Schembari Family Dentistry

Love this dentist. I highly recommend. Clean office and welcoming staff. I will be returning for future visits.

Despite reading mixed reviews of this dentist, I chose to make an appointment because he is conveniently located for me. When I called to make my initial appointment two separate secretaries tried to upsell me on a cleaning that I did not need. I declined. Others have complained that the staff here try to push whitening and other unnecessary cosmetic procedures, but I thought I would simply decline and move on. Well...



Upon my arrival the front desk staff was incredibly rude. Despite my having confirmed my insurance information over the phone and being told that I did not need to bring anything, I was told that I would not be seen without ID. I was about to ask whether I could have the information faxed over when the secretary interrupted me to say that if I wanted to pay in full with cash or a credit card, I could still be seen. Flabbergasted by this absurd suggestion, I requested to have my info faxed. The woman agreed. The fax arrived but she decided it wasn't "clear" enough, and it would have to be sent yet again.



At this point I was visibly annoyed, and her response to this was to try to force me to leave the office! I was not yelling or making a scene, I was simply irritated by the staff's unprofessional conduct. She claimed that we "would not be able to have a positive working relationship" and it would "be better if [I] left." I attempted to make conciliatory remarks to tone down her aggression. When she went back to speak with Dr. Schembari, another patient whispered to me that this woman was so rude to people that she and her husband often joked about her. What a nasty piece of work.



That was more than enough for me. I left without another word. Everything negative I've heard about this dentist's office staff is true. Save yourself the aggravation. I wish I had.

I liked Dr. Schembari, he was my dentist for over 6 years, but his office staff was very unprofessional; I attempted to make an appt. for an infected tooth, the receptionist and then the office manager, they would only offer to schedule an appt. for a tooth cleaning, and THEN Dr. Schembari would look at my tooth -- they would not schedule an appt. to have Dr. Schcembari x-ray and examine my tooth -- I found this to be ODD because I was an established patient, and they were trying to bully me into making an appt. for a cleaning -- in fact, they told me that they only see people for a tooth problem on an emergency basis, and that I would have to schedule my appt. for a tooth cleaning and THEN Dr. Schembari would look at my tooth. The office manager even looked up my records and told me that I hadn't had a tooth cleaning for a couple of years, and that my pain was most likely due to tartar build-up ---- WRONG! In her attempt to justify forcing me to schedule a cleaning, she should have noted that the dentist had previously seen me for tooth pain and it was concluded that the source of my pain originated from my sinuses; I didn't recognize that it was my sinuses this time because I felt like I had splinters between my tooth and gum. I went to see another dentist, and I was told that it was NOT my tooth; I had a horrible sinus/ear infection, AND IT WASN'T MY TOOTH AT ALL! I have no insurance, so I would have spent an extra $150 to have my teeth cleaned, just to have Dr. Schembari take a look at my x-ray (IF they would have taken one) and tell me that my tooth problem wasn't even my tooth OR tartar. I would have spent $150 on an unnecessary service (at the time), and I needed that money for the physician to diagnose and treat what was actually wrong. Forcing patients to make unnecessary appts. is not in the patients' best interest. Dr. Schembari apologized for his staff; I think that the staff became comfortable and out-of-control in their behavior and abused the trust that Dr. Schembari had in them. There were other things, like trying to get the receptionist to give me my bill-of-service after I would pay -- I got told several times, "Oh, you can just use your check..."; NOT WHEN YOU NEED TO SUBMIT IT FOR CHILD SUPPORT REIMBURSEMENT, and I shouldn't have to convince them to give me the bill-of-service -- giving patients a bill-of-service should happen every time a patient leaves. I would leave without my bill-of-service, and then I would call to have it mailed to me, another member of the staff would act like I was bothering her and would "huff and puff" like she didn't want to be inconvenienced. It's weird how they would act so inconvenienced, but it was their own fault. Dr. Schembari apologized for the unprofessional behavior of his staff, BUT I find it very disturbing that Dr. Schembari did not express any problem with the office manager only offering to make an appt. for a tooth cleaning to have the HIM look at and determine the integrity of a possibly infected tooth when I was ill; he basically stated that despite their unprofessional behavior, the staff did everything that he would have wanted. I called the American Dental Association because I was confused as to how you can call your dentist to make an appt. for a problem tooth, and the office attempts to force you into additional services before they will make the appt., and a the ADA informed me that SOME dentists do this...and I am disappointed to say that Dr. Schembari is one of them. It is a shame, because he seems like a nice person, but I need a dentist that cares about my health more than the money-making scheduling opportunities.