Dr. Barbara E. Baxter DMD

Great dental hygienist, but not good dentist. She said she couldn’t fix my chipped tooth and missing front enamel from grinding and realignment of my jaw. I was seeing an orthodontist about another issue and he said it was fixable. That’s when I found another dentist. FYI, tooth would have cracked eventually. Been repaired and now looks nice and no problems.

Let me preface this review with the condition that my dental needs are probably more extreme than most people as I have had a lot of work done on my mouth. Also, its always tough giving a non-​5 star review to nice people, let me start off by saying all the reasons why Dr. Baxter is fantastic before going into any of my perceived negatives. The office staff is great, in many years i’ve never had a problem or felt let down by the service in the office. Dr. Baxter is also a warm and caring dentist and I always felt like she was personally invested in my health.
It really wasn’t until I tried a different dentist that my view of this dentist office became less than rosy. I will be the first to admit that I am not medically trained so my perception of the situation may not be accurate, but after switching dentists, the first thing I noticed was the quality of the instruments that the new dentist used. The thing that standed out the most was digital x-​rays… before I had to squint to see if I really had a cavity before, and with the new dentist, when I said. «are you sure that grainy thing is a cavity?» … the dentist just smiled and zoomed in so close you could practically see the bacteria eating away at my teeth. There was also an incident at Dr. Baxter’s offcie where it seemed to me like there was some drilling done that ended up being not needed. Another thing that I found I prefered how my new dentist handled it was the choice of fillings. To the best of my memory, at Dr. Baxter’s office I’ve never been presented with any choice in filling other than the white ones, but my new dentist explained the differences in longetivy (and, cost) between the amalgam (spelling? silver…) and the white ones, and I ended up deciding on silver for a few of the non-​visible cavities. Finally, upon my first visit to the new dentist, I was very clearly shown multiple cavities that according to the new dentist had been in place for a long time even though it had been an overly long time since my previous visit.
So, I think Dr. Baxter is a great dentist in general, but if you are someone who needs a lot of work done or special dental attention… you may want to shop around a bit from time to time.

I’ve been seeing Dr. Baxter for 3 years, and have had an overall good experience but I’ve never had anything done beside a cleaning. The office isn’t the most appealing, as others have said, and the time with her is extremely minimal.
5 stars to my hygienist today, Cheryl! She was super peppy, made me feel comfortable, and once I told her I wasn’t on insurance she made sure to ask before doing any add-​one like fluoride treatment, and didn’t pressure me AT ALL. Because the entire cleaning is done by a hygienist, I’m so glad Cheryl is there to make the experience great!

I’ve been going to Dr. Baxter for about 5 years and have never had a bad experience. I will say that I’ve only had cleanings at her office but the staff is very efficient and I’m usually out in less than an hour.

I have spent so much money here paying for the ongoing mistakes this dentist makes. She put veneers on less than a year ago. After ordering them, she needed to apply temporary ones. Well, all they did was put stuff on my teeth, make a horrible effort to shape them properly and, no joke here, they carved indents where the teeth would typically be separated. They were rough and the quality was very visible. When she finally put the veneers on, she applied them incorrectly – I’ve had major tooth sensitivity because there were gaps where she adhered them (she just gave me sensitivity toothpaste for that) and one of them fell off while i was sleeping because the way she applied it it was putting constant pressure on the tooth next to it – resulting in it eventually cracking. When I went back, she attempted to reapply the broken veneer and put filler to hide the huge crack – she should have replaced it. It looked awful so I asked for her to replace the veneer.
When I went back for the replacement, she had ordered the wrong size. As a result, the tooth was hanging down much lower than the rest of the teeth. I wish Unilocal allowed me to add a picture to show how bad this was). I went immediately back and she began sanding it down. The result ended up being a rough, jagged veneer that was completely unsmooth to the touch and had noticeable blemishes. The back was also completely jagged and I knew the tooth wouldn’t last but had zero confidence that she knew what she was doing, so I left.
The tooth just fell off again.
Remember I’ve only had these for less than a year. You are wasting your money here and dealing with someone who has no business doing cosmetic dentistry, in particular.
I felt I had to share so that others would not get the same poor treatment I did.

I have been going to Dr Baxter for at least 4 years now and have no complaints at all. She knows her stuff and I don’t feel that she is pushing procedures on me just to make money. Her staff are professional and polite and do a good job with cleaning my teeth and making future appointments.
As for her waiting room… It’s not the most up-​to-​date but I can’t for the life of me imagine why that would matter to someone. Of the dozen or so times that I have been there I have never waited more than 5 minutes in the waiting room.

