Recommend Children's Dentist Group

Can someone recommend a children's dentist group that is close (Broadlands/Ashburn) and patient with kids and a good honest dentist, not someone that is going to push extra procedures or fillings unecessarily. I'll be taking a 2.5 yr old for the first time. Someplace that has more than one dentist with a very short or no wait time is preferred.
Thanks!

 

We use Virginia Dental Solutions AKA Dr's. Novick Hartz and Hall. They are not particularly a pediatric dentist, but I have three kids ages 5, 11, and 16 and they all love to go to the dentist. Dr. Kendra is a favorite with the kids. She is young (the older Dr. Novick's daughter). The office staff is great and all the dentists and hygienists there are kind and patient. We've been going there for almost 10 years now. I would highly recommend this practice. Also they are conveniently located in the Shopper's Food Warehouse Plaza. I have never felt they pushed me to do things that were unnecessary.

 

Stay away from Dr. Patel in Broadlands (same shopping center as Broadlands Pub). HE was mean to my 3 year and was yelling at her when she was scared and crying. They also were forcing us to use medications that were not covered by insurance to have a cavity filled. Then they used the papoose device to restrain her during the procedure. My daughter is now absolutely petrified of dentists and doctors now. It's taken over 2 years for her to be able to goto the pediatrician without being scared now.

 

My three boys (6, 4, 3) have had nothing but positive experiences at Dr. Patel in Broadlands. Our oldest (4 at the time) had to have a cavity filled and my son was very relaxed throughout the entire procedure. The boys love going to the dentist there as they have the TVs on the wall and ceiling for the kids to watch while they're getting their teeth cleaned. It all depends on the child and how they react to certain situations.

As far as Virginia Dental Solutions, my husband and I go there and we love them. Dr. Kendra is fantastic and I like Dr. Sharma too.

 

We've had positive experiences too with Dr. Patel.

 

We also see Dr. Patel and have had only good experiences. His staff has been very patient and polite. I was very impressed with the tech that took my daughter in for her x-rays while I was pregnant. She was very calming and made it a positive experience for us. We've never had more than a several minute wait either.

 

I would recommend staying away from Dr. Patel's office too if there is any chance that your child might be apprehensive. My son liked him at prior visits, but not anymore. It might be that we caught the Dr. on a bad day the last visit, but he wasn't nice & patient when he should have been. It's not worth the risk when there are other dentist offices that come so highly recommended like Dr. Woo and Dr. Linda Dean-Duru.
We've also had a couple bad experiences with the hygenists at Dr. Patel's office over the past years. We're finally moving on!

 

I haven't been to either one, but have heard great things about both of these.

 

I'd be wary of Dr Linda in the "push extra procedures" catagory. My kids LOVE it there, too the point that I'm thinking they may need more of a deterent from additional cavities!

 

My two girls have always loved the dentist - We go to Dr. Patel's office and the girls get lots of freebies and I get a one on one discussion with the dentist. He is careful to not tell me about the results in the waiting room in front of other parents, like some dentists.

My girls also love The Berenstain Bears Go To The Dentist book. It helps them to be optimistic and like the dentist. We have never had an issue.

 

Does anyone else have specific experiences to share with children who clearly don't want to be at the dentist? Not kids who are just a little apprehensive, but those (like tigger mentioned), who are already upset prior to the visit? Our current dentist isn't very patient (and wants to rush to restraining our child immediately, rather than taking the time to try to calm him down). I was thinking of going to Dr. Patel due to the positive feedback here, but it sounds like he isn't the best match for my child. Do others feel positively about Dr. Woo? Any other recommendations? Thanks

 

this is who we use also- on the recommendation of our friends with 3 kids- 5, 10 and 12 i think. my son is 9 and has no fear or issues at all with the dentist. i appreciate the way they speak to him, treat him and compliment on what he does well.

i, on the other hand, am a big baby and have required sedation for cleanings in the past. their hygenists are great at dealing with my tears and fears, but firm in telling me to floss unless i want my teeth to fall out.

maybe you can take your son to a potential office without having anything done just so he can meet the people, and see the office. this way, a cleaning is not the first time he's there, he is more comfortable letting them into his mouth- which can be pretty invasive and cause apprehension in the most NORMAL of us all! ahem...

very organized and nice front desk staff- i like as much i CAN like a dental office.

