Phillips Cooper and Associates

Dr. Phillips and his staff are excellent. They are extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and comforting during what can be a painful experience. I have been a patient for 4 years and I love that the staff members greet me by name when I walk in, and seem to remember details about my life from my last cleaning. For me, this makes the process bearable.
I also appreciate Dr. Phillips’s chairside manner. He always explains each procedure or problem and takes time to answer my questions.

I will start by saying I’ve only had two visits with Dr. Cooper. The way their office operates is that they schedule the x-​rays and consultation and cleaning in two separate visits which is inconvenient for taking time away from work.
My first visit I met with the doctor and his assistant both of whom were quite nice and thorough in my exam-​offering recommendations and treatment for a small filling. I appreciated his explanations and advice but either he takes a more aggressive stance in terms of treatment ie more procedures and more of a cost for me-​or is trying to bring more money into his practice. I asked for a second opinion for the filling he suggested and was advised that it was entirely unnecessary and something to monitor but not to take action on prematurely.
With regards to the office it is in the basement of an office building and a bit dingy. They also seem to use some of the older tools and technologies for cleanings and procedures rather than more advanced.
My second visit for my cleaning and cavity filling was what I have taken issue with, so much so that I left after the cleaning. My hygienist while seeming perfectly nice barely scraped at my teeth, performing what appeared to me to be the absolute minimum for what was required of him. All it involved was scrapping at my teeth halfheartedly for 15 minutes, buffing them for about 5 and then flossing. He made one comment to me over the course of the entire cleaning. Finally, when I asked for fluoride he took it out of the drawer squeezed it out of the paper onto a dirty tissue and proceeded to wipe it across my teeth without precision-​most of it ending up on my lips. I was very disappointed in the professionalism and incensed that my insurance company would cover this visit while any subsequent visits I have to make to actually have my teeth cleaned I will have to pay out of pocket.
All in all, I expect a high level of professionalism and care which I did not find in this office.

Dr. Cooper is a phenomenal dentist. He gave me a great review for an oral surgeon, his hygienists are great with good advice, his front desk staff is kind and reminds you of all of your appointments. The office is fairly simple to get into — just say your name to the folks at the front security and they’ll let you down.
When I have been, they always play music like someone got their heart broken in 1982 and made a playlist. I am fine with «All By Myself» and «At This Moment,» though so it worked out for me.

This is a review of my first appointment with Dr. Phillips. My experience was about what you would expect from a first visit. Dr. Phillips is very thorough, but I found him to be a bit lecturey– he went into detailed presentations about my teeth, showing me a little diagram about how tooth decay and gum disease happen. It wasn’t a problem, it’s just not entirely my style to sit there for that. He even said he had ordered an iPad so this was the last time he would be using the diagram (which did appear to be from the 1970s or 80s). Overall the visit was fine, I do appreciate that he spent time examining my teeth and did a full history (which most dentists rarely do these days); his office even obtained my x-​rays from my last dentist prior to my appointment.
I’m not sure I like the way they make you come in separately for evaluation and cleaning; now I need to take time off on 3 different days — evaluation, cleaning, and then to get my cavities filled. I was also hoping he would give me some strategies for avoiding cavities, but he only said to floss more. It’s also less convenient to have to pay up front and wait for reimbursement from insurance, but I was assured my provider is good about it so hopefully that will be a non-​issue.
I will update my review after subsequent visits.

I went to Phillips Cooper on the advice of friends to get a fixed upper dental retainer repaired, whose wiring had popped out from one of the fixtures. This was done fairly quickly and without having to wait overly long for an appointment, but I paid about 5 times more than I had the last time this was done (on a walk-​in emergency visit to a dentist in Singapore). I wasn’t too miffed about this at the end of the day because I got about 80 percent of the costs back from my dental insurance.
However when the wire popped out again two weeks later, I went back to get it fixed, which was again done very rapidly, without any charge.
Now, however, the wiring has popped out yet again and I’ve consulted another dentist who has advised me that the problem is not the fixtures but rather the wire itself, which after ten years now needs replacing.
I would have thought that the dentist at Phillips Cooper would have recognized this and replaced the wire at the outset without charging me 1000 dollars for the privilege.
I found their chair side manner perfectly acceptable, but the pricing seems pretty steep, and I am not happy that after 3 months and 2 visits to the dentist, this problem still persists. Am getting said other dentist to remove the retainer tomorrow.
Not sure whether these guys are that good or bad. I do think, however, that after more than 20 years of NAFTA, we could have a lot more competent and more affordable dentists from Mexico (whose work is just as good in all honesty).

The staff is very nice here. They remember my daughters name and ask about her every time I come in… They send litle text to remind you of your appointments also .My mother goes here and she is a super happy client too. Another good detail is that I have never seen the waiting room packed with annoyed people waiting for the dentist, they seem to space out their clients because there usually is no wait…

I really like Dr. Cooper and his office staff. I’ve been to see a few other dentists in town over the years and have been dissappointed with all of them for various reasons. I picked Dr. Cooper, frankly, because he was in network, close by and could help me out with an emergency right away. I’ve found him to be very knowlegeable about the latest techniques and even keel, and found his staff to be very friendly and flexible. They work with me on billing and insurance, and I don’t feel like he’s upselling or doing work that’s not necessary. We are slowly fixing problems caused or ignored by my last dentist. Best of all, no drama (which, for some reason, has been hard for me to find in DC).

My dentist was Dr. Phillips and last time I stepped into his office was about 3 years ago.
I had broken my front 4 teeth in a fall when I was a teenager. The initial dental work I had done was supposed to be temporary but I kept it for 8 years. I finally had saved enough money and decided to get a more permanent and attractive solution. So I went to this office to see if they could undo the previous work and re-​do them from scratch.
The entire process took about a month and $ 3K+, but my new teeth look amazing — better than they did before and, get this, better than anyone else’s that I know! They are almost too perfect now: proportionate and the color matches perfectly with the rest, so they don’t stand out.
I changed jobs and this office didn’t take my new insurance, so I had to switch dentists. When I went to that new dentist for my first exam, he commented on how great my front teeth looked. I told him they were fake (i.e., two crowns and two veneers) and he was a little taken aback and asked me where I had the work done.
Also, Angel, one of the hygienists there, is the best hygienist I have ever seen. People would request her by name. She puts the zen in teeth cleaning.
I changed jobs once again and will see if my insurance will be accepted here and if so, will be coming back.

I have been going to Dr. Cooper for a couple of years. He is a great dentist and has a great chair-​side manner. Angel is my hygienist and she actually makes going to the dentist a pleasant experience.
I do wish they had a better office in a different building. Sometimes the building has Fort Knox-​like security. On one visit a building maintenance guy wouldn’t let me up from the basement (where the office is located) to the ground floor because I didn’t have a key fob. I thought, «This is how I’m going to die — trapped in the basement of this building where my dentist’s office is.»

Finding a good dentist to provide you with continued care is very important to me. This office has very nice front staff and a good hygienist but for the rest I have to rank this two stars.
Upon entrance the office does not look clean and not organized. The chair, the heating unit are dusty and there is calcification around the water pipes, cracks in the wall and ceiling. The equipment is old for a western developed country. Also, I cannot say I trust the recommendations of Dr. Cooper himself.