Sarah Glass on Facebook 8 months ago
12/06/2019, 07:13 AM
My three children have been going to see Dr. Rayes for 4 years. Having moved around quite a bit thanks to my husband's military career, we have been patients of many dentists in practices all over the country. This has been by far the best experience for kids that we have ever enjoyed. Why? Let me count the ways that this practice gets "kids":
1. They have a comfort dog named Copper. One of my children really loves it when he climbs up onto their lap to soothe them. He just knows when someone is nervous and needs him.
2. Dr. Rayes is able to gauge each of the personalities and pain level tolerances of my three very different children. One child when needing fillings really benefits from the "happy gas". It makes him not dread going to the dentist. Yes, it is more expensive than just a novacaine shot(s) that I certainly grew up experiencing, but this makes dental care go much easier for my child who is not the best at brushing and gets cavitivies and needs fillings. On the other hand, I have a child with a very high pain tolerance and Dr. Rayes was able to complete one surface filling using no pain meds (the comfort dog probably helped). That's amazing to me.
3. Did I mention the individual video screens that hover above the dentists chair? You can put on a move or favorite kids show or a nature show. It's great! Very distracting for the kids!
4. Emergencies. Believe it our not we've had THREE broken teeth over these past few years. It's the snow/ice/sports combo that really has done it. Dr. Rayes approach to repair (the how and the when of it) has been very helpful to me as a parent. We were lucky in that all these broken teeth were cosmetic (ie. the root isn't compromised) but you often don't know until the dentist can take a look at it. We were able to get in the same day to have an assessment, and in one case we did have one repair done that day, and the other two cases we waited to get through the ice season in case my kids broke another tooth! This helped us plan for the expense of the repairs for the Spring, and they when the repairs were finished, it looked as good as new!
5. My kids well beyond the age of enjoying the toddler play area, but my tweens and teens sure do like the free wi-fi in the waiting area.
Why I like them as a parent:
I appreciate the time that Dr. Rayes or his other dentist partner will spend explaining what's going on with each of the kids teeth. He was able to help coordinate care with our orthodontist a tooth that was not coming in on one of the kids (we did play a bit of a waiting game). I have found the front office staff to be good about explaining costs not covered by my insurance. I have asked them to estimate costs for future procedures when we know items won't be covered by insurance (most insurances won't cover the "happy" gas that one of my kids really needs to get through a significant work appointment.) I feel informed, and I haven't been surprised by any weird bills.
I have found the hygienists to be nice and friendly. Now that my children are older, I don't stay in the room for the whole visit, but I am there for most of it (or I am flitting between three rooms because I've scheduling their appointments all at the same time). I don't recommend any one hygienist over another, they are all good at chatting and getting what needs to be done, done.
I love this new office space they are in. Bright and cheerful, painted in a calming light blue. It's very clean. I also like how close it is to King Arthur Flour as it's fun to get a treat there post visit (when applicable of course!)
