Laurelwood Family Dentistry

This is one of the best dental offices I have ever been to. The staff are so friendly, and the dental techs explain everything as they do it. the doctor talks a little fast but is clearly competent and very friendly. I was blown away by their technology.

Dr. Matthew T. Ertl treated me at his office for a year and a half at which point several crowns and temporary fillings (not a covered insurance procedure), followed by the permanent filling was recommend. Several times I left my 6 month cleaning with a several thousand dollar estimate on future dental work that was recommended by Dr. Ertl to have completed immediately as it could potentially pose health problems.



I finally took the estimate to another trusted, credited, dentist in Asheville NC only to be told that I had only two small fillings that were needed; no crowns. I had this treatment immediately resulting in a little over a hundred dollars out of pocket expense.



I returned to Dr. Ertl for my regular 6 month cleaning recently where he immediately told me he would transfer my dental records somewhere else. When I questioned the temporary fillings that were recommended and the price difference in the treatments, I was presented with an image on a screen that said "There will always be someone who says that they can do it cheaper..." This image is a man getting a bad tattoo in a tattoo parlor shop. At this point Dr. Ertl expressed to me that it was wrong to price check because I may not receive his level of care which is price gauging on treatments that are not needed.



In an area and time where good patients are hard to come by I would recommend going anywhere but here where you will be valued and have trust in your dentist.

Easily the very worst dentist and dental office I have ever been to. I've had a fair amount of dental work in my life and this was by far the worst pain I have ever experienced after a routine filling. dr. ertle does not respond to his emergency email - which is the only way you can get in touch with his office after hours- so they are basically unreachable. I had to urgently see another dentist after treatment with him and his staff had the nerve to charge me 15.00 just to transfer my records ( i never had an outstanding balance on my account). Dr ertle never once returned my calls after I called his office on 2 occasions to let his staff (Amanda) know that I was in an unusual amount of pain. Read the reviews and don't bother to go to this dentist. It is obvious from the time you step in the door that Dr Ertle's main objective is making the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time, disregarding patient respect and comfort. There are much better dentist in Asheville, skip this one!

Even before I have had my first appointment with the practice I have become very dissatisfied with the services. My family and I were perspective new patients to the practice but after my experience yesterday and the wrong information I was given I do not see us as being patients of LFD. My daughter had a minor emergency yesterday and became ill. After picking her up at day camp and getting home I called the office to reschedule. I was told that the policy is 48 hours’ notice and I would be charged $25. First, I was surprised that it was 48 hours. Any placed I’d been before was 24 hours. Second, as a new patient that had not even been there before I was surprised that there was no leniency for this and was firmly told I would be charged $25. As I was reading over the LFD policy I saw that It talked about broken appointments but said that on the SECOND broken appointment there would be a $25 charge. There was NO mention of a charge for first time cancellations. I don’t know if the person who I spoke too did not know the policy or if she was just trying to get money out of us one way or another but I find that the lack of knowledge and understanding on your employees part to be pretty poor. Why could the employee at least say that since I was a new patient that she could wave the charge this time, since I may not have had an opportunity to read their policy? (which she stated wrongly to me anyways!) This is the second place we have tried that has put money above the patient. Second, my appointment was for today at 9AM but their website says they do not open till 10AM. It does not matter because I would have had them to cancel my appointment anyhow and as for my wife and my daughter, I have canceled there’s as well. LFD have been notified of theirs in plenty of time.

Update: I talked to them by phone and it has been Amanda that I had talked with. She said that if NEW patients cancel then they are charged the first time. This is NOT spelled out in their policy anywhere. Sounds like policy is made up as they go along. Also sounds like poor customer relations because I just wanted to RESCHEDULE at first. I was still going to come in at a later date. Her demeanor was nonchalant, aloof and insincere. It did not seem to matter what my experience had been and offered no help to resolve. I guess she is nice to the ones they are already getting money from and till you pay something you'll get the cold shoulder.