I had the most unusual routine office visit at the dentist yesterday, but the story really begins a long time ago in a city far away. Actually, it was about 5 years ago in Nashua, and it personalizes the words “COVID theater” because my former dentist, Dr Pipilas, is big into theater. In my almost 30 years of patient satisfaction, my waiting room time was usually spent looking at how it was decorated with Broadway show posters covering almost every square inch of wall space. One of his at-the-time accolades was his status of “friendliest dentist,” bestowed upon him by The Hippo, a free arts and entertainment and restaurant magazine serving the greater Nashua-Manchester metropolitan area.
Unfortunately, Dr Pipilas was what Ed Mosca would call a “bitter clinger” to Mask Madness. When the first regime (5/2020-6/2021) finally lapsed, Dr Pipilas still refused fresh air to patients in his waiting room. I had been a “patient patient” for a long time, having told the receptionist that I would call later to make an appointment with the understanding that I would be at the bottom of the wait list on the heels of scheduling gridlock.
While working on a voter list cleanup project at my kitchen table with Karen Thoman, I said “I think Dr Pipilas is a Democrat and I know he lives near Greeley Park, could you check the Ward 3 voter list tonight?” Karen later texted that he’s a HARD Democrat. I didn’t know at the time if it meant he’s into pronouns and unhinged AOC crap or something else, but Chris Buda later told me that it means he votes in each and every election, religiously, like the late Ms Gloria Timmons. That verification was all I needed to finally make that move and fire Dr Pipilas.
Having gone without an appointment for almost a year and a half, I started asking around and calling around in search of a new dentist accepting new patients and offering a normal, ordinary waiting room experience. Mr Sylvia suggested his and members of various mask resistance groups suggested theirs as I said I was willing to travel for an errand that’s only done twice a year. In my frustration over how expensive it is to be a new patient and my ongoing search, I vented to Nurse Michele, who suggested Suncook Dental.
Dr Albee was booked out into the future, but a cancellation made an August 2021 appointment available on short notice. At that “meet & greet” first appointment, he and his staff and I hit it off. It was clear that he’s “one of us,” and each subsequent appointment involved like-minded small talk. We’ve talked about COVID response, government overreach, Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Howard Pearl, and SB 187. The list goes on. I will add that my mother criticized me for “firing a perfectly good dentist of 30 years that was rated the friendliest one.” I retorted that I vote with my wallet, and a cash patient has that luxury. Hooray for dental tourism, a benefit of the free market.
Yesterday I arrived with the expectation that my routine small talk with Dr Albee would be about Atlas Shrugged or Howard Pearl. I was even considering venting about Howard’s transgressions and his need to be primaried, but everything changed when I walked into the waiting room! On the wall at eye level was a brand new plaque. We all know how much dentists despise PLAQUE, hence the word in all caps. This particular plaque was a citation from The Hippo, which is surprising when one considers how far Pembroke is outside the two largest cities and the number of dentists who practice in them. Dr Albee is now recognized as the friendliest dentist. I had to take a picture for evidence to show my mom.
When he greeted me in the chair, I said congrats and how excited I was to tell my mother and sister, both still patients of Dr Pipilas. Dr Albee humbly downplayed it, noting that NH is a small state, unlike NY or California, and that he suspected a “fan club” was recruited to nominate him. I said it was well deserved, not that Dr Pipilas was ever unfriendly, but Mask Madness is a deal breaker for me and I can’t support an enemy camp business no matter how good the bedside manner is.
I wasn’t planning to write an article, but I did receive a text later in the afternoon that said “Thank you for visiting us at Suncook Dental! We hope you enjoyed your visit. We would love it if you left us a review to let us know!” I already gave a review before, so this article IS my review. And lastly, Dr Albee and his family are “cat people.” If any readers are his patients, be sure to inquire about Maxi, Remy and Polly.
