Reposting the stories from the facebook page, just incase they magically disappear!
Holly Cordova
On Wednesday August 24th I took my 6 year old son to Dr. Dove's office. He drank their "kiddie martini" and 9:40 in the morning and I was told they would take him back in 30 minutes. An hour went by and I asked if they had forgotten us.
The lady informed me no they hadn't forgotten us that things had come up. Almost another hour went by and they finally took him back. He didn't seem very sedated at all anymore. They called my name 30 minutes later to get him. He was crying a lot and I could tell something was wrong.
When we started driving away we were trying to comfort him and let him know everything was ok now. He managed to choke out that Dr. Dove was mean to him.
He said every time he would cry Dr. Dove would yell at him to quit crying. Later that evening he asked my daughter at the dinner table if she wanted to know what else they do at that dental office and he said they hurt you.
He said EVERY TIME I CRIED DR. DOVE WOULD YELL AT ME TO QUIT CRYING AND ELBOW ME IN MY RIBS! He wanted to know why his dentist hurt him and I have to explain to him over and over again that DENTISTS ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO HURT YOU OR YELL AT YOU AND DR. DOVE SHOULD NOT BE A DENTIST.
My son is traumatized by this incident and I pray that no other parents will allow this man to work on their precious children. It's not right that this man can strap our babies down from head to toe and get away with what he has. Something has to be done!
Carol Webb
OK...when I seen your story on the news my heart FELL!! I got that pit in the bottom of my stomach...approx 2 years ago I took my then 3 year old daughter and my 5 year old son to have their teeth worked on. I was quite nervous due to me walking into a waiting room with children screaming and crying in the back of the office, and seeing them being brought out by a dental assistant, just sobbing.
I went to the bathroom which was right to the right of the hallway and I heard a man in a stern voice say "Now that is ENOUGH...." as a child was crying uncontrollably. My heart broke.
I actually thought it might of been his dad. Then they gave MY KIDS the as they called it LOOPY drink and told us to keep an eye on them for they will become unstable in about 30-45 mins. I had my dad there since I couldn't control and hold 2 children at the dentist.
Sure enough, they started getting loopy, my son who was 5 was trying to play the ms pacman game he has in the waiting room. I was standing holding him up. He head became WOBBLY, and he started getting scared, not understanding what was going on with his body.
My daughter, she was fighting it, but soon became the same way...They came into the waiting room and called for my daughter and my son, We (my dad and I) started to walk back and they informed me I nor my DAD could be back there, it was against their policy, due to kids freaking out and parents making it worse on the kids.
I was shocked due to I have 3 OLDER children and have NEVER been told I couldn't be in their presences during a dentist visit. But I have seen his commercials and thought wow he knows what he is doing...so I let them back and went and sat in the waiting room for my babies. It was about 10 mins into them being back there, and I got this feeling and I heard my lil girl crying.
I went up to the desk in a panic and was reassured that everything was fine. about 15-20 mins later they first brought my son, who was crying (he is the quiet one) who grabbed my neck and wouldn't let go, i thought that was strange but just thought he was still scared from the meds. Then they brought my daughter who had a RED mark across her forehead and was CRYING and almost couldn't catch her breath.
I handed my son to my dad and took her into my arms, they proceeded to tell me the instructions, and we went out the door..we didn't even get to the end of the walk way and my 3 year old daughter said to me..."Mommie, please I don't want to ever see him, he HIT MEE and told me to HUSHHHHHH!!
I stopped in my tracks and looked at my dad, and he said, I dont think he would do that, maybe she is thinking that due to the medicines. lets wait til she fully wakes up and see what she says...I was beyond sick by this point..i wanted to run inside and pull him out of the office....but i got into the car....My son then proceeded to tell me that he strapped him arms, head and chest down and told him to be still...I was fuming...we got home and I phoned the office and asked them about the straps and they said yes they have to restrain the kids due to them moving around.
