Bridgeway Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Took my son in for a wisdom teeth consultation, and was looking for a different surgeon than the person in berkeley who took out my daughter’s teeth. Office staff was kind. space was pleasant. The dental technician was helpful and worked to make sure xrays were covered by insurance. Dr Doucett (sp?) was respectful and his manner was confidence inspiring. Also his consultation indicated no surgery was indicated at this time. I am always appreciative of professionals who aren’t just looking for business for themselves. Great experience. Will go back.

Some neg reviews below, but my experience seems to show the mentioned problems resolved. I’m just one case, but I’m fresh… My dentist in Pt Richmond (Robt Pearce) is such a pro I’d go anywhere he pointed me, and for the extraction of two wisdoms, one complex, he sent me to Bridgeway/​Doucet. I found a class act, friendly and diverse staff, and immaculate hi-​tech all around me.
Dr. D’s manner is not charismatic, but he has humor and is excellent with cues to the patient as the action begins and builds. He is an athlete, very strong, and he wrestled my impacted tooth out from where the sun don’t shine very smoothly. I was a self-​paid patient and the bill was about half the range given me beforehand based on xrays and/​or diagrams from my dentist.
Despite some serious bone work I didn’t need the pain meds afterward (your mileage may vary) and all healed nicely. The followup visit was to-​the-​point, and while most people don’t look forward to such visits, I wouldn’t hesitate to return or to refer a friend/​family member. I’m 62 and have used dentists in four states, and am well-​versed in surgery, minor and major.

yay!!! Happy Mouth, fabulous experience!

My experience with this office was extremely positive. Dr. Doucet was cordial, professional, and communicated effectively. He and all staff were pleasant and helpful. What impressed me particularly was Dr. Doucet’s ability to handle difficult technical challenges. Based on my treatment for a tricky problem, I suspect Dr. Doucet possesses quite high level diagnostic and surgical skills.

Shady shady business practices. I know health care in this country is a rough one, but these guys are sleezy. I was told by their receptionist that my wisdom tooth removal would be fully covered by my insurance. After my surgery, i was sent a bill for the full amount of the surgery, $ 600+. Felt like a bait-​and-​switch. The only reason I chose this practice was because I was informed my insurance would cover the procedure. When I tried to work with them for some sort of compromise, I was met with hostility and ultimately very unprofessional behavior.
Great doctor, bad business practices.

The staff at Bridleway, from the outer office staff, dental assistants etc, are always very, professional, but are also friendly. Everyone goes that extra step to do what they can to make you comfortable and informed. That is important when you are coming in for surgery and procedures. Having a lite attitude and sense of humor helps in these medical situation that can cause tension and nervousness.
Ever since I met Dr. Doucet, I have felt very confident in his skills and I trust him and his work, opinions and judgements. The surgery and procedures can be a bit overwhelming and scary, especially in the beginning when you don’t know what will happen and what to expect. Dr. Doucet’s talents and manner, personality a, including his sense of humor, make it easy to relax and have confidence. He will be very clear in terms I as a patient can understand and he and his office will tell you what you need to know and as much as you want to hear. I tend to ask a lot of questions and although I might be too much, they never act that I am asking too much and always try to help me understand, which I really appreciate.

My 25-​year-​old son had his wisdom tooth extracted last summer and all went well as far as the care. No complaints with the quality of health care.
However, when it came time to pay for the service, the financial manager at Bridgeway assured him that his health insurance would fully cover the procedure and he would not owe any money. NOT! Turns out his insurance did not cover any part of the bill and when presented with a hefty bill of $ 650.00 — Bridgeway wanted full payment NOW. No exceptions. No payments monthly, no breaks for being a grad student, and furthermore all niceties were gone and the gloves were off.
The manager was not only verbally abusive to my son, accusing him of trying to cheat the company, but she was equally abusive to my husband when he called and attempted to work out a payment plan. NOT a friendly experience.
Granted, this is a huge lesson for my son: always double check with his insurance carrier regarding coverage, but, honestly, it felt like a classic «bait and switch» tactic by the company. Had he been informed of the non-​coverage and actual cost of the service, he would have checked around with other oral surgeons.
While Dr. Doucet does fine work, the customer service is misleading and abusive — and who needs this kind of treatment?

