Dr. Gisela Maria Bona, DDS

This dentist has very, very poor communication skills with patients. At first on the phone, she recommended minimal sedation for my son's procedure which included crowns/fillings. When we arrived for the actual procedure she changed her mind abruptly regarding his treatment plan, because my son did not like the black device which kept his mouth open. Instead of employing nitrous oxide or lidocaine etc, she suddenly stated that he needed a hospital admission with general anesthesia requiring Halothane gas, so she could fill all his cavities, which incidentally were not deep ones. We wasted 2 hours driving to the appointment with the impression that Dr Velasquez would proceed to the next level of treatment or nitrous oxide if he did not cooperate at first. She said there was nitrous oxide available in the clinic but she could not use it that day. Her treatment plan also went against the medical advice of my son's endocrinologist who was in favor of lighter sedation. We were super angry… that she wasted our time over a period of several weeks while we waited for an appointment. In addition nothing was prepared for my son when we walked in the room. For example they gave him pink sunglasses meant for a girl to shield his eyes, and none of the instruments were laid out, so the technician was fumbling with all of them. I could not believe that this dentist is employed anywhere, including a teaching facility such as UT. She came across very nasty as well and said to me "I already told you that if no sedation worked then we would have to do something different," and yet she failed to disclose that the nitrous oxide would require another appointment several weeks later. I would not let her work on my dog's teeth, to demonstrate my lack of faith in her as a dental practitioner.