Carol J Loe, DDS

I recently met with Dr. Loe based on all of the positive reviews I had seen. I now wonder if most dentists around here are based primarily on their technology and not their patient interaction, as this is the second time Unilocal has led me astray on a dentist.
Dr. Loe’s office is very nice. Her equipment is up to date, perhaps saving time and discomfort. I came in for a quick consultation and not any real work, so I can’t really speak to how physically painless she or her staff might be. I can however comment on how I was treated.
I would call her staff reasonably polite, but not friendly. I did not feel welcome when I was there. As for Dr. Loe, she took one look at my mouth and started throwing out the absolutely worst case scenarios for what she saw and then following with a «I’m not trying to scare you.» I’m sorry, but at the very least I would like a dentist to do a more thorough check before she starts telling that something could cause death… I kid you not. Without x-​rays or a real examination she started throwing around the word death.
Her solution, costly dental repair, which I will admit I was expecting. However, I had seen a doctor a few years ago who had actually bother to talk to me about my dental routine and history, and he suggested that I try a water pik for a while and then if things don’t improve we could look into something more drastic. That dentist I miss.
Dr Loe then took an x-​ray and proceeded to tell me what awful work my previous dentists had done (work that ever other person I’ve seen in the last 15 years has complimented). She took me out front to talk about my insurance, which she then proceeded to insult as well because she had never heard of it. I was told that her assistant would call the next day to tell me what of the procedure my insurance would cover. She never called. I did however get a text and an e-​mail welcoming to their office, both with my name wrong (I could understand if it was my hand writing, but I had also sent them a few e-​mails previously with my name typed out.)
A week or so ago I got a letter, also addressed to my alter-​ego thanking me for my years with their office (again, only saw her once about a month before). The letter stated that Dr. Loe was moving on to volunteer work and handing the office over to someone else, nothing which was mentioned when I met with her.
I get that this review is probably moot now as Dr. Loe seems to be stepping out of private practice, but should she resurface I felt the need to say that while she might have some very fancy equipment, at Dr. Loe’s office I felt like a dollar sign and not like a patient, customer, or person.

Dr. Loe is the dentist you always dreamed of (if you dream of dentists, I’m really sorry — you need to get out more). She’s caring, supportive and explains everything in detail. She gives you options. But best is that she is super fast and really good. I’ve had 5 dentists in my life and hopefully she will be the last. You actually KNOW that your comfort is her first priority. She offers a variety of ways to calm you down if you’re anxious — from the pink stuffed bunny you can squeeze to your heart’s content to nitrous. Her staff is efficient and friendly. Dental work is expensive but her staff will work with you to figure something out and she insists on paying your parking in the building lot. I can’t recommend her highly enough.
Respectfully, I have to take issue with Matt G. I don’t know where he’s coming from (competing dentist across the hall comes to mind). I’ve been in dental offices where you literally smell the dollar signs your presence generated. One guy said I needed 13 fillings immediately! Dr. Loe isn’t this. Her office isn’t so fancy that you feel you’re paying for it. Yes, she does have some neat «toys,» like the little photographing wand where she can SHOW you exactly what the problem is and how her work corrected it.
She’s also a super human being. If you need a dentist, Dr. Loe is the bomb.