I asked why I wasn't informed that, and they said they did tell me..I think I would remember that....then as the night went on, my daughter would wake up crying about the doctor HITTING her and telling her to HUSH! I called the BBB and the board of Dentistry and they said they haven't had any reports about him..so we decided just to find a new one which we did..they kids literally FREAKED out when I told them they had to go to the dentist, my daughter says please mommie i don't want to go to Dr dove, he hit me, i told them No i found someone and when we went to Dr Kyle (WHO IS GREAT WITH KIDS n ADULTS)
I told them what had happened and they reassured the kids he wouldn't hurt them and even had me right there....I was told that NO DOCTOR should EVER take YOUR CHILDREN back without a PARENT or guardian with them. If the kids get to where they wont listen to the doctor, they just have the parent to stand behind the child in the doorway, out of the kids view but parent has visual at all times.....
I feel soooooooo horrible for NOT reporting this back then, but I hope now its out and more and more of us parents find out we WEREN’T the only ones we can get than MANS LICENSE REVOKED!!!!
Lisa Bartlett
This is My boy and I's story with Dr. Dove.
My boy was anemic (had a lot of problems with pregnancy and delivery of him) So doctor gave him Iron drops. These drops stained his teeth on the bottom pretty good. The doctor seen this and like 3 different times different appointments said I needed to take him to dentist.
My mother said he didn't need to be taken to a dentist for stains... but I did take him anyway over fear of CPS type stuff. I got a referral from our primary dentist and the referral was for Edward Dove.
This is when Dove was at the other location across from college and you had to get lucky to get a parking spot. Anyway Dr. Dove said because Aetna required the x-rays before work was approved so he needed to do x-rays and then come back for the work at another appointment.
Ok. Then he told me it's easier for the child if mother don't go. Against mom instinct I understood and let him go with out me. He did come back crying pretty hard, which I expected a little; so didn't really think anything of it.
Doctor said he had cavities etc. I said he's been breast fed and no soda/candy.... why would he have cavities. This appointment was like end of 2008. For the actual work was done early 2009 after approval went through. We went to the appointment.
An assistant called us back to get started. We went back to a little chair just inside the door between lobby and office area. They asked me if I thought he would drink the sedation drink. I said he should. I sat my boy on my lap and put my hand up for the drink and she went right around my hand and tried to give it to him herself. This my boy wouldn't go for. She called another assistant to help her. She took him and went into a room with the other assistant and shut the door. I'm just standing there in shock that they didn't even ask me or even say anything to me, they just took him and off they went.
He came out crying hard again. Stupid me, going against my motherly instinct, I say nothing and just go back to the lobby and wait for sedation to take effect. TWO other patients came in AFTER my boy AFTER the sedation ordeal, YET BOTH went in before my boy. Both these patients couldn't walk with in 10 minutes after giving them the sedation.
I was just thinking these were light weights. My boy was STILL walking around, looking at books etc. Then FINALLY they take my boy back. Again, Stupid me... I shouldn't of let him considering he was still walking around just fine. The other two patients came out with little to no crying. Two more patients I think siblings came in. With in 10 minutes after going back for the sedation they had to be held cause they couldn't even stand.
That's when they brought my boy out. He was crying sooo hard, and doing that hiccup type breathing that people do when they've been crying for a long period of time. She said they got all the stain they could. Never no explanation to his crying. As I'm putting him into his car seat I notice something on his forehead. It looks like about an inch or two wide and all across his forehead. It's looks like some sort of a strap indent, kind of deep.
Then inside the little indents there was like sand type stuff. Some of the area's looked like it was close to bleeding. I told my boy right then we won't ever come back here again, I promised. A few days later I was suppose to get a itemized receipt for our flexible spending account where we had to pay $150 for the sedation. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I do remember telling the office lady I was NOT happy with the dentist or the assistants. She didn't even ask why. Is this because she already knew why??? Because I wasn't the only one ??? So what did happened? Did they spill the sedation, did he spit it out?
They should of told me what happened. And they shouldn't of gone on with the work when he wasn't sedated. Then to top it all off... Like within a week after the work, his top two teeth I think they call them upper laterals started to lightly turn bad. These teeth was nothing wrong with them, not even in the least, so why did they start turning bad? Was it a little insurance to get us to come back.
