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Review content:
It was purely by accident that I became a patient of Dr. Ash! In fact, I have chosen to remain his patient despite the fact that he is an out-of-network dentist on my Anthem PPO policy because of his expertise and skill, and his office's professionalism, courtesy, and modern way of maintaining patient records and appointments.
Initially I thought Dr. Ash was in-network on my insurance and so I made an appointment with his office for a cleaning because of the convenience of his office location to my house. My initial impression when checking-in was positive. Dr. Ash is a really friendly, younger dentist with a penchant for all the latest state-of-the-art gadgets and dental equipment to compliment the latest advances in dental care. A very nice assitant took my x-rays, which appeared instantly in electronic format on the large computer monitor in front of me. The special software this office uses for x-rays allows Dr. Ash to zoom in and out to see (and show the patient) the exact area of cavities, etc., as opposed to relying on old-school 1.5"" films that are more difficult to read.
Dr. Ash perfomed the cleaning himself, was gentle, informative about what to expect, and relatively fast. My teeth looked about 2 shades whiter from just the cleaning alone.
Turns out, I had a few cavities that required filling and before I was even out of my chair from my cleaning, Hootan, Dr. Ash's office manager, came in with a comprehensive print-out of all the work I required, the costs, the anticipated insurance coverage, and a suggested schedule for maximizing my appointment times.
This is where I determined that Dr. Ash was not in-network for me, and although this meant my financial exposure would be slightly higher with him than with an in-network dentist, both Dr. Ash and Hootan worked with me to come up with a fair arrangement making it more compelling for me to stick with them.
The only potential deal breaker for me would have been if Dr. Ash didn't have any non-conventional business hours because I can't be skipping lots of work for cavity fillings, etc. I was hoping they were open on Saturdays, but turns out, they're open late on Mondays - until 9 p.m.! Even better! Who wants to waste a weekend at the dentist?!
Within a week I had my first Monday evening appointment. My appointment was at 6:30p.m. for two fillings. Dr. Ash and his assistant were all ready when I arrived, offered me my choice of music to stream on pandora (makes a huge difference to listen to music while you're having your teeth drilled), turned the 'massage' funtion on my chair, and we're done with everything, and I was on my merry within one hour. I was really impressed. I'm not scared of the dentist, but was pleasantly surprised at how uneventful Dr. Ash makes fillings. Apart from the general annoyance of having to keep your mouth open, neither the shot, nor the procedure hurt in the slightest.
Since that appointment, Hootan keeps in touch with me by email, which I MUCH prefer to games of phone-tag, is always very kind and inquiring of how I'm doing, and thinking of helpful ways to make my appointments with Dr. Ash more convenient and productive, so I'm not wasting time. I also get 'reminder' text messages, which are optional, but I love. I really like that Dr. Ash's practice is current with the latest dental care, modern, and tech savvy - the fact that they're nice and pleasant to chat with and are 2 minutes from my house, makes it even better!
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