My experience with Dr. Doucet was absolutely wonderful. I am chemically sensitive and have special problems with medications usually used during oral surgery. Thus I require an attentive and thoughtful problem solving approach to dental surgery. After visiting an oral surgeon who didn’t meet these criteria, and who was full of himself, to boot, my dentist suggested Michael Doucet, DDS do the work. I had a perfectly successful implant from him, and always knew that I was in the best of hands. For example, this kind and humble man listened to and adopted many of my suggestions about medications, plus he suggested a very clever alternate to the usual procedure which he thought I could tolerate better. The office staff seems to turn over a lot, but 90% have been wonderfully friendly and greet me by name.

For all the reviews complaining about wait time — think about it … If he was performing surgery in your mouth would you want him to stop mid-​way or rush the job because there were people waiting? Surgery is unpredictable.
I had an impacted wisdom tooth and was recommended here by my dentist. I had no pain or swelling, only slight drainage from a fistula. It was presumed to be an easy extraction. However, Dr. Doucet encountered deep deep infection that had to be cleared out. When it was over I could see by the look on his face that the procedure was considerably more extensive than anticipated. Apparently I had an infection close to my sinuses that had been brewing for a long time.
The procedure was relatively painless. The recovery — awful. I can’t blame the dentist for that. My face swelled like a football, I was black and blue up to my eyelids, and the pain was excruciating. He ordered the pain med I requested that I know works for me. Alarmed by my symptoms I called the office the next day, and the staff was very knowledgeable and reassuring that my suffering was to be expected. I was given appropriate information. My recovery was lengthy and I had several follow-​up visits. Each time the staff, including Dr. Doucet were professional and reassuring. The facilities are very pleasant and state of the art. My wait times were reasonable and I was not charged extra for multiple follow-​ups. It took nearly 6 months to heal, but now I can say the procedure was successful.
I took away a star for two reasons. First, I was not prepped to bring an ice pack to apply immediately which is something that might have cut down on the swelling. They provided a teeny tiny ice pack that melted way before I made it home. Secondly, pain med was essential. I loathe taking narcotics but with surgery — I succumbed. I stopped at Kaiser on my way home to have the Rx filled. By the time I was in Kaiser the local anesthesia wore off and I was experiencing pain. Not wanting to drive on narcotics I waited until I came home. That was too long to wait, and a pharmacy was not the place to be immediately following an extraction. Staff should have warned me to have pain meds on hand.
Bottom line — If I need oral surgery again would I go here. Definitely YES!

THE BEST FOR SURE!
I am super scared of doctors and medical procedures and dr. doucet and his staff were super awesome! I was nervous about getting all 4 wisdom teeth removed but he was really great and calmed me down. The staff in his office were all friendly and greeted me everytime I came in. Would not want to go through with the process again (wisdom teeth removal SUCKS) but because it is sometimes necessary… choose Dr. Doucet. Wouldn’t have survived without him and his wonderful staff!

Dr Doucet was personable and professional. My actually extraction of 3 teeth was super quick and the Dental Assistant was kind and efficient. I did have to wait a little before being roomed and while geting ready for the procedure but no more than usual for dental surgery.
There was an error in that they mis-​estimated my cost-​share for the procedure: I had to pay more than I was quoted day-​of (but it was about amount I expected to pay walking in the door). The staff was very apologetic, and in honesty, the issue wasn’t entirely the staff person’s fault.

I’m very happy with Dr. Doucet and his staff. I needed to have some corrective dental work done recently. I chose to go with Dr. Doucet, and I’m glad I did. He and his staff were professional, efficient, and extremely gentle.

