Sanders Clarence H Jr DDS

Dr. Sanders has been my dentist for more than 20 years (since I was a kid). Not being a dentist myself, I have no way of knowing the quality of his work, though I have been told, by other dentists who’ve had singular occasions to peer at my teeth, that his work is excellent. So there’s that. And he put bonding on my front tooth that he said would only last about 10 years, and it has lasted twice that. That being said, when I had my wisdom tooth extracted (he’d removed the lower two about 10 years ago), he didn’t inject enough novacaine into the right spot, and WOW! I’d never felt pain like that before. He also doesn’t offer nitrous anymore, which isn’t a requirement, but for something like an extraction (mine come out in pieces), it’s nice to help me relax. Heck, the place where I got my teeth whitened offered me nitrous!
The office also stopped calling me at my 6-​month intervals for my cleaning, so I’ve been behind as a result. The last straw came when, after years of him gently trying to sell me teeth whitening, I decided to do it – the day before my reunion. They didn’t make time for me. I realize squeezing me in is a big favor to ask (one which I have NEVER asked him for before), but it was an emergency (the kind of emergency that would require teeth whitening, that is – nothing life-​threatening), and I’d been a loyal and decently lucrative patient for more than two decades. Staying an hour late on a Friday when you close at 1:00 p.m. is hardly a huge sacrifice. Besides, the dentist didn’t even have to stay. A technician does the whitening.
Dr. Sanders is getting grouchier in his old age and generally cannot retain staff members. The one exception is his hygienist Cathy. I hope she gets paid well to put up with him. Cathy is the only thing I will miss about not going to see Dr. Sanders.