The first time I called this dental practice to sign up, no one answered the phone. I figured they were busy so I tried again later but to my surprise there was still no answer. I decided to remain persistent as I had heard good things about this practice and eventually I did get through to a receptionist. The appointment went well, the dentist listened to what I had to say and was extremely friendly and informative, if not a little too gentle and cautious. The real issue arose when I was due for my six month check up and had been suffering with a worrying amount of pain on one side of my mouth. Due to the long Easter weekend, I decided not to burden them with an emergency call and so thought I'd wait until they reopened on Tuesday. Silly me. By now I was in absolute agony, hadn't slept in days due to the pain and also hadn't eaten any solid food in three days. I called at the earliest time they claimed to be open which was 8:30am but no one answered the phone. I assumed they were busy so waited another hour only to find that still no one would pick up. After at least five more unsuccessful attempts, I reluctantly gave up. Even the so-called "emergency" phone line would not work and was apparently full. Prior to this I had sent them a number of emails the previous day informing them of my situation and the pain that I was in and the urgency of my appointment. I also enquired about emergency dental care and requested that I could have an appointment as soon as possible, however I hadn't received a single reply to this either. Now fed up and still in an excruciating amount of pain, I hesitantly called my precious dentist who I hadn't visited in years due to the distance. They immediately picked the phone up and were happy to give me an emergency appointment for the same day. So the summarise, the dentist I did see the first time was lovely and helpful and gave me all the time I needed without rushing me at all; so for that alone I do recommend the dentist. However there clearly needs to be some improvement to how calls and emails are handled in this surgery. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had this problem. I probably won't try calling again anytime soon, which is a shame because I really liked the dentist and the location was so convenient.
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