Dr. John James Caravolas

My recommendation is to look around and find a better alternative, of which there are many available. While I almost never write online reviews, I feel compelled to do so in this case to help someone else avoid the experience I had with Dr. Caravolas and his front office staff. If you search for other reviews online, you will quickly see that I am not the only person who has had similar difficulties with his office. My family's regular dentist referred my daughter to Dr. Caravolas for a second opinion and possible restorative work. However, it appears my regular dentist's office did not call ahead to let them know we would be calling. Thus, what I assumed would be a normal referral-based phone call to setup an appointment turned into the single worst experience I have ever had with a medical professional and his office staff (by a very long shot, as I have only ever had great experiences in the past). The person who answered my call was openly hostile and derogatory to me.… Instead of being treated as a possible patient who was likely referred by a reputable dentist, I was treated as though I (and by extension my regular Dentist) was scum trying to get Dr. Caravolas to do someone else's dirty work (e.g. getting my daughter's dental issue treated). I was told that they "do not do other dentist's restorative work" and that they would only consider seeing my daughter if she was being transferred first as a new patient and had a regular cleaning as a first step (nevermind that she had just had a cleaning a week or two before). When I tried to explain who referred me and why, all I got was more hostility (reinforced by her supervisor and likely Dr. Caravolas himself since she put me on hold to go talk to someone a couple of times). When I told her that I did not appreciate the way I was being spoken to and treated and mentioned that I would put up reviews online detailing this experience, she hung up on me. I then went to the dental office and asked to speak with Dr. Caravolas. My reason for doing so was that I thought he needed to know how his staff had treated me (I was truly appalled). After a short waiting period, he saw me and we had a very calm and rational discussion about what had happened. I found Dr. Caravolas to be a nice and genuine person and think he probably does good dental work, and it turns out he is friends with my regular Dentist and has done referral work for him before. However, he also told me that my regular dentist "hates working on kids" and so he would be happy to "bail him out" and see my daughter (which honestly distressed me and left me with a very bad impression of both of them). While he agreed with me that the way I was treated on the phone was unacceptable, he also offered up a litany of excuses. Apparently they get a lot of random calls from people looking to have problems taken care of and have grown hostile to them over time. After seriously considering whether or not I should go forward and actually accept Dr. Caravolas's offer to see and treat my daughter, I called them to setup an appointment (and by now they did have her dental records). Instead, Dr. Caravolas spoke with me by phone and refused to see her based on the rationale that the front office staff person I had originally spoken to might feel uncomfortable having to see me and interact with me. Apparently she told him that I had threatened her, when in fact all I had ever threatened to do was write this review. This also stood in contrast to the experience Dr. Caravolas had with me when I visited. Furthermore, when I mentioned the research I had done online and all the other similar stories I read about hostile and downright unprofessional front office staff working for him, he acknowledged that it had been an ongoing problem he has been dealing with. Once again, however, he promptly launched into excuses about how bad the economy is and how hard it is to find competent replacements, etc. At the end of the day, there is just no excuse for treating people coming to you for medical help with disrespect and disdain.

My children has been going to Dr John since they were toddlers. Now they are all grown up, 15, 18, and 19 years old. They have perfect teeth, with beautiful smiles. I love that they take time with my children. Dr John never let you leave without coming in to speak with you. He knows my children by names. They are like family. Loved they way that they take care of my children, I started going there myself.