711 E Capitol St SE, Washington DC 20003
This morning, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Los Angeles on a very important business trip. But two weeks ago I was quite sick with a bug of some kind that morphed into an infected tooth carrying a ton of pain around the tooth and along the side of my face. It was Thanksgiving weekend. For two weeks I was doing my usual natural and home remedies to get rid of the infection. With my chronic fear of needles and pain, seeing a dentist is always out of the question. But this time, my remedies were not working and the pain was unbearable. I went to urgent care on Friday, where I was prescribed an antibiotic and told to see a dentist in 24-48 hours. I googled for the best painless dentist in DC and contacted two options, which were both closed because of the holiday. Then, I googled the best emergency dentist in DC. Langley and Larry Bowers of East Capitol Dental were ranked #1, and reviews mentioned how the doctors communicate directly with you. On Saturday morning, I called their office, which was closed and had a voicemail message that gave an emergency text number that I texted. Dr. Langley Bowers replied 20 minutes later saying he was out of town and could see me on Monday at 12:30. I took the appointment, since no other dentist at that point had responded. Dr. Langley, on his Thanksgiving Saturday, then texted a series of questions about my urgent care diagnosis, swelling, etc. He told me to watch for certain things, and if they occurred to go to an emergency room; otherwise, he would see me on Monday. Then on Sunday, he texted that he had a cancellation on Monday at 9:00, asking if I wanted to see him earlier, which I did. Walking into that office was a dream. Though I was terrified of the pain I imagined was to come, I felt like I was in a warm and welcoming living room to visit a friend. The "waiting" area is stylishly curated with both vintage and modern furnishings, including gorgeous coffee table books that coincide with a question on the intake form: "What type of music do you prefer"! The moment I dreaded came. I was escorted to the back by Tracey and remembered all of the reviews mentioning how wonderful Tracey is, so I was trying to lean into that. As she motioned me to sit in the dentist chair, she was consistently calming me down by telling me in her gentle way that I was in good hands. Dr. Langley entered and saw my level of nervousness and walked me through every step he was about to do, so that I knew what to expect. He assessed the situation, asked Tracey to take X-rays and concluded that my tooth needed to be extracted. Because of a pre-existing health condition, he decided that an oral surgeon should do the extraction and arranged for an associate downtown to take me right away. He also inquired about that office's sedation options, because he knew I was a nervous wreck. While I knew the tooth had to be addressed, I had to ask Dr. Langley about the possibility of my still traveling on Thursday to LA for an important business trip. He thought traveling would be okay but wanted to be kept abreast of how I was doing leading up to the trip. I arrived at the oral surgeon's office moments later, where everyone was just as lovely as Dr. Langley and Tracey. The gentleness and understanding were there, and I couldn't believe how well the morning had went. And all that pain and agonizing from the previous days were completely gone. And it started with a text from Dr. Langley, who was out of town on his Thanksgiving holiday. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND DR. LANGLEY for dental emergencies and all around dental health, which I can now vow to maintain. A side note: Tracey was wearing a mask during my visit. After putting two and two together, she realized that we were each other's elementary school best friend. What an experience. I got a dentist and recovered a lost friendship in one visit! Thank you so much, Dr. Langley.