As others have suggested, I would strongly recommend seeing another dentist for anything other than a simple cleaning. I made the mistake of allowing Dr Baxter to treat a simple teeth grinding problem that I was having. Dr. Baxter prescribed an appliance that fits on the front teeth only, which within a couple of weeks of wear caused major pain in my jaw due to my bite becoming misaligned.
My current dentist has said that the appliance she applied was not only completely wrong for the problem I was having, but can cause major stress on the joint and do serious damage. I can attest that it has done exactly that, even though I only wore the device for a few weeks before the pain became unbearable.
This happened a few years ago and I am only now getting around to this review. In the time immediately following the event, I was far too angry to write this review. I write now in hopes that I can prevent this from happening again.
After years of pain stemming from this event, I’m afraid I now have a chronic condition. All because Dr Baxter was completely misinformed on this issue, and she should have never attempted to treat something she clearly knew nothing about. Shame on you Dr Baxter.

FANTASTIC dentist! My filling a few moments ago to replace an old filling took a legit 5 minutes (post novacaine wait time). A very comfortable experience, and always, always on time.

I appreciated being able to get an appointment quickly, and saw Dr. Baxter for two years for annual check ups. Ultimately, I went to a different dentist for the following reasons:
1) Her office was kind of grimy. It didn’t look clean at all, and the dental rooms were *very* tiny.
2) The technology is really limited, and things are not explained well.
3) The was the main sticking point, though, was they kept adding things to my bill. With instruments in my mouth, you can’t deny fluoride treatment! I thought it was necessary, and then I was surprised it cost $ 70 (!) because it «wasn’t covered by insurance.» (Turns out, at our new dentist, fluoride *is* covered by insurance and it’s only $ 33.)
Ultimately, I’m really thankful we switched dentists even though it’s always a hassle to change physicians or dentists.

Great customer service! Polite and attentive assistants! Dr. Baxter did a great job. It took her 10 min to do my teeth! I was very happy with her job and I would defenetly go back!
Updated:
Customer service is still great! My tooth filling fell out next day, I went back, they fixed it and I left with «let’s see how this is going to work» from Dr. Baxter. Well… one month later I am planning on going back, my tooth filling fell out again. Not that great as I thought.

This is a review of my first trip to Dr. Baxter for a general cleaning in June.
The office is clean and nice, and the receptionist was very friendly and helpful. Dr. Baxter and the hygenists who assist her were efficient and gentle. I thought Dr. Baxter took her time and didn’t rush, which is important to me.
One thing that was irritating — I felt like the hygenist who cleaned my teeth was pushy about trying to sell me different products, like braces and teeth whitening services. She also told me that I would have to have my wisdom teeth out, as they were crowding my other teeth. Dr. Baxter refuted this claim just a few minutes later. I’m 23 and don’t have any alignment issues or need for whitening, so I felt like she was over-​aggressive about pitching services she knew wouldn’t be covered by my insurance. Other than that, it was a really positive experience.

I’ve been going here for years. Today, I went and was very sad to learn that my hygienist of 6 years (Jessica) left to move back ‘home’. Made me very sad… b/​c she was sooooo good. The hygienist I had today was not nearly as good. I like Dr. Baxter a lot… but the new hygienist was not nearly as gentle or precise and her manner was just more ‘aggressive’ in general. Made me realize how important a good hygienist is b/​c, for the majority of my visits, I spend time with the hygienist, not the dentist…

Hard to understand how anyone could give Dr Baxter a bad review. Lets face it, going to the dentist is never fun, but Dr Baxter is by far the best dentist I’ve ever seen, and she does such a great job I don’t mind it anymore.
I’ve never had to wait more than 3 minutes after I check in before I’m seen. All the staff are excellent, and provide meaningful advise (not just lectures). Dr Baxter has always provided EXCELLENT service. Best dentist in DC, hands down.

Friendly hygienist, capable doctor, good location. Not really anything else you need in a Dentist.

I LOVE this office and just found out I have to change dentists, as I have a new job and they take my new insurance. I am so disappointed. I’ve grown to love Jessica (best hygienist ever) and the whole office. Easy to deal with, convenient and good. I have very sensitive gums and have had to have a scaling procedure. With Jessica, it was painless. I am SO sad to have to leave this practice.

