A Generous, Caring ... Dentist?!
My name is Yaneth. My mom was a single mom to six kids. My sister and I were both born in Mexico and were brought to the United States without proper documentation. We have since become legal residents, but growing up we had a lot of challenges because we didn't have proper documentation. We couldn't get Medicaid because that was only offered to legal residents, so we went without medical and dental checkups all throughout our childhood. I remember when I was 19 I got a really bad toothache. I had never had a toothache that bad; I think that's when all my dental problems started. My mom gave me Tylenol and that was the end of it. Dentist nowadays are so expensive, and they will only finance you if you're working a good job with great pay so going to a dentist wasn't an option for me. With time, my teeth were in really bad condition. My molars were full of cavities and some already had pieces missing; my front tooth had started to chip. It was embarrassing sometimes to even smile.
One night while at home I got that same awful pain I had when I was 19. It was a Friday night and I knew I had to just ride it out with over-the-counter medicine until I could get it fixed. At this point I had already had a few molars pulled at the University of Texas where they charged very little. It was cheaper to pull them than to fix them, but this molar was in the front and I knew I had to get it treated. I started searching the internet for things like charity dentists, cheap dentists, and pro bono dental work. Some names came up and I Facebook-stalked them. I sent a bunch of messages to a lot of different dentists, but only one responded: Dr. David Hassid. He asked me what day I would be available to go to his office. He said he would do my exam and x-rays for free and we could then talk about pricing. He also told me the most important thing to do was to get me out of pain as soon as possible. I couldn't believe it! I was finally going to get my first dental checkup at the age of 31. He scheduled me for that following Thursday. I went in and his dental assistant came out and greeted me. He came in, introduced himself, and started doing my check-up. He got x-rays, took pictures, and poked around a little. He then told me all of the work I would need done, but all I heard was money I didn't have. He said he could go ahead and pull one of the molars that needed to be pulled out that day. He said whatever I was able to pay that day was fine, and he would do an invoice and then give me a discount. My bill was around $5,500, but he brought it down to $3,100. On top of that, he gave me an opportunity to pay it in payments. Since then, he has pulled three teeth, done a root canal and a crown, seven fillings, and fixed my chipped tooth. It has been about two years of me going to him. My son now sees him as well. I cannot and will not ever be able to sing his praises enough for being the type of person he is. He is caring, he treats you with dignity, and his whole office is just awesome. He does a lot of other charity work as well. He helps at Houston's Food Bank, he helps at animal shelters. He is just awesome! There are no words to describe Dr. Hassid. He helps you in any way he can and I just want other people to know about this hidden Houston gem we have. If you're ever in Houston and need dental work, don't hesitate to call Dr. Hassid.