Columbia Dental

Columbia Dental - General dentist in New Milford, CT
39 Park Lane Rd, New Milford, CT 06776
Closed
Opens today at 7:00am
Sunday7:00am - 7:00pm
Monday7:00am - 9:00pm
Tuesday7:00am - 9:00pm
Wednesday7:00am - 9:00pm
Thursday7:00am - 9:00pm
Friday7:00am - 9:00pm
Saturday7:00am - 8:00pm

For this, I return to a day in my childhood: I was a 9-year-old with a horrendous tooth pain on a weekend; that meant there was no available dentist, so no cure. I held my moms hand and we went throughout the neighborhood, in my home country of Iran, and knocked on every dental office door. At every single door, we waited and waited, but there was no answer. I tried to stop my tears because, even as a 9-year-old boy, I felt something heavy in my moms heart that transcended my own tooth ache. Today, as a father, I understand that distressing pain was love, seeing your child in desperation because what should be an essential service, dentistry, was clearly not. As a mother she did not give up, and toward the end of the day, she found a dentist who relieved our pain mine physical, hers emotional.

After the 1979 revolution that disparaged my country, I moved to Greece.However, I did not have the means to achieve my childhood dream there, even as licensed dentist. To achieve it, I moved to the United States, this land of opportunity, in 1990 following the guidance of my renowned professor in Basic Sciences, Anthony Trakatelis. After five arduous years, I graduated from dental school a second time, from Columbia University. While becoming a dentist twice in my life, learning two languages (Greek and English), and being a stranger almost everywhere I go, I have never forgotten my moms distress the very reason I have come this far. I followed my dream to Greece and the United States, adopting my ethos from Paulo Coelhos quote: When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. This is how I went on to become a dentist with the fundamental belief anyone can achieve anything, as long as they try hard enough.

In 1998, I moved from New York to Connecticut and started working at a dental practice. While there, I gave the owner an impossible idea of staying open on weekends, but he thought that it would be impractical, stating it would be too hard to find staff willing to work on weekends. After a while, I opened my own practice that proved him all too wrong. It was 700 square feet and open seven days a week, with late hours. It is the same model I follow today, twenty years later.

Today, Columbia Dental has sixteen offices throughout Connecticut, from New Milford to New London, and since 2000 we have treated more than 200,000 patients. I even followed this model throughout the pandemic when ER rooms were full of dental emergencies, always trying to give back to the community. The story of Columbia Dental began when I was a 9-year-old child with intolerable tooth pain, holding my mothers loving hand. I directed my passion with reason, and am now privileged of owning and operating Connecticuts only private dental practice that offers all specialties seven days a week, to all ages.

I am incredibly proud to see what I do as providing to my community, specifically to all parents who must not suffer finding their child an open dental practice every day with late hours and on weekends. This is my story Columbia Dentals story.

Reviews

Rating 4.3 out of 5 based on 70 reviews

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allison p
2 years ago
Super painful experience. Won't even look in your mouth until the bill is paid. Cried throughout most of my procedure. .


Bryan Woolley
2 years ago
Had my route canal done today and my filling came out they can't do nothing until Monday and the dental assistant hit me in the head hard with the X-ray this is frustrating!!


kano R
2 years ago
Very nice people's been there before for second year with my daughter so far schedule at our convenience. Very prefectional a plus just bring your stuff because there no tv set either magazine nothing at all .


wendy mckenn
2 years ago
Dr O is wonderful. The entire staff is caring and Diligent


Shelley Rinaldi
2 years ago
They did nothing to help my pain they didn't even look in my mouth to yes my problem so I went went else were and they did a full mouth x-rays ..and they didn't emencey surgery..


Jill Chaus
3 years ago
Dr. O was awesome!!! My adult son has autism and she worked on 13 fillings for him. She calmed his nerves and mine. She was professional, kind, patient and treated us with respect. He was a great patient because her approach was wonderful!


Tom Quattrochi
3 years ago
Going to the dentist can be a challenging experience for many; the staff at Columbia Dental always provide a smooth experience. Thank you. Keep those gums healthy!!!


Emily Merritt
3 years ago
First - Dr. O is amazing with children. I bring all 3 of my kids (3, 7 and 9) in to see her every 6 months and she is so friendly and sweet and does a great job with them. Never pushes their limits and always listens to them. They never leave unhappy. Second - Dr. O did a fantastic job with my root canal. I was so nervous and just not wanting to get it done but she was calming and quick and totally handled the problem I was having. Third - Dr. Paul... Absolutely hands down a God send. I was still having some trouble with a tooth that he was preparing for a crown. Well, after a weekend of pretty intense tooth pain he took an Xray and found that it was actually my wisdom tooth that was giving me all the trouble. I had been putting off getting my wisdom teeth handled for 15 years. He said " that tooth has to come out" I said okay and I was all prepared to schedule another appt and he said "No, I'll just take it out now". I am not going to lie, I flipped. I was SO scared. I had heard horror stories of waiting to get wisdom teeth out and how terrible it would be and my stomach was in KNOTS. He calmed all my fears, explained everything to me and really just put me at ease. Finally, he went in and preparing me for what COULD be a 45 min procedure, was in an out in MAYBE 3 min. ( I only had the local. I was not put under.) It went flawlessly. Recovery was a cinch. If I had known it was going to be that easy I would not have run from it so long!! Between the office staff (Jen is the bees knees), Dr. O and Dr. Paul this office is great. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone!!!


