I'm new to the area, having just moved up to D.C. from Charlottesville, VA. I have to say that I've had pretty good luck with dentists in my life, so this review really is a reflection about the absolute quality of Dr. Ross's practice (and, in particular, Dr. Crocker who was my treating dentist and who I understand has recently started working with Dr. Ross). Here's what happened: I bit into a redskin potato at lunch. Much to my chagrin, the potato was apparently comprised partly of a pebble, which I felt crunch into one of my back left teeth. I spit out the pebble, cringed, and didn't think much of it. A couple hours later, though, when chewing on a crunchy snack, I heard another odd noise. I then felt the back of my tooth with my tongue and a sizable chunk of it was missing. UGH! Having no dentist in the area yet, I scrambled to try and find someone who would take me quickly. Luckily, a co-worker of mine is married to a dentist (the aforementioned Dr. Crocker), and she recommended I give him a call. (So, to repeat for full disclosure purposes, I do in fact know Dr. Crocker tangentially through a co-worker, but had never had any dental care from him prior to this past week). The tooth was damaged at about 4:00pm on a Thursday, about an hour before most dental offices close. I was able to get through to Dr. Crocker in short order and after I told him what happened, not only did he tell me that he could set up an emergency appointment--he told me that I could come in IMMEDIATELY. I showed up and was immediately impressed with the friendliness of the staff and the high quality of the facility. The office basically looks like it is brand new: clean, brightly lit, and exactly the kind of place you'd like to go to if you have a dental emergency. Dr. Crocker looked at my tooth pretty much right away and quickly diagnosed my options. I've heard stories before of dentists who will try and get patients to do more work than is absolutely necessary, but the opposite was true here: Dr Crocker provided me with all of the information I could have hoped for about what had happened (one of my cusps fractured; he showed me pictures and xrays and explained exactly where and what the problem was) and all of the information about treatment options (ranging from a resin patch that would last up to five years, but that would be hard to count on, up to a ceramic restoration that would be much, much more reliable). I never once got the sense that he was trying to sell anything to me - he just provided the objective information and let me make my own choice. I should also add a couple other points. The first is that Dr. Crocker ended up staying until almost 7pm, by himself, to patch my tooth (I decided to get the full ceramic restoration too, just to be safe, which I will do next week - but the short-term patch made sense in the interim both for comfort purposes and to make sure there aren't any more serious problems that weren't immediately manifesting). I found this to be extraordinary. Maybe it helps that I work with his spouse, but I got the sense that Dr. Crocker would be this accomodating for any and all of his patients. The second thing is that I am pretty queamish about pain, I'm not ashamed to admit. When I had my wisdom teeth out several years ago, I had a horrible experience being jabbed by the anasthetic needle, which was itself excruciating (even after having a topical anasthetic applied first). So I was very wary of the anathesia prior to this patch. But Dr. Crocker & Dr. Ross have an incredible device that I've never seen before that uses an automatic needle that is much smaller and sharper and that injects in a much more measured way that, quite frankly, I didn't feel it. So, it may not be a huge reason to go there for most people, but for me the idea of a close-to-pain-free dental experience is a huge plus. So, needless to say, I will be recommending to all of my friends and colleagues that if they are in the market for a new dentist, to go see Dr. Ross & Dr. Crocker. I'll add particularly that because I understand Dr. Ross is one of the more established dentists in the city, he may be harder to get in with. In that event, I highly encourage you to set up an appointment with Dr. Crocker. I don't know if there is some organization that keeps track of these things, but it wouldn't surprise me if he is one of the better up and coming young dentists in the area.
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