My guess is they scraped the enamel off. which there was NO reason to scrape at all cause there was NOT even staining on these. I don't know but I do know there wasn't anything wrong and with in a week of seeing Dove there is. Anyway, I received a survey on our primary dentist couple months later from our insurance. I went off main subject they were asking and told the story on Dove. So my insurance should have some record of this. Tho I doubt they would keep it cause It would show they are partially in the wrong for continuing to keep him in the list. I have soo many questions.
Why can't parents give the sedation, why can't parents be there to observe even if in a back corner where kid can't see. Too much "behind closed doors thing" Why would they even attempt to work on a child that is CLEARLY NOT sedated, not even a little. This is torture. Unfortunately or fortunately my boy was too young then to say what happened and been too long ago to remember and be able to say what went on now. I am in as much fault really for being stupid and not standing up and going with my gut instinct.
So I don't think there's a whole lot I can do, but will file a complaint anyway. They can only do what we allow them to do to our kids. Tho we should be able to trust those who are in control of our kids. and if we can't they shouldn't be allowed to be in control of kids. If a child will not cooperate, then the parents should be informed and take it from there. Does it make any sense why a child wouldn't cooperate, considering they are suppose to be sedated ???
Isn't the sedation suppose to make them cooperate cause they don't have the mental capacity to fight because of the sedation. Maybe if the doc makes sure the child is sedated before work begins, and NOT start work if child isn't sedated, he wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. Then the fact that he's denying EVERY one of these allegations tells me he can't even own up to his mistakes, and he don't think he's done anything wrong. That's the worst part of this. It's all just very sad :'( The unimaginable pain these kids went thru not being sedated. Parents who haven't had any problems with Dove is obviously just gotten lucky.
I have since called my Insurance Aetna to inform them of the goings on.
They said they'd put a note on it. What ever that means. Insurance companies shouldn't contract people that has caused soooo much negativity. I don't want any money out of this.. I just want other parents aware so their kids don't have to go through this kind of treatment by Mr.Dove. I am not lying,
I am fully willing to take a lie detector test. Is he willing to do the same ??? I will be sending in a complaint soon as I can get the exact dates to when service was performed. However that's as far as I want to be involved in this case. Thanks for giving parents the opportunity to voice their story and opinion of Dr. Dove.
Nikki Cook-Elms
So sorry to hear of all the horrible situations that happened to all these poor babies. My Experience with Dr. Dove was nothing like any of this.
I believe my daughter was 7 and her appointment went fine. However when the commercial Dr. Dove rocks would come on she would say Dr. Dove SUCKS!!!!! We were referred by friends that love him , but I believe they just had check ups & cleanings no dental work.
I finally asked why she said this and she told me that when she went she was afraid and that she started to cry and Dr. Dove told her if she didn't stop crying she would not get to go home!
So she sucked up the tears and held it in just so she could get through it to get to me! How SAD!
When she told me this I asked her what the assistant said? She said there wasn't an assistant! Very odd! I had experience with the cocktail at another dental office Dr. Purdy so I knew what to expect and was aware that they strap them down, they have to in case the child becomes combative but this surely should have been explained to the Parents by Dr. Dove!.
I had two foster boys at one point that went to Dr. Purdy his office was wonderful! They don't treat children over 6 though. They explained it all even told me to only bring one child as that child would need my full attention and to not let them play outside that day after the treatment & to keep a close eye on them!
The cocktail either makes the child loopy or it can make them violent or irritable! This man is cruel and something should be done!
Jenny Albee
Let me start by saying that my story is no where as close to the horrific stories that have been shared. My son went to Dr. Dove for his first ever dental appointment when he was in Kindergarten. (he's now in 2nd grade)
He had no dental issues at that time and it was suggested they put sealants on his teeth to prevent cavities. Having had sealants myself as a child (and also as an adult) I agreed and his appointment was scheduled.
Took him in to get the sealants and I was aware (however leery) of the "Kool-Aid" sedation drink they were going to give him. The appointment went off without a hitch but a few weeks after he started saying that he didn't like the way they had strapped him down.
