We went to see Dr. Hall after a ton of consideration.

We went to see Dr. Hall after a ton of consideration. We knew we wanted someone incredibly experienced when our 16 year old dog stopped eating and had been having pretty severe teeth chattering that had been gradually building up over the course of several months (this can be a sign of oral pain and a potential cause for her not wanting to eat also can be neurological. but paired with her breath, we could confidently assume that her teeth were causing her some level of pain). We wanted someone board-certified and discovered that there's only three (currently) veterinary oral specialists in the state of VA. Once I found ADC and Dr. Hall, I found in his off-time, he had also been performing dental surgeries for the last 12 years at the National Zoo and had been board-certified for 25 years, which was longer than the other two BC vets in VA. When I called to talk to someone about scheduling a consultation, to my surprise. Dr. Hall got on the phone himself. He answered my questions with honesty and spoke to me far longer than he ever needed to considering I was not yet even a client. I was so grateful for this because I was terrified  of anesthetizing my little girl at 16 but recognized that if I didn't do something. she may eventually starve herself and she could very well be in agony. Even with any sort of risk of anesthesia. I needed to make the choice to try to help her because I refused to think of her being in pain and watch her appetite continue to decrease. Dr. Hall reminded me that age is not a disease and while there's always some level of risk, the risk is low and generally, anesthesia is very safe. Unfortunately, they were scheduling surgery around a week or so out, and because she wasn't eating anything other than a tiny bit of steak by this point (literally all she would eat). I went to get a second opinion at one of the other BC vets. On my drive there, I called the third BC vet to see how long they had been performing surgeries; both still had less experience in the field than Dr. Hall. The oral specialist I had an appointment with that morning just so happened to have a cancellation that day and could've operated on her that very same morning, but my gut still told me no- with her age and assuming her oral issues would be decently severe to cause that level of chattering. I still wanted someone with the most experience possible. I walked out of their office and ADC just so happened to call me as they also had a cancellation and instead could see Sadie in a couple of days instead of a week. I was both thrilled and terrified and set up her surgery date. On the day of her consult and surgery. I met Dr. Hall for the first time. I think the not-so-happy reviews on here are mostly based upon people who allow their ego or personal opinions of his demeanor to get in the way of their loved one's well-being. I will say that Dr. Hall is a confident and politely assertive guy who doesn't sugar-coat things, which I personally appreciate as I don't want to be buttered up into denial. I realize some may not take to this well but you really should consider the **amount of experience** he has, the thousands upon thousands of both exotic and domesticated animals he's performed surgeries on -- and with 25 years of experience and knowledge in this field, his opinion was HIGHLY important to me, And I encourage you to consider this as well. All this to say: my sweet Sadie went into surgery on Wednesday, January 23 and it took about 2 1/2 hours. He extracted over 10 of her teeth and repaired a hole that had developed from oral infection. Being a senior, her recovery coming out of anesthesia was slower that I expected as I had to gently syringe feed her for a few days because her mouth was so painful. Prior to her surgery, her teeth chattering had very slowly progressed over the course of almost a year, and right before surgery, her chattering was so loud and severe it kept me up at night in total panic. There would be maybe a handful of hours combined in a day where she WOULDN'T be chattering. The moment she came out of that surgery, her chattering has been reduced by 90%. And ever since her oral sutures had healed, she is now EATING again - her regular diet on her own, eating all of it and anything I put in front of her. I can't stop talking about it. The change is tremendous and absolutely night and day. She's charging the yard towards our neighbor's dog -- SPRINTING at him, which I have to get her to stop because she IS 16 and I don't want her to hurt herself and is running and barking for treats and is excited for things I haven't seen in so long. I cry from happiness all the time. She is the love of my life and he's given me more time with her. I don't know how long that time will be, but I know for a fact we absolutely made the right decision. He is going to be the dental surgeon for all of our babies from here on out. Dr. Hall, thank you for EVERYTHING -- for giving us back our baby girl.