Have had a great experience with Dr. Baxter thus far. Apts are easy and fast. She is friendly and personable as are the staff. She is not going to try to aggressively over treat you like some dentists do but she and her hygenists do pay attention and work to make sure you remain healthy. She is filling a cavity for me that had been on watch (I’ve had 3 dentists due to moves over the past few years). We discovered it because the hygenist and then she took the time to talk to me about the type of pain I have been experiencing.
I’ve had dentists that want to subject you to all kinds of procedures or put metal in my mouth and dentists who were trying not to find any problems seemingly. She seems to be neither of these in my experience though definitely read all the reviews.
Added plus there is little or no wait time.

I found out about Dr. Baxter’s office on Unilocal,and I’ve had pretty solid experiences since then! The support staff are always incredibly friendly. They are genuinely interested in getting to know you and they want to hear about how you’re doing.
The wait can sometimes be a little long but that’s to be expected with dentists/doctor’s offices. I have had a number of fillings done here and Dr. Baxter has always done a great job. She gets really into it sometimes, which I don’t mind. She goes in to clean out your teeth, and it’s almost as though she sees it as a challenge about how well and how quickly she can finish. She has said «DONE!» on a few separate occasions after drilling out the inside of my tooth. It’s a good word to hear when you hate getting cavities filled.
So yeah, I’m pleased with this place!

Sadly, I decided the trek up to Baltimore to see Dr. White was too far and tried a new dentist.
I should have seen that reviews of Dr. Baxter vary considerably. The waiting room is a little scary; trying to find a clean place to sit is a bit difficult. I get the whole «antique» thing, but green chairs should not be brown. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I had to wait about 5 – 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment time before being led back.
The hygienist was very nice and seemed fairly thorough. I was sore for a while after the cleaning, but nothing too painful. The equipment seems a bit older (and certainly the building is old) but everything seemed fairly clean.
I had to wait about 10 – 15 minutes for Dr. Baxter to look at my teeth. She looked at my teeth and said everything looked fine, then at the last minute jammed the pick into one of my teeth, got it stuck, and said «o you have a cavity». Well if I didn’t have a cavity, I certainly do now! She seemed fairly rushed and never really introduced herself. I was very unimpressed with the quality of care and, given other Unilocal reviews, am hesitant to get my supposed cavity filled by Dr. Baxter.
On my way out of the office, I was scheduling another appointment when a receptionist or filing person got snippy with Dr. Baxter. She seemed visibly frustrated with Dr. Baxter and the two exchanged brief but tense words. It just left a sour taste in my mouth, even though it could have been that the two women were having a bad day.
Finally, I posted a review on DemandForce (2 stars) but note that it has not been posted. Dr. Baxter must only post the best reviews… Something to keep in mind when looking at online reviews.
I’m in the market for a new dentist… Any ideas?

I can’t even describe the waiting room to this place because I’ve never sat down in it — this is a place where when you make an appointment, you actually go in at that time. I’ve never had trouble making appointments, and always get to go in right away and am out almost as quickly as I went in. Everyone here, from the friendly receptionists and hygienists to Dr. Baxter herself are quick and efficient and make going to the dentist super painless. They are very patient with you and make you feel comfortable to ask anything about your teeth and give good advice. They actually remember/​read info you put down about yourself and make you feel like you’ve been going there forever, even after a few visits. This is the first time in my life I’m not avoiding going to the dentist because I’m almost enjoying it, and that says a lot.

I was actually really nervous to go to the dentist. I’m not afraid of the art of dentistry… it’s my first time going «as an adult» with my own insurance, and I had to find a dentist on my own, and my wisdom teeth had starting aching…
The Unilocal reviews weren’t helping. Alas, she was the closest dentist to my office, and she was accepting new patients. That’s all the convincing I needed to give her a shot.
Her staff was very friendly and accommodating. They accepted my insurance paperwork without hassle, completed the filing for me (apparently that’s not a guarantee?), and saw me through my x-​rays and into the hygienist chair quickly. My hygienist was pleasant, and explained what she was doing (unnecessary, because I don’t give a damn, but I can see where that’d be a nice touch for others).
Dr. Baxter herself was very no-​nonsense, but she explained my next steps re: wisdom teeth succinctly and in a way I understood. I liked that I could see the blown-​up x-​rays as she talked about my teeth. I like that she took a good look and answered all my questions. I loved that I walked out in just under an hour with my teeth cleaned, my paperwork filed, my x-​rays taken, and my referral to the oral surgeon completed.
I’m quite satisfied by my random dentist choosing methodology, and I’ll certainly be a patient as long as she remains convenient to work and as friendly as my first visit.