I had a pleasant experience with my prophylaxis done a few months ago but today I had a very different experience. I needed to have my temporary filling of a broken tooth removed and replaced with a crown. I did plenty of research about different crown materials prior to my appointment and even discussed the various options with the staff over the phone. When I arrived for my appointment today I told the dental assistant, Cathy, that I did not care purely about esthetics and wanted something that would last as long as possible. Everything I could find led to the best crown material for this application being one made from a noble or high-noble metal. Cathy told me that I could discuss my options with the dentist, Dr. Mathur, later and then tried to persuade me to go with a ceramic e-max crown. She prepared a treatment plan for this material, before the dentist even saw me, and had me sign some paperwork so I could begin the treatment. When Dr. Mathur came in, instead of discussing my options, he went straight to anesthesia and then began grinding away my tooth. After all the work was completed and the temporary crown was put in place Cathy told me I was ready to go and she would escort me to the front desk. I reminded her that I still wanted to discuss what type of material my crown was going to be made from so she left to get Dr. Mathur. He came back in and exclaimed "Oh, you want gold?!?" as if this was his first time hearing of my request. I explained that I did not specifically want gold and that my insurance plan does not actually cover a "high-noble" metal crown so I wanted to consider a noble metal crown. He falsely stated that any crown containing gold would be considered "high-noble", leading me to understand that my own dentist may simply be uninformed about the materials or just not deal with them very often. I do not find ignorance to be an excuse for a professional to try to pass over a patient's requests, especially one that is so expensive and should, in theory, last a very long time. Knowing that my own dentist was not familiar with the intricacies of what I was asking for I simply decided to opt for zirconia instead of the e-max they were trying to push on me. I really had higher expectations from this dental office based on my previous appointment but I will probably be looking to find somewhere else in the future. I hope that the installation of my permanent crown goes smoothly and that this material, which I reluctantly chose due to my dentist's unfamiliarity with other options, will last a long time.