To some degree, we are all terrified of going to the dentist because of the horrible stories we hear from family and friends about their experiences. Unfortunately, this is no different. I was referred to Dr. Mankin to have four teeth extracted as I just had braces put on and needed four teeth removed as part of my treatment. When I got to the office, the women in the window were very welcoming and friendly. However, I waited in the waiting room 30 minutes past my appointment time before I was called back to a room. Once I was in the room, it took another 5-10 minutes just for someone to come in and greet me (it was not the doctor). The woman left the room again and I waited an additional 5-10 minutes before she came back and began doing my x-rays. The x-rays alone took 20-30 minutes and I still had not seen or heard from the doctor. After she took the x-rays, she told me Dr. Mankin would come in and look at them. Another 10 minutes passed and she finally came in and introduced herself. She looks at the x-rays, verifies what I need done, and then tells me before she completes any work she is going to have the billing representative come in and go over all the fees with me. The rep comes in, goes over the fees, and I agreed to all the charges. 10 minutes after she left the room the doctor came back in. She explains she is going to give me numbing shots then extract the four teeth. She was excellent giving the shots, gentle and careful. However, once she administered the shots, she immediately began prying at and pulling on my teeth. She gave no time for the shots to kick in and actually work. When I told her I could feel it, she just gave me another shot and began to pull on the top, right tooth. Thankfully, it came out quickly but was quite painful. She then moved to the bottom right tooth and began to pull it. I could, again feel it and told her so and she gave me more shots around the tooth but gave no time for the numbing to kick in. She began pulling the bottom tooth and finally got it out. However, she failed to pull the entire tooth out and broke some of it off in my gum. She got tools to try to pry it out but was unsuccessful in her attempts to get it out. She explained that she would pull the other two teeth and then come back to the part she broke off. She moved to the top left, pulled it with no issues, and then moved to the bottom left. By then, the numbing had completely worn off and she had to administer more shots but AGAIN gave them no time to kick in. Thankfully, she was able to pull this bottom tooth out without breaking it but when she got it loose enough to pull it she hit the back of my top front teeth with her pliers. My teeth were already sore enough from having braces put on the day before! Once she got it pulled, she did and little more work in my mouth, which I could not feel because I was extremely numb by then, and sat me up. I felt dizzy and had tears in my eyes from the pain. She briefly explained a few things to me and left the room. Her assistant is the one who asked me if I was okay and walked me to the front desk to pay out.
After a few days of rest and finally getting the bleeding to stop, I looked at the holes of where my teeth used to be. I was absolutely FURIOUS when I looked in my bottom right hole and noticed that the broken piece of tooth Dr. Mankin was supposed to go back and get out was LEFT INSIDE MY MOUTH! She did not extract the rest of the tooth! I guess she assumed it was fine the way it was. The reason I had these teeth removed was for my orthodontic treatment meaning the other teeth will be pulled right over it if it is not extracted. It has been a week now since I have had the teeth removed and I have made an appointment with a different dentist to have the broken tooth removed. I would not recommend Dr. Mankin so anyone! I paid them for a job that was not even fully done and I am very disappointed in the work she did.
