North Shore Dental Associates

Hate dentists? Terrified to make an appointment because you know there's an ongoing apocalypse in your mouth that no dental professional has ever been able to handle without causing significant pain and stress? That was me, and I can't recommend Dr. Blanas dental practice enough. I have, unfortunately, vast experience with dental-professionals. I had some form of orthodonture in my mouth from 3rd through 9th grade, then spent most of my 20s embroiled in one tooth crisis after another, including a botched root canal procedure. In the fallout of the latter, around when I turned 30, I stopped going to the dentist for multiple years, till my wife scheduled me an appointment here.

Dr. Blanas is in the charmingly art-deco Carlson Building, across from the library. Inside, it's a bit of a rabbit warren of offices, but her practice is clearly listed on the directory in the lobby, and easy to find. The waiting room is clean and small, with possibly the largest selection of current magazines I've ever found in a medical/dental office. No more reading a 2007 issue of Sports Illustrated about the Red Sox hot streak, or a 1991 issue of Vogue proclaiming that culottes are back. The new month's magazines come in, and they toss the old ones.

I've only had good experiences with the receptionist staff, who keep the Dr. Blanas calendar, not on a computer, but handwritten in a calendar-book, and will show you the availability on particular days and at particular times, rather than just telling you "Well, the only time we have for a followup appointment is 3 months from now, at 7:30 a.m. on a Tuesday". They call the day before to confirm your appointment, and are always friendly and respectful. They also handle all of the insurance and billing: my wife M and I have never had an issue with our Delta Dental coverage in this office.

Dr. Blanas dental exam rooms all have views of the trees and street outside, which is nice. The room(s) are decorated cheerily, with some original art work, (e.g. not inspirational posters or pre-framed, mass-produced Thomas Kinkade knockoff landscapes) and sometimes with seasonal themes, but never cluttered.

As noted by at least one other reviewer, Dr. Blanas does virtually all the work for the dental exam and cleaning. She's very open about her experience as a dentist, world-views, and her dental philosophy, and generally maintains a running banter about the weather, politics, art, or whatever you want to talk (or hear) about. Obviously, the patient can't do much talking while she's cleaning or filling, but I really enjoy her running commentary, as in the past I've felt like the dentist or hygienists silence has been oppressive and ominous, and I never know what's going on in my mouth till it's sprung on me at the very end. Dr. Blanas method greatly increases transparency about what she's doing in there, and greatly reduces my personal stress at being in the chair. She's thorough with her cleaning and flossing, but considerate, and if you need a break it's easy to let her know.

Given my past history and my long absence from dentist offices, I was terrified of what she'd find, but it amounted to a handful of small cavities (she did make special note of my "unusually soft teeth"-- truly life's small humiliations never cease). It should be noted that Dr. Blanas does all the fillings herself, and she does them with precision and aplomb. If you've every gotten a filling you know that after it's done, you bite down on contact paper and are told to try to grind the teeth around so the dentist or dental assistant can then smooth down any raised places. Typically it's contact paper, grind, contact paper, grind, and so on. Every time Dr. Blanas has filled a tooth, then gone to the contact paper, there's been no or virtually no adjustments needed: she nails it on the first shot, and the teeth she's filled for me feel indistinguishable from my unfilled teeth. Truly, she is a dental filling artist, more akin to a sculpture than the industrial drill-fill technique of any other dentist I've had.

M also goes to see her, and we referred my father-in-law, who also has had some bad dentist experiences to her, and he thinks she's great. If you're stressed about your teeth, but know that you should really make an appointment, I can't recommend her highly enough.

When it comes to dental I value 3 things above all in no particular order:
1. Receptionist 2. place 3. Dentist

The receptionist is very accommodating as far as I could tell with the few conversations I had with her. She was very helpful in calling my insurance for me and verifying that I did have coverage so that I did not have to pay. Kudos to her.

The Dentist, Dr.Blanas had practiced in this exact location for 19 years. That really surprised me but at the same time gave her credibility. She was born in Greece and came to US at a very young age. She graduated with a Bio-chem degree from University of Illinois in 1985 and then went through training in dentistry and started her practice.

Dr Blanas seemed to be a kind person and eager to share her experiences with me. My cleaning took about 20 mins and she actually did everything herself. I was not used to that because I had always been cleaned by a dental hygienist. And the real dentist always runs by at the end and poke my teeth for 30 seconds with a sharp tool and start speaking in codes to the hygienist about my teeth. Well, Dr. Balans did everything herself, and she was gentle in movements. Not soft but gentle.

The worse I have to say has to be the place. It is directly east of the Evanston Public library in this old multi-story building. It felt like either going into an old apartment or an empty lecture hall. I could hardly find the dental place because many rooms seemed to be unoccupied. Not the best location in terms of ambiance, but heck, it was only 1 block from where I live.

Dr. Stamata Blanas, was wonderful, I was looking for a Dentist between work and home. She was wonderful to work with, she answered all my questions, plus educated me on better health and maintenance of my teeth. She was through and effcient, I was in and out before I realized how much time had passed. I have scheduled a follow up cleaning in 6 months.