Geriatric Dental Group

As a senior who is retired and on fixed income without dental insurance, Geriatric Dental Group (Portland office) seemed a good fit for me. I live about 40 miles away, so fuel and driving time factored into my choice of using this provider. I found this provider had around a 25% to 40% discount from the dental prices I've encountered in the past 5 years. I went in with 2 goals in mind. First, for general dental upkeep, but second was my need to close the obvious gap left by 2 lower front teeth that have been recently removed. My desire was to have permanent dental implants, and to do that, my health needed to be good and my mouth health needed to improve (fillings, root planeing and periodontal disease stemmed). I had the fillings, cleanings and 2 teeth extracted with this group of dentists. (They referred me to the OHSU Dental School for root planeing and periodontal disease control.) Unfortunately, these busy practices have lots of patients, so it takes time to be scheduled for an appointment. After a year and a half of working on getting my mouth health in tip top shape, neither provider had me fitted with any spacer device in the front 2-tooth gap, so the gap was too small to fit 2 normal sized teeth in the space left. OHSU dental school does the implants, so my referral for the final step, implants for front lower teeth, somehow ended with a decision that I was NOT a candidate for the implants. (I was bummed) Since then, I've gone elsewhere to get a second opinion from implant specialists - who deemed me a GOOD CANDIDATE for successful implants in that space! It will be somewhat costly, (8 thousand) but well worth it to me as I foresee a good 20+ years of life beyond today. The Geriatric Dental Group dentists seem to rotate in and out of the practice, so I seldom saw the same dentist twice. Each dentist I worked with seemed competent and did dental work I found acceptable. It is a busy practice with the economy being what it is in 2011-12, and a large aging population to serve. SUMMARY: I found the Geriatric Dental staff in Portland to be pleasant and helpful, but too busy to be friendly. As mentioned before, the doctors rotate out, so records stay but who you see will change. If you have a dental goal in mind beyond maintenance, BE SURE YOU RESTATE YOUR DENTAL GOAL to each new dentist you see through your treatment time here.