I was not happy that I was not aware of them doing this but thought it must be procedure. But in the back of my mind still thought "if he was sedated, (which he was definitely sedated) why did they have to strap him down?"
He went back for his annual check up this past spring and everything checked out well. About a month ago, his first permanent tooth started erupting BEHIND his baby tooth (not under it to help push it out).
I was concerned about this so took him in to see Dove again. THANK GOD I had fed him breakfast that morning because the "Dr" said he could "help out" the baby tooth but we would have to come back in 4 hours when my son had an empty stomach so he could be sedated.
The "Dr" said he would "fit us in". So my son's dad and I took him back around 11 a.m. and waited for nearly an hour. There were several other children in the waiting room who had already had their "Kool-Aid" however were not being seen. One mother muttered under her breath that she had been there for 2 hours!
And another older girl (about 8-9) who had been forced to drink the "Kool-Aid" said they (the nurses) had squeezed her nose so she would swallow it. Yet another child who had come from out of town and had been waiting for over 2 hours had not had her "Kool-Aid" either.
I guess my motherly instincts kicked in and I decided that we would leave and give his slightly loose baby tooth a few more days to come out on its own. Upon exiting the office, noticed that the vehicle the "Dr" had arrived in the morning (I was there waiting for the office to open) was not even in the parking lot! (It was nearly 12:30) and I suspect he had gone to lunch with waiting, sedated patients in the waiting room.
THANK JESUS that my son's tooth came out about a week later and he did not have to return. THANK JESUS that attention is being brought to this horrid man. My son will NEVER set foot in his office again.
Candace Freeman
Here is my story. My son Andrew is 5. However when he went to Dr. Dove's office he was 4 years old. He at the time wasn't diagnosed with autism, but had obvious receptive and expressive speech delays and I made it clear that my son was disabled to the staff. He currently has that diagnosis now.
He had gone to Healthy Smiles for the kindergarten check up and it was found he had two two teeth in front that needed some work. They grew in strangely, and as a result had some decay. He had work done at Healthy Smiles and they ended up root canaling and caping those teeth. A very traumatic event for him. I won't go into details of that event as this is specific to Dr. Dove.
After that ordeal I swore I would not ever go back to Healthy Smiles and filed a complaint accordingly. 3 weeks after that experience he experienced extreme infection in those root canaled teeth and I took him to my primary dentist that I used for myself whom I love in hopes they could deal with the shoddy work done at Healthy Smiles.
He has a very sensitive gag reflex so x-rays and subsequent exam was hard for them to do at my dentist so they referred him to Dr. Dove's office, apparently their "go to" children's dentist. Being wary of children's dentist offices, I do some calling and find all dentist on our dental HMO provider list do not allow parents in the back during procedures.
So I go with Dr. Dove. When I got there I insisted that I get to stay in there for Andrew's exam due to his disability. The doctor in a very condescending fashion stated that children do better when the parents are not in the room.
Meanwhile my son is suffering due to the abscess and since it's an emergency situation I give in and let them examine. My son drinks the potion that is supposed to sedate him, but does not appear sedated and seems very alert when sent back for the exam. About 15 or 20 minutes later a nurse comes out informing me that we need a change of clothes because my son has wet himself in terror.
This did not happen at the first dentist office, which was also traumatic to him. I have no clue in regards to what they did to him to evoke that reaction since they didn't allow me back. My mom is with me so I go get clothes and defer all decisions to be made to her in my absence. When I get back, they give me my son back and his teeth are handed to me in a cup.
They did not get my permission to pull. My dentist office had stated that most likely they would do a procedure to reduce the swelling. In both dental cases my son was papoosed and "worked on" with no familiar face around him to give him comfort, per office policy.
Since my son is disabled and has receptive and expressive language issues, all I know about his experience with Dr. Dove is that he was restrained via "papoose" and two baby teeth were pulled when he was not visibly sedated.
My feelings are that policy needs to be unilaterally changed in regards to parents being allowed in the back. Liability speaking, this would work for the dental office and comfort wise it would work for the child. We are the experts of our children and one size most definitely doesn't fit all when it comes to care, be it dental, medical or otherwise.