 

I don't have any specific stories to share, but here are a few books you might look at and see if you think they would help your situation:

Mr. Rogers - Dentist

What to Expect When You Go to the Dentist by Heidi Murkoff

Going to the Dentist by Ann Civardi

Show Me Your Smile by Christine Ricci

Does a Tiger Open Wide? by Fred Erlich

 

anyone familiar with this group?
http://www.kidzsmile.com/team.asp

 

hampshire -

We go to Dr. Woo, and she is fantastic. The first time my daughter went, Dr. Woo and her staff were very, very patient. They try extra hard not to rush or scare the apprehensive patients (though it helps to let them know ahead of time if your child is afraid). They showed my daughter all the tools that they would be using on her, i.e., the brush was called "Mr. Tickles", the water suction is "Mr. Thirsty", etc. They let her operate the chair and hold the tools in her hand ahead of time - see? not so scary.

Now my daughter is actually excited about going to see Dr. Woo. Also, she knows that she gets a bag full of goodies at the end. Hope this info helps!

 

I take my kids to Dr.Lynda Duro and team...They have a great staff, practice, and schedule. My children 8 and 6 love going there. My son had trauma at age 1 and she was referred to me from my previous dentist in NJ. I agree with one of the post. Take the child to a dental office and see if he or she is comfortable with the practice and staff. Good Luck ~

 

My younger son was completely terrified of the dentist and would scream and cry throughout, absolutely refuse to allow them to do much of anything, etc. from the time he had a filling at maybe age 3 until age 7 when we switched to Dr. Lynda Dean-Duru. We were previously going all the way to Fair Oaks to Sheri Sharif and she really was great and gentle, and her staff was patient and kind, and they tried every nice "trick" in the book, like cute names for the tools, letting him touch and try the equipment, etc. Nothing doing. We finally switched just because we were tired of taking them out of school for half a day for a dentist appointment in Fair Oaks. So anyway, from the very first he loved Dr. Lynda's office and staff. He likes to go now, and he sits and opens his mouth, and does great. We haven't had a filling yet there, but his whole demeanor there is completely different. I recommend her definitely, but if you find your child still has fears, a strategically timed switch to a "big boy" dentist might help like it did for my son.

 

We have 2 kids, now 9 and 7, and we started with Dr. Lynda Dean-Duru. We ended up leaving her practice b/c of the previously mentioned up-charging when she insisted the my then 5 yr old needed general anesthesia for a simple filling. The waits were also becoming excessive due to the popularity of her practice. We then went to Dr. Patel and had a very bad experience with him. My two kids became very apprehensive about the dentist after being exposed to his lack of "bedside manner". For a pediatric specialist, I just don't think he likes kids.

We now go to Gentle Dental Care (Dr. Anuja Parikh/703-444-5678). She and her sister have a practice in Sterling. While not a pediatric dentist, she is great with kids! I go there as well and when I was having work done, she brought my kids back and talked to them, let them touch the instruments, and put them so much at ease that they asked me if they could go to her as well! I have friends that use her as well (both themselves and their kids) and are also very satisfied. She even caught the need for my older one to see an orthodontist (and referred us to a great one!) that the 2 pediatric dentists missed. I've always gotten appts. quickly and feel like I can trust her recommendations about what work is necessary and what isn't. Her staff is friendly and great with insurance, too.

 

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to revive this because I feel so strongly about this topic, and it wasn't coming up easily on a search. I've learned that the important question to ask when looking for recommendations of a pediatric dentist is how the dentist & office staff handle situations that aren't going smoothly. Early on with my son's first dentist, I would also have said he liked him & we were pleased. My son was fearless and went along with everything. But all it took was one of those x-ray paper-things they put in your mouth to make everything go down hill fast. It hurt my son, the dentist was doing it & he started to lose his patience fast. After the mean way he talked to my son, the fear set in. Then my son was resistant to starting the tooth pulling procedure, which led to threats (I hope that isn't too strong of a word to use in this situation, but that's what it felt like) - the dentist told my son if he didn't let them put a mask on him for sedation, his mom would need to leave. To a sensitive 6 year old that was the wrong way for the dentist to handle things.
Anyway, we switched to Dr. Woo (I already wrote about this part in the most current thread on this topic so I won't repeat it) But it boils down to the same kid - same procedure - but handled completely different by a different dentist and the results were amazing.

 

Yea Dr Woo has been great for us so far... but we just found out that we need to deal with 8 cavities... and thus the recommended sedation. She said that was really the best choice since all 8 cavities could be done at once... while he is sedated. Otherwise we would need 4 visits and what is the likelihood that would work with a kid that is already somewhat fearful.

I am not happy about the idea and the cost but it seems to be best to do the procedure all at once. And I did find out that for Met Life, if the child is under 6 then the sedation is covered. And from our plan, it is a 70% covered item, so not as bad. We just need to submit the claim ourselves since Dr Woo does not do the sedation herself.