Larry Porteous Family Dentistry

I was the type of person who feared going to the dentist, but the whole team there made me feel secure and safe. I now can honestly say I look forward to going to see Dr Porteous. He is kind and patient with me, he explains every step that he is going to take and his wife Linda is supportive and kind as well. It saddens me to see those who gave these folks poor marks-​but my teeth are in much better shape now and I owe that to the kindness and support from the team at Porteous Family Denistry! I hadn’t been to the dentist in over 20 years, so they had a lot of work to do-​and they are doing it GREAT!!!

Thanks to a referral from a dear friend, Dr. Larry Porteous has been my dentist for 17 years. I drive 40 minutes because of the excellent care that Larry, Linda, Athena and others have provided throughout the years. I can recommend this office based on more than my bi-​annual teeth cleanings. I had my wisdom teeth removed 10 years ago and the operation went smoothly. Unfortunately, I have needed a few cavities filled and crowns installed because I avoided the dentist after my traumatic childhood experiences. I always feel safe and taken care of in their capable hands. Friendly, caring service that is worth the trip.

I totally understand Virgo’s review. If I could give less than one star I would! This guy is the reason I haven’t seen a dentist in over 5 years. I was on Unilocal to finally look for a new one and had to check out his reviews.
Dr P was first recommended to me by a friend and everything was pretty much fine until I decided it was time to have my wisdom teeth removed. I wanted to go somewhere and be knocked out but Dr P talked me out of it saying that with today’s modern methods, «I wouldn’t feel a thing.»
Not only was it the most painful and traumatic experience I have ever had, they were totally unprepared for what happened. Even the initial pain shot hurt like hell and they hadn’t even done anything yet! While removing the second tooth, he was actually bracing his knee up against my side and pulling with all his might when my tooth along with a chuck of my jaw finally came out. The tooth had fused with my jaw and part of my jaw bone came out that was now attached to the tooth. This was actually something a previous dentist had warned me was a possibility but Dr P said that was nonsense when I told him I was concerned about it before doing the procedure.
Well all hell broke loose in the office when this happened. Apparently a large piece of my gum was lacerated during the extraction and I was bleeding pretty bad and required stitches. Somehow they were not prepared for this and Dr P started yelling at his assistants to get what he needed to stitch me up. They seemed clueless and he got real pissed off and started screaming at them as to what they needed to get and where to find it.
It was very unprofessional behavior and made me extremely uncomfortable. For a while it didn’t seem like anyone knew what to do and I was just sitting there bleeding away while everyone scrambled around. When the dust settled, he decided it was better not to proceed with removing the other two wisdom teeth after what I had just been through.
I actually paid my copay for all four to be removed and they received the rest though my insurance but I never went back there and they never called me back to reschedule the other two removals. Probably because they knew I was pretty pissed off and would never go back there again.
I also remember the main woman who ran the office there being very surly and rude. It was a long time ago and I think her name was Athena so I’m not sure if she is still there or even the same person that Virgo referred to.
I say stay as far away from this place as possible. It was an unbelievable nightmare situation for me and I’ve been too scared to go back to dentist since.

This is a tough one. Originally, I found the rigid ways of this DDS office to be OK. They were flexible with payment arrangements so that was the PRO. Plus Dr. Porteous 70s style was kind of amusing. What were the CONS you ask?
Oh boy… RUDE RUDE RUDE from the front desk to the doctor to the hygienist – the doctor’s wife Linda is like Nurse Ratched. Not only does her sterness make her a shoe in for the remake but catch her on an angry day and she will rip your gums to shreds with her pick and floss techniques. I do believe the Doctor means well but he has a way of talking down to the customers and employees. It is kind of embarrassing to the witnessing parties when he is having one of his perfectionist moments. Its highly difficult to get an appointment you need here too. They have pretty limited hours and availability. I finally mustered up the strength to find a new DDS and start this DDS thing all over and I am 85% happy that I did. Why not 100% happy? It’s denistry… you can never be happy about it, can you? I threw in an extra star because I always got to catch up on people magazine here… The assistants are usually nice but they dont last long… wonder why?