Dental health just took a leap up my priority list...

[torquill]

I lost a filling. Now is not the best time for it -- I have most of the afternoons of Monday and Friday free, and about an hour on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, but I'm spending all the rest of my time up north. School doesn't have any way to plead for time off for a dentist appointment.

It's particularly inconvenient because I need time to find a new dentist. I guess I can call up my old one, but I haven't been in for several years... the main reason for that is that he and I just don't work well together. I don't want anesthetic, which makes him palpably anxious, and that's a bad quality to have in a dentist.

Does anyone know of a better-than-average dentist somewhere around central Contra Costa? I'll hit Berkeley if I have to, but I'd rather have one close to home. My requirements are a non-new office with non-toxic cleaning supplies (or at least enough flexibility to be willing to change what they use), and a dentist with steady nerves who can handle a patient who requests fillings with no anesthetic. Mine is just too empathetic (and I suspect he has a low pain tolerance himself). Skill is always good, too, though I'm not especially difficult.

I'm not a fan of holistic dentistry as a class; it's rather like chiropractic, in that there's a much greater percentage of quackery. If you have someone where you can swear that they're not going to try to use kinesiology to determine what filling materials are safe for me, I'm willing to give them a shot. At least they tend to clean their offices with safe substances.


I suppose I could ask around in Davis, as well, but I have no leads on where to start looking.

Comments

[amanda-nye.livejournal.com]

I had/have a great dentist in the Arden area of Sacramento. It's the only dentist I've ever had that I've actually liked. I hate dentists. He seems to understand special requests (and remember things!).

I know it's out of your area, but it's not too far from school.

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, my radius is much smaller at Davis, since my main mode of transportation is by bike and bus. What would be a reasonable distance at home is often out of the question up there. :/

If I ever do end up living up there, I'll keep him in mind.