Jennifer Borth
3 years ago
I absolutely love this Dentist. I've never had a better dental office in my life, they go above and beyond my expectations. Dr. O saved my teeth and gave me a new smile! Please don't think twice to go to this dentist, It is the best decision that you will ever make to go here!


Kitty Longar
3 years ago
It's been a while since I used them but OMG it was awful. They have nasty attitudes, try to scam you, over priced, and EVERY SINGLE bit of work they did had to be fixed in a year. Thank god for Dental Associates. I never had so many issues until them, they absolutely should not be allowed around people's teeth. They even insisted that a filling that had been done somewhere else (a place I had NEVER had an issue with previously and unfortunately I moved away from them) like 2 weeks prior had to be redone. I had no issues with that filling but after they insisted on "fixing" it I had such bad pain for several weeks until I had to go get a root canal on it, and they wanted to charge an arm and a leg to fix THEIR screw up.


Jill Chaus
3 years ago
Dr. O was awesome!!! My adult son has autism and she worked on 13 fillings for him. She calmed his nerves and mine. She was professional, kind, patient and treated us with respect. He was a great patient because her approach was wonderful!


Tom Quattrochi
4 years ago
Going to the dentist can be a challenging experience for many; the staff at Columbia Dental always provide a smooth experience. Thank you. Keep those gums healthy!!!


Kitty Longar
4 years ago
It's been a while since I used them but OMG it was awful. They have nasty attitudes, try to scam you, over priced, and EVERY SINGLE bit of work they did had to be fixed in a year. Thank god for Dental Associates. I never had so many issues until them, they absolutely should not be allowed around people's teeth. They even insisted that a filling that had been done somewhere else (a place I had NEVER had an issue with previously and unfortunately I moved away from them) like 2 weeks prior had to be redone. I had no issues with that filling but after they insisted on "fixing" it I had such bad pain for several weeks until I had to go get a root canal on it, and they wanted to charge an arm and a leg to fix THEIR screw up.


Dre72 Shorts
4 years ago
Im knew to the area of New Milford and went in for a cleaning. The staff was very friendly and courteous. I had a chipped tooth the Doc asked politely if he could fix. I told him my insurance didn't cover it and he said he would bill the ins and if they didn't cover it he wouldn't charge me. So over all a VERY positive experience.


Emily Merritt
4 years ago
First - Dr. O is amazing with children. I bring all 3 of my kids (3, 7 and 9) in to see her every 6 months and she is so friendly and sweet and does a great job with them. Never pushes their limits and always listens to them. They never leave unhappy. Second - Dr. O did a fantastic job with my root canal. I was so nervous and just not wanting to get it done but she was calming and quick and totally handled the problem I was having. Third - Dr. Paul... Absolutely hands down a God send. I was still having some trouble with a tooth that he was preparing for a crown. Well, after a weekend of pretty intense tooth pain he took an Xray and found that it was actually my wisdom tooth that was giving me all the trouble. I had been putting off getting my wisdom teeth handled for 15 years. He said " that tooth has to come out" I said okay and I was all prepared to schedule another appt and he said "No, I'll just take it out now". I am not going to lie, I flipped. I was SO scared. I had heard horror stories of waiting to get wisdom teeth out and how terrible it would be and my stomach was in KNOTS. He calmed all my fears, explained everything to me and really just put me at ease. Finally, he went in and preparing me for what COULD be a 45 min procedure, was in an out in MAYBE 3 min. ( I only had the local. I was not put under.) It went flawlessly. Recovery was a cinch. If I had known it was going to be that easy I would not have run from it so long!! Between the office staff (Jen is the bees knees), Dr. O and Dr. Paul this office is great. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone!!!


Jennifer Borth
4 years ago
I absolutely love this Dentist. I've never had a better dental office in my life, they go above and beyond my expectations. Dr. O saved my teeth and gave me a new smile! Please don't think twice to go to this dentist, It is the best decision that you will ever make to go here!


Don Lombardi
4 years ago
Dr. Paul is top shelf; he does great work, and quite accurate to say the least.


Dennis Blandino
4 years ago
Dr. Paul is great. He's very personable, is skilled to resolve whatever he encounters, has good bed-side manners, and humor. To me, this is a complete dentist, and in the top percentile of Best Dentists. The staff- starting with office manager Jennifer, are warm and friendly too. I'm glad I found them 4+ years ago. I also like that the best deli, Jo-Jo's, is next door.


Dre72 Shorts
4 years ago
Im knew to the area of New Milford and went in for a cleaning. The staff was very friendly and courteous. I had a chipped tooth the Doc asked politely if he could fix. I told him my insurance didn't cover it and he said he would bill the ins and if they didn't cover it he wouldn't charge me. So over all a VERY positive experience.


Kimberly Lindemann
4 years ago
Friendly staff and warm atmosphere. A pleasant experience.


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Find the best dentist in: Connecticut / Litchfield County / New Milford / 06776