WESTMINSTER WEST — When my wife and I moved to Westminster West 20 years ago, one of the first tasks was find a dentist. This did not prove simple.
After contacting several dentists who were not accepting new patients, we found one. After my second appointment, I was shown into a small room where I underwent what can only be termed a shakedown.
I was asked to take a seat at a table. I was joined by a woman from the front desk and told that I needed a large number of crowns - immediately - and asked how I was going to pay for the work.
Needless to say, I never went back to that dentist. I did eventually find another one who was not in such a hurry to reconstruct my mouth.
It has been my observation that if you're a dentist in Windham County, you'll never need to worry about job security. Only the relatively high cost of that work will keep you from being overwhelmed.
I often asked myself, “Where are all the dental clinics that Bernie Sanders is always talking about?” Not to be found in Windham County, as far as I could tell.
When you combine a low-wage economy with the high cost of dental work, is it any wonder there are so many people with extreme dental needs?
I think this new dental clinic is wonderful and long overdue, but I wonder how it will fare, given only the single dentist. I hope the building is sturdy and able to keep at bay the madding crowd desperately in need.