Well, today was the BIG day :). I went in for my dreaded root canal and came away with some amazing experiences! First off, a few sentences of background.
About 2 weeks before my first dentist visit in portage, my teeth started bugging me. It’d been over a year and a half since I’d been to a dentist and as I looked back in my mouth there was a lovely little cavity on my number 14.. (Near the back on my top left ;).. After some calling around, I wound up in a rather spacious dental office in Portage, Indiana. I filled out some medical forms and was in to see the good doctor. After taking an x-ray, he walked back in.. “Well, you have two choices.. Either we take the tooth out or you can get a root canal..” As you can imagine, my jaw dropped. I was in for a cavity! He prescribed some morphine and 10 minutes after being seen in, I was sent out, a $65 dollar charge to my credit card and a looming bill of over $2000 when all would be said and done.
..Then.. almost 2 weeks later..
My tooth was bugging me again and I knew I couldn’t keep putting it off. I fired up my favorite search engine and ran a search for portage dentist through Google Local. I called the 3rd number down and spoke with the receptionist at Dr. Thomas R Peter’s office who then put me on the phone with the financial planner, Eilain (If I spelt it wrong, I get points for trying ;).. She was very helpful and not only told me what it’d cost but told me that I could apply for credit to spread the payments for a root canal out over 12 months with no interest AND walked me through the steps it’d take. So, I went ahead and did that.. and then scheduled an appointment. They had an opening for the next DAY.. which was today :).
Alright, all the rest is going to be nothing but good stuff ladies and gentlemen, ‘cuz that was, without a doubt, one of the BEST experiences I’ve ever had at a dentist’s office, not only in Portage Indiana, but just about anywhere else.
First off, the office itself is converted from a beautiful old house, built back in 1958! The financial planner’s office has a fireplace in it! The whole office is just very well decorated, from and back, inside and outside. The staff are all very friendly from the moment you walk in and heck, even the medical history forms looked friendly!
I was then introduced to Kristy, who took me back and set me up in the chair.. Now get this guys.. It was not only a very comfortable dentist chair but a dentist chair that massages you! Kristy showed me how it worked and asked if I’d like to try it out.. Like I’d say no? ;) She told me what’d happen next and then Jodi walked in. She was Dr. Peter’s assistant. She set me up with the bib and got everything ready for the doctor. Then he showed up, introduced himself, and took a look at my xray.
Alright.. so you’ve already got the idea that it was a good experience, right? Well, I’ll tell you.. I was a bit hesitant about going to them.. After doing the math, the price I was quote at Dr. Peter’s office for the root canal was a bit MORE than the other places I’d checked.. However, guess what happened?
After Dr. Peters had thoroughly examined my tooth and done a bit of work on it he told me that I didn’t NEED a root canal! The cavity was pretty bad, so it was kinda close, yet there was still PLENTY of healthy tooth! So instead, I’m getting something called an onlay, I’m going to go ahead and have all my teeth cleaned, and I’m still going to save over $1000!
..Yeah, it was worth it :).
So, what was really cool about this was that I got to see first hand how powerful it can be when you really go all out and treat your clients and customers the very best that you can! Sure, they may do all the exact same stuff for everyone, but so what? It made a difference for me! They made me feel that I was important, that they cared, they even saved me money! And look at me now, writing an entire blog post about portage dentists ;).
Keep up the awesome work Dr. Peters, Eilain, Jodi, Kristy, and everyone else whom I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting :).
Goodnight World!
-Jonathan Wold