Merle, Zicherman & Associates

We have been going to this dentist for at least 6 years. It’s sad there quick to lose customers and don’t seem to care about keeping their patients.
We were very happy with the care we received from Dr. Largo but we are extremely dissatisfied with the office manager and the girl that schedules follow up appts.
I have a child with an anxiety condition that requires me to be in the room with him.
This office does not like when parents are in the room with their kids.
When scheduling a future appt for my kids I was informed that since I go in the room with them I would be only allowed to make a morning appt or up to 2:20 in the afternoon and I couldn’t make one on Saturday.
I told them that my children are school aged and I’m not going to take them out of school for an appt. they said that’s their policy.
Well, we’ll take our business else where.

I DO NOT recommend bringing your child here. The Dentist himself was very rude to my child and I. we had a terrible experience here.

Okay, here is my tale: I have been taking my daughter to MZ Associates since she was 4. She is now 9. Over the years, we have had issues with the bedside manner of some of the dentists (the hygienists have always been great). We kept going back, because it was convenient, and I believed they knew what they were doing. My daughter has always been nervous at the dentist, but she had never needed anything more than some cleanings and x-​rays, so all was well.
Six months ago, I was told that my daughter had to have two teeth extracted to make some room, and at the same visit, when my daughter expressed some fears about this, I was told not to talk about it. «We know how to explain it to kids in a way that makes them comfortable.» A couple of weeks before the extraction, I received a letter from MZ with a list of procedural things in preparation. Again, they stressed NOT to talk to my child in detail about the procedure. They would do it. Of course, I answered a few of my daughter’s questions that came up, but I avoided details, because «THEY KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN IT.»
So, the day of the procedure, my husband takes my daughter to the dentist, sends her back with the hygienist, and sits down to read a magazine. He said he got through two pages of the magazine (if that) when the hygienist came out and said, «The dentist said he cannot do it. You will have to go to an oral surgeon.» My husband goes back to get my daughter. She shrugs at him, confused. She has no idea why they are not doing the procedure. My husband asks Dr. Markos what happened, and he says, «She is being uncooperative. You’ll have to go to the oral surgeon.» My husband could not believe that they didn’t want to try it with him in the room or anything creative like that, but he said that Dr. Markos was annoyed about another patient who showed up late, and he seemed so frazzled that my husband didn’t even want him to do anything to my daughter at that point.
I call home to find out how it went. My daughter is crying and upset. I ask what happened. She says, «He walked in and put a mask on me. He never said what he was doing. Then he left the room, and when he came back, he took the mask off me and told me to open my mouth. I thought that HE thought he had given me the laughing gas already, but he didn’t, and I didn’t want him trying to take my teeth out without the laughing gas. So, I didn’t open my mouth, and then he turned to the nurse and said, ‘Yeah, I don’t have time for this.’ Then, he got Pop and they told us to go somewhere else.»
So, I call the dentist to find out what happened. The receptionist puts me on hold to get my daughter’s file. When she comes back, she says, «I don’t know what happened. It says here that your daughter was combative.» Combative? This is what they put in her file. So, I say, «Can I talk to Dr. Markos?» Lots of time on hold, and then she comes back and says that «he stepped out», but I could talk to the hygienist. What a jerk this guy is to put the poor hygienist on to talk to me instead of talking to me himself. I explain that I am not mad at her, but that I am very upset with Dr. Markos. I followed the instructions and trusted them to explain the procedure to my daughter. I have paid out of pocket for every cleaning, x-​Ray, whatever they told me for five years, and I now have a kid who is even more scared of dentists than when we started, AND she still has the darn teeth in her head. I said, «Why would she open her mouth for him? He hadn’t even introduced himself to her, much less explained the procedure.» The poor hygienist all but admitted that Dr. Markos was having a bad day, and that he took it out on a nine year old girl. She kept saying, «You should bring her back in and try with a different dentist.» Seriously?! I told her that unfortunately, we wouldn’t be back. I also requested that either Dr. Markos or one of the other dentists call me to address my concerns. That was two months ago. No call. From anyone. Apparently, they don’t care about losing a great customer (my daughter is going to need all sorts of dental care). I got a new dentist. Those teeth were out at the first visit.
If you cannot handle minor fears of kids, do not call yourself a pediatric dentist.