So I look up my own dentist on Unilocal and all I see is one bad review. Gotta remedy this.
I must preface by saying that I am terrified of the dentist. Not squeamish, not uneasy, but white knuckle, freakish behavior, crying and irrational TERRIFIED! I have embarrassed myself to the point of pleading with these total strangers to believe that I am a sane and rational person in real life (I do this pleading «movie style» sweating and bulging eyes). I am not an easy patient. No dentist should have to suffer my emotional acrobatics. And then there’s the rub, you have to go to one. If you don’t, you die younger, loose teeth, smell like various brands of soft cheese and nobody wants to kiss you. Why God? WHY?
All of that being said. Dr. Loe is the only good dental experience I have ever had. The office is beautiful but you don’t feel like you are paying for it. Michael runs the desk with a calm ease that makes you feel like you are going to be cared for with kid gloves. The billing practices are fair and I was relieved when I got such a low bill for such quality work.
She made quick and easy assessments of my needs on the first visit. She put me at ease and was so honest and clear that I found myself being rational (not my normal dental office self) She told me that they «treat patients not teeth» and best of all, she understood that we had to maximize my time in the chair. On my second visit she replaced three childhood fillings that I have had since I was eight. I was swaddled in blankets, crying and holding a stuffed toy (a lion, how did they know?) The hygienist even took my shoes off for me! She needn’t have, the whole thing only took an hour didn’t hurt even a little bit and I cried for nothing. Yes, I was traumatized. YES, I hated it. No, it is not how I want to spend a Friday afternoon. But, if you must, not a bad way to go. Those three new fillings are beautiful, by the way.
Now, imagine all of the afore mentioned drama and apply it to this: The crown that spurred the visit in the first place is cracked and has rotted out the bone in my gums. I had strange pain and symptoms ranging from a persistent swollen gland to an ill fitting contact lens. Dr. Zimmer (the worst dentist in the history of the profession. read my other review) had missed the diagnosis and just threw a 2K crown on top of a serious problem! Dr. Loe tells me that the tooth has to come out NOW. I’m sent off to a surgeon for an extraction and bone graft. FEK! Who do you think calls me after the surgery? Not the surgeon, Dr. Loe. Last week I had a titanium post drilled into the cow bone they put in my jaw. Does anyone see why i hate going to the dentist yet? Anyway, I digress, I’m leaving the next morning and what do I find on my doorstep? FLOWERS from Dr. Loe with a «hope you are feeling better» card! Does your dentist do that? I mean flowers! That is the equivalent of a reach around for a girl.
I have other fillings that need to be replaced and a tooth that needs to be built for the pulled one. I have to go back in. I am not happy about this but I am confident that she will do a good job and assuage my fears. [insert big white smile here with electric «twinkle» sparkling]
2÷20÷08
Woke up with screaming pain at the surgical site. I though i could wait out the weekend and see Dr. Loe on a Monday. Turned out that I was in so much pain that I called her offices on a Saturday and she called me back within minutes. She then dropped what she was doing and met me at her office. ON A SATURDAY!!! She accessed the problem, treated me, prescribed some painkillers and sent me home with a few encouraging words and told me not to hesitate to call her if there were any more complications. She then called me to see how I was doing! Does your dentist do that? I can’t recommend her highly enough. She is one of the best out there.

Well, I hate to write something that could take the food out of someone’s mouth, so believe me when I say that it’s only with great hesitancy that I call out the venerable Dr. Loe on what are probably the shadiest dental business practices I’ve ever experienced. Let me put it this way — after my last appointment about a year ago, I vowed never to go back. Even the obvious cavity in my incisor isn’t enough motivation to go back to Dr. Loe … so now I’m looking for a new dentist (a process almost as much fun as actually sitting in the chair). Let me try to be as positive as I can, and then I’ll get in to the nitty-​gritty.
THE GOOD
As you’d expect from a fairly high end provider, Dr. Loe’s office is neat and clean and replete with all the machines that go «ding!» They’ve got a bunch of cool stuff. Oh, and the view is fantastic. Looking back towards Capitol Hill in the sunset almost makes the drilling (and the billing) worth it.
THE BAD
I’ve had used car purchasing experiences worse than this. After trying to upsell me multiple times on various products and services I obviously neither needed nor wanted, Dr. Loe brought in the hard-​sell artist — aka the just-​out-​of-​hygenist-​school 23 y.o. that would’ve been just as at home in a lad mag as she was in her hygenist’s gown. This young vixen then proceeded to inform me that my teeth were in dangerously bad shape — despite not having had a cavity that required drilling in over 8 years. In order to rectify this, of course, she suggested a course of 4 — FOUR! — teeth cleanings per year (two of which would not be covered by insurance, as they’re not «customary»). They did manage to talk me into an intensive «deep cleaning» of some kind … the only benefits of which I could determine were bloody gums and a really nice view of the hygenist’s cleavage. Brilliant.
Having been played so badly, I resolved never to go back to Dr. Loe’s office. She’s a health care provider; how could I possibly trust her when her primary motivation is so clearly her own profit?
Sorry. Like I said, I really bag on people in public fora like this only with great reluctance. But Dr. Loe was really, really bad.