Downtown Dental

I had my first appointment with Dr. Whitney this past week. The staff were all friendly and welcoming, and I hardly had to wait before I was called back for my exam. I was there early in the morning and there were a few other patients already ahead of me, but everything from the x-​rays to the cleaning moved quickly and efficiently. It could have seemed rushed, but the exam and the cleaning were actually thorough, and there was time to go over the results and make plans for future maintenance.
The front office staff checked me out and submitted the claim to my insurance company while I waited, and I was done before I knew it. Overall, a positive experience, and I’m glad that after searching and comparing with a few other clinics, I went with this one.

Dr. Yont and her team are amazing. My hygienist Dennis is the best one in Calgary bar none. Great service, treat me like Gold! Highly recommended.

«I have a great idea! Let’s go lay in a chair, open our mouth for an hour and then get stuff scraped off our teeth by someone who keeps asking us questions that we can’t answer with an open mouth. It’ll be sooooo fun, at the end our mouth will hurt, we’ll have chapped lips, and we’ll get a bill for $ 400.» — No one ever.
Hands up if you like the dentist! Anyone? Anyone?
No one likes going to the dentist, especially me. My Dad used to pull my teeth out with needle-​nosed pliers when I was little. Incidentally, these same pliers also spent time working on the car and other odd jobs… don’t worry though, he wiped them off on a rag before they went in my mouth. Oh yeah, I also have parts of my two front teeth that are fake (don’t worry, his home dentistry biz couldn’t handle that one). I have such a «not small» fear of the dentist that I didn’t go for like 6 years.
One day I realized that my fear of being 30 and having dentures is greater than my fear of the dentist so I started looking for a dentist that would be really nice to me. A co-​worker recommended Downtown Dental and I phoned and told them my scary dental story and asked them if they could be extra nice to me. That was three years ago and now I go every six months. I don’t like many of the dental sounds (scraping, drilling etc.) even if they are from someone else’s mouth so I they suggested I bring some music to listen to. However, on the day of my appointment I forgot my ipod at home. The receptionist insisted I listen to her ipod as she knew it would help. Love it.
Going to the dentist is never fun, but these guys make it as easy as possible. They also send me a birthday card each year (and it’s not to remind me to book an appointment, it’s just to wish me a happy birthday) — I like it.
Bonus! — they’ve also moved into PennWest Plaza, also the location of Rise Bakery, home of Crack Bun, so you can sink your clean teeth into a cinnamon-​y delight right after your appointment. If Crack Bun is part of the process, I could be persuaded to go weekly… ok, maybe not.