I went in for a dental appointment on 02/5/26. It had been quite a while since I had been to the dentist due to other persistent health issues. For starters, Dr.Kathy Yeung is polite. After speaking with Dr. Yeung, I was directed across the hall to the Hygienist. This is where the torture chamber began. The Hygienist (whose name I can't remember), does NOT have adequate communication skills, or good bed side manner. I walked in cordial and polite. He said hello and wasn't conversational AT ALL about what he was doing or why he was doing it. The Hygienist was going beneath my gumline to clean, and it literally felt like he was striking my gum with a sharp instrument repeatedly in complete silence. I stopped him. Spat blood, and asked what he was doing. He only said, "You have alot of calcium." Then he continued in silence going back to the same area scraping. The pain was sharp and excruciating!! My reflexes slapped his hand away from my mouth! He replied, "You can't slap my hand like that." Even though he was ignoring my pain. I spat in the sink, and once again it was blood. Only THEN did he explain what he was doing and said "you can schedule a deep clean and numbing for that." So he KNOWS what he was doing was notoriously painful, yet he continued on. He started a third time on my lower teeth. I felt his hand slip into my gum again. Sharp and PAINFUL. Blood. Again. That's when I jumped up and said, "I want to speak to my Dentist! I want someone else to do this." I went directly to Dr. Yeung and explained exactly what was happening with the Hygienist. She listened and further explained my Xrays. But I was still adamant about seeing another hygienist. The PROBLEM with the Hygienist was that he was NOT treating me like a *human being*. Anyone with sharp tools in your mouth scraping can be extremely painful. And it WAS. Instead of him checking in with me, adjusting, or informing me on what he was doing and why, he sat there continuously scraping even though he knew I was in pain. He did it THREE TIMES. I had to STOP him 3 times. And he acted irritated that I had to stop him. From the very beginning, he should have EXPLAINED everything! Instead he sat in silence ignoring my pain. And I don't care if he has worked at Gouverneurs for a long time. It's possible that patients just don't complain about his work. As I was walking back towards the room, he requested to Dr. Yeung that I see another provider. Thank God we were on the same page about THAT!!!! I had already told him I wanted someone else ANYWAY. I was then placed with Hygienist Ashley Hui Huang. She was great! She listened, was polite, informative, respectful and checked in with me as she cleaned my teeth. I wasn't squirming in pain while in the chair. She did all of what the other Hygienist DIDN'T do. That's exactly how I knew I made the RIGHT decision to seek another hygienist instead of the first one. If a patient is in pain, you don't keep doing what you're doing ignoring them and acting like they are a nuisance to you. He was essentially attempting to do some scaling without NUMBING me. He knew exactly what he was doing which is why he suggested scheduling a "deep cleaning" where I would be numbed! Because, that's what USUALLY happens when cleaning is happening beneath the gum line because it extremely painful. I am DEFINITELY reporting this incident to higher entities. I also will not be returning to this hospital for care. There's some other things that were deeply disturbing during my visit.