Although what I saw of the office was nice and the staff that helped me the day of my appointment were nice, I was very dissatisfied with their choice of billing of services.
I went in to see Dr. Doucet based on a referral from my dentist for a potential wisdom tooth removal. I went in for a consultation, where Dr. Doucet reviewed x-​rays that I brought in from my dentist. The office then submitted a claim to my insurance for work completed as an «exam.» My insurance would not cover the cost of an «exam» so I asked the person in billing to resubmit the claim as a «consultation,» which is what I believe services rendered to be. After repeated attempts on my part to reconcile this bill and Dr. Doucet’s office refusing to make this change, they sent my account to a collection agency. I consider this cunning and unprofessional. I was extremely disappointed that my dentist would recommend such a crook. Based on this action, I will never again visit this dentist office and I highly recommend you avoid them.

Up front; the surgical procedure was effective and the revovery pain-​free. I couldn’t be more satisfied with results. The office and web site are very high tech and the staff friendly. That said, their time management leaves a LOT to be desired. For both the consultation and surgery I was kept waiting for an hour, and both appointments were mornings when you wouldn’t expect them to be that far behind. For the follow-​up appointment I phoned 30 minutes ahead to check on their schedule and was told to come in 30 minutes late. When I did, I was still kept waiting nearly another hour. If I were only rating the doctor’s skills it would be 5 stars, but I don’t appreciate my time being wasted. Given the resources they invest in their web site & infrastructure, I’d expect more efficiency and patient respect.

I was referred to Dr. Doucet by Dr. Joe (Cortese) as a result of losing a tooth and opting for an implant as opposed to a bridge. Dr. Joe was effusive in his praise for Dr. Doucet and mentioned in particular get togethers (including lunch) that he would hold periodically for the general practitioners to catch up on things professional.
I don’t consider myself a number here, but this is the most efficiently run medical office I have ever encountered. Appointments have been short and efficient, but I have never felt rushed. Dr. Doucet is precise and no-​nonsense, but I found him easy to talk to. We also share Midwest backgrounds and he can talk about a lot of things beyond dentistry. Another fun thing is that they have ceiliing mounted LCD screens where you can watch a movie (Marathon Man was NOT available) while he’s working on you.
They are also pretty good at helping you with the insurance. They also offer the CareCredit means of financing where you can stretch out your payments interest free for up to 18 months. The medical records and appointment system is all electronic too. And it does take some getting used to that there’s not a lot of patient paperwork filed or laying around.

i had been putting off my wisdom teeth surgery for years… quite literally. but i finally did my research and settled on dr. doucet in albany. he was amazing… their facilties are state of the art, everything is computerized (no wasted paper) and their staff is friendly and efficient. dr doucet was very professional and during the actual surgery (before i went under), he explained exactly what he was doing, step by step, which definitely helped to calm my nerves.
my recovery was a breeze. absolutely NO swelling and i had 3 severely impacted teeth! after about a week, the stitches fell out and my mouth felt fine. just note, if you want a post-​op visit, you’ll probably have to schedule it yourself… they usually don’t schedule them, partially b/​c you probably won’t need it!

An oral surgeon with robot-​like precision.
It’s a dental operating system of the future. Computerized cameras and data systems, friggin motorized operating table they drive you around in, LCD display of your dental hell.
One NEGATIVE thing– You’re a number. It’s not their fault. They try to be personable but there’re just too many people in an out of there! Pretty large staff and a huge busy (shared) waiting room.
I didn’t feel rushed, I felt like an analysis was made of how long it would take to work on my teeth, and then he did it right down to the second and off you go. He’s confident without being cocky. He listens when you talk. But when it’s time to get down to business, it’s total tick-​tock precision. I’m sure there is a stage manager or air traffic controller on headset directing the whole performance.
I would trust this guy with your worst oral nightmare.