For scan of 2008 Hamburg Sun article, click
HERE.
The Buffalo News, 07/07/08
This dentist operates 24/7 to root out pain
By Gene Warner
The call came at about 3:15 a. m., waking Dr. Neil Scott from a sound
sleep. At the other end of the line was a man in distress, suffering from a
bad toothache. “I’m in a lot of pain,” the caller said. “Is there any way you
can see me now?”
About 45 minutes later, the man showed up at Scott’s dental office, which is
attached to his Countryside Lane home in Hamburg. Minutes later, the offending
tooth had been pulled, and one patient had avoided what would have been an
even longer sleepless, pain-filled night. “He was just happy that I was able
to take him at that hour,” Scott said.
Welcome to what’s believed to be upstate New York’s only private dental
practice that operates 24/7. As Scott said of the slogan he would like to
copy: “Dental pain doesn’t sleep.”
Scott can offer his middle-of-the-night services because, in many ways, he’s a
throwback to days gone by. His Country Dentistry office is the polar opposite
of a large city or suburban dental office buzzing with dozens of dentists,
hygienists and office workers.
He’s a true sole practitioner. “No assistant, no front desk, no nothing,” he
said. That makes it easier when someone calls in distress in the middle of the
night. “Working by myself, I don’t have to call an assistant when I have an
emergency at 4 o’clock [in the morning],” Scott said. “It doesn’t bother me
too much. I jump in the shower, get dressed, come downstairs, and I’m ready.”
Scott, a former general dental surgeon who graduated from the University at
Buffalo Dental School in 1986, doesn’t have a huge patient load that would
prevent him from treating emergencies late at night or on weekends. But his
wife, Marcia, says his real motivating force has been to live by the Golden
Rule. He wouldn’t want to be in pain himself, so he tries to help relieve the
pain of anyone who is.
“It’s a rewarding feeling to me more than anything else, to be able to help
someone and get them out of pain,” he said.
Neil Scott has pulled teeth, done root canals, tended to broken fillings and
helped relieve post-surgical bleeding — at 4 a. m. on a weekday, 6 p. m. on a
Friday and 10 a. m. on a Sunday. Emergency patients get two things they
wouldn’t find if they had their dental needs met during normal weekday
business hours: what seems like a reasonable emergency fee and a cup of Marcia
Scott’s coffee. “People get the world’s worst coffee, according to him, and
the world’s best coffee, according to me,” she quipped. “I make it strong.”
Scott’s emergency fees for first-time patients run $35 to $100 on weekdays,
$50 to $150 on weekends, depending on the time. That’s plus the payment for
the particular procedure; Scott says his patients have remarked how low those
payments are. Patients have to pay for the service when they come in. They’re
reimbursed if and when their insurance covers the
procedure.
Scott clearly offers a different kind of dental practice.
“He runs his office out of his home, so somebody might be reluctant to use
Neil at first,” said Beth Stefani of Hamburg, a patient who first went to
Scott for a root canal. “But he’s a real professional, very interested in
finding the root of the dental problem. What is so neat about Neil is that he
listens to his patients. “It’s not fancy, but it’s Neil,” she added. “It’s
very comfortable, and you’re not going to pay an arm and a leg for
dental services.”
Scott’s around-the-clock service doesn’t seem to threaten other dentists, and
emergency room workers seem to appreciate his late-night efforts. “The
emergency rooms used to go through the phone book looking for a dentist,” he
said. “Now they have a dentist they can refer to.”
Scott believes his practice remains the only around-the-clock dental service
in upstate New York. “A lot of my colleagues said, ‘No way,’ ” he said. “Maybe
their wives don’t want them to do it. Maybe they’ve got too big a patient
load. Or maybe they don’t want to get up at 2 o’clock in the morning. “I don’t
blame them.”
