.
The doctor himself was friendly and matter-​of-​fact. He looked me in the eye, answered all of my questions, and didn’t make me feel stupid for not having been to the dentist for a while.
I have to go back to have some work done in Feb, so I’ll post an update then, but so far so good!