Dr. Shenkin and his staff are unprofessional and unsupportive to mothers who breastfeed. I was shamed by his staff and him because I breastfeed my daughter and she has severe decay. He would not listen to her history of severe GERD that has caused this decay and blamed nursing on it. He barely looked in her mouth at the initial consult and every four weeks for several months I had to bring her back for fluoride treatments. Each time they asked about nursing and at the last visit when she was supposed to see Shenkin he refused to see her because I was still nursing. He stated he would not treat her decay. I self referred to another pediatric dentist and my daughter will be having dental surgery in one month as non-treatment was not an option and the diagnosis of her teeth is due to GERD, not breastfeeding. There are other preventative measures my new dentist will be implementing. Also, an important note is that my daughter was given fluoride at age and at levels she never should have been given. This practice is unprofessional and in my opinion, unethical with how they treated my 21 month old daughter.

Submitted Nov. 13, 2014

Got a lot of opinions about where to take our duaghter with special needs. She is very tuogh to deal with and we wernt sure who could treat her. our cousins go to DrSheknin and they love him. Things went great she had fillings done in the office and left happy. my wife cried after her filings because she never thought our daughtr would sit for a dentist. We keep saying how nice it is that she is not afraid of the dentist after all the work she got done.

Submitted July 26, 2013

We brought our son to Dr. Shenkin about 7 years ago. I had mistakenly thought rice milk was just like regular milk, and we had a load of cavities he needed filled. Our family dentist tried to fix them but a big shiny needle was all my son had to see and he was done. Our dentist thought he would need to be put to sleep to fix them, but when we saw Dr. Shenkin he thought we should try it in the office first. Amazing! Is all I can say. My son loved him, and he has loved going to the dentist ever since, so do my 2 younger children who are cavity free. We now drive to Augusta to see Dr. Shenkin, and wouldn't go anywhere else.

Submitted June 4, 2013

I wouldn't trust this man to take care of my DOG'S teeth after what happened to us! I brought my 5 year old son to Dr Shenkin after my son suffered a dental trauma on the playground. My son could not eat, drink, or close his mouth! Shenkin did not bother to take x-rays or even clean my son's mouth to access the damage, instead advising to "Take him home and wait 2 weeks, then bring him back and we'll see if he needs an oral surgeon." He also advised us that "You'll need to clean your son's mouth in good shape. Don't take "No" for an answer." (Note that Shenkin himself refuses to do any work on children without first knocking them down with nitrous oxide, and refused our request that he or the assistant help us). I left Shenkin's office and self-referred to an oral surgeon, where we discovered my son had two broken teeth and badly bruised and lacerated gums and lips. Both teeth were removed yesterday under general anesthesia.

Submitted May 1, 2013

Dr. Shenkin and his staff are absolutely wonderful with children & parents alike. They offer a variety of services & ways to help children get quality dental care. The waiting room is VERY kid friendly & relaxing, bu t nothing compared to the clinic areas - there are individual TV screens that can be moved right in front of the chair for kids to relax with a movie during the procedure, and after it's done, they can go play one of the several old style arcade games while Dr. Shenkin reviews everything with the parents. My daughter has some special needs, & we planned to do her work using nitrous oxide. He used great behavioral techniques when she balked, but still, her fear & limited pain tolerance were too much. He quickly stopped rather than push her to her limits, and I am very grateful for his sensitivity & understanding. He truly wants the dentist to be a place neither child nor parent fears or dreads - a real asset to the families he serves!!

Submitted Feb. 12, 2010

I do not have Dr. Shenkin as my doctor so everything above is false but I had to answer them in order to write a comment. Dr. Shenkin is responsible for making it a new law in the State of Maine to not allow people to smoke in cars with children under the age of 18 in them. If any one deserves high marks then it would be Dr. Shenkin. His actions have shown that he truly cares about children. Now if he could only make it against the law to smoke on side walks and in front of the enterances of businesses. If he tries to then we all need to support him.

Submitted Nov. 10, 2008