I was actually going to a practice in Evans, and Dr. Westmoreland and his partner bought that practice. And so I met Dr. Westmoreland when he came to that practice, and he became my dentist. And I was new to dentistry, had gone as a child, but I had not gone as an adult. And so I had some problems with my teeth, and very scared, very anxious about anything to do with people messing with my teeth. I could hear the drills, and I could hear the stories. And so I was just nervous beyond all belief. But then I had this really great dentist, and he just put me right at ease, and he was patient, and he was kind, and he just let me go at my own pace. I had to have some work done, and he walked me through it. He told me exactly what he was going to do. He didn’t try to sugarcoat it, and he told me why he was doing it. And we just had some real talk. And I tell you what, I get emotional thinking about it because of how terrified I was. He actually used to prescribe Valium for me because I just couldn’t sit in the chair, and just the fear, just terrifying fear. But now, just because I know the kind of person that he is, the kind of dentist that he is, I know that he’s going to take care of me and whatever he tells me I need. I’m not saying that I’ll never be afraid, but I know that I’ll be in good hands.
Well, I’ve been coming probably about five, six years now. My regular dentist had retired, and I was looking for a dentist. I’m from Waynesboro, and we didn’t have a dentist down there at the time. Saw he put an office here, and I decided to give him a shot. He’s a nice fellow. We hit it off, talked Georgia football. One thing that I really like and appreciate, he called me back after an X-ray and told me he had found a little spot. He said he didn’t think it was anything, but he’d spoken to an oral surgeon, sent the films on over there. And they both decided, just rather be safe than sorry, to go have it looked at. So I sure went for that, obviously. Met with the oral surgeon. He looked at it, and he dismissed it, said it wasn’t anything to it, but he did talk about how astute it was of Dr. Westmoreland to have noticed that. He said most dentists would’ve just probably let that pass on by. He said, but it was kind of an iffy thing, and it was something to scratch your head over. So I’m real pleased that he found it, and I’m very pleased that I got a clean bill on that. Nice people, always had a good outcome here. Meeting people, everybody’s been very friendly, very nice. He’s done a crown for me, replaced a crown, something. I can’t remember exactly what he did. And then did a filling. I had a cavity. And the people that I deal with back there are just super nice and just fun to talk to and treat me right.
I’ve been coming here since about 2016, so about 10 years. And when I first came here, it was because I was having lots of pain in all of my teeth. And I went to other dentists, and they really couldn’t figure out what was going on, and Dr. Westmoreland worked diligently to figure out what was happening. So all my wisdom teeth were impacted. They fully grew in straight, and a lot of people didn’t think I needed to get them pulled out, but come to find out, that was the overall issue for why all of my teeth was hurting. There was not enough space. And so I was really appreciative of that, and it made me feel more comfortable and confident in coming back to him, because I know that he did not give up. He didn’t tell me that it’s nothing to really worry about. If it was worrying me, it worried him too, and he made sure that he was able to solve the issue for me. Yes, it kept me coming back for 10 years. I even traveled from Atlanta to come back. I would travel from across the world to come back here.
Okay. So after retiring from the military, I got VA benefits and stuff. So I was going to the VA for dental, and then the wait times were a little longer, so they say, “Well, hey, we have this new thing called Care in the Community.” And so with Care in the Community, I said, “Well, how does that work?” They said, “Well, we’ll assign you a dental clinic based on your ZIP code.” And I live in the area, and so this is the one they came to. So I came here for my first initial checkup, and I met Dr. Westmoreland, and the first thing he said to me was, “How can I improve your smile?” I was like, “What?” Because being in the Army, you just go there because you’re behind on something. You go in there, do what they got to do, and get you back on the battlefield. Right. But here, it felt like it was like, hey, it’s a dental clinic that actually cares for the patient. Mm-hmm. And so it’s not just routine care, it’s actual customer care, and I’m a really big advocate of great customer service, so that’s what brings me back.
How long have you been a patient with Westmoreland Family Dentistry? For over the years, about four or five years now. What keeps you coming back over these four or five years? Well, the friendly staff, the atmosphere, the quality of care. Why would you recommend our office to friends and family in need of dental care? Well, Dr. Westmoreland actually cares. He takes great care of my teeth, as you can see, and he never lets the smallest thing slip by, and the staff’s always courteous when you come in.
I first came to this practice because I knew of Dr. Westmoreland from church, and several of my friends saw him as their dentist. I was looking for a compassionate dentist and an efficient and effective office staff, and that’s what I found when I came here. I basically had a large cavity that had been filled multiple times by different dentists and had been told that eventually it was going to need a crown. She had told other dentists about it, but they really didn’t see an issue and didn’t really do anything about it. And I said, Hey, let’s just try to fill it and see if that helps. And he said, well, let’s try it one more time. And he worked on it. And when after he worked on it, I no longer had pain when I was biting in that area. Lo and behold, it worked and she was out of pain and she was so happy about that and very thankful. I never thought that I would be able to chew on that tooth again. So that was kind of exciting. Dr. Westmoreland is willing to try different things and have a different approach. In my case, I didn’t want to crown, so he was going to try again for a different filling. I think his staff again, and he are both compassionate, they try to make you feel as comfortable as possible. It made it a great experience for me. If you’re like me and you’ve not really enjoyed going to the dentist before, I think you will find a new experience here at Westmoreland Family Dentistry where you’ll feel comfortable. You’ll feel heard, you’ll feel well taken care of. I.