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| - Awful, shameful, and questionable billing ethics! If I could give negative stars I would. My daughter went there for her checkup for the first time in February of 2015. They didn't allow me back with her, which I found a bit shady, but my daughter likes going to the dentist so I let that go. Visit went fine, no issues, and scheduled her next 6 mo checkup.
Early April, my daughter had an irritation on her top gum that was hurting her to tears to eat hard foods on that side. I called this office to see if I should take her to the doctor or if they knew anything I could do at home to help her. The front receptionist right away suggested I bring her in. I told her that my dental insurance only pays for 2 checkups a year, and my daughter had just had one there a few months prior. She assured me insurance should pay for the visit with no cost to me because it was an "emergency" visit. Like a nieve dummy, I believed her without checking with my insurance and took her in.
The dentist sits down with my daughter in the chair, puts one glove on, has her open her mouth, takes a half a second look, turns the light off, rolls his chair back, and rips off his one glove. He says its just a minor cut and it's irritated. He said avoid chewing on that side and gargle with warm salt water (which I already had her doing) and it should clear up in a few days. That was it!!! He didn't even touch her mouth, didn't dirty one instrument, didn't ask any questions about it..NOTHING!! So, we leave with me feeling like that was a waste of time but oh well, at least it got checked.
About one month later, I get a bill for EIGHTY DOLLARS for a "Limited Oral Evaluation". I call them and Lana, billing associate, says "It looks like insurance didn't cover it because your daughter has had her 2 checkups for the benefit year, which is June to June I believe." I told her that was what I told the receptionist and she assured me it should be covered due to it being an "emergency" visit. She just said, well, it wasn't. So then I tell her, "$80 for him to glance at her mouth and spend less than a minute with her, that is way overpriced and I don't agree with that." Her answer was "Well, the doctor did see her so he has to be paid for his time." She said she would resubmit it to the insurance and see if they pay any of it on an "emergency" visit. I said fine and hung up.
Last week, I got another bill from this office stating the insurance did pay $24 of the balance, leaving me with a $56 balance. And, to add insult to injury, this balance was now 60 days overdue and needed to pay upon receipt to avoid collections. Again, I called, and spoke to Lana. She was very curt with me, did not care or want to hear about anything that I had to say about it, and was only concerned about getting my credit card information. I felt like they should have waived the balance due to the receptionist making the assumption the visit would be covered 100%, the fact that $80 for that "visit" is criminal and should be considered theft, and all this hassle. I had no choice but to pay them because I did not want to be sent to collections. I feel very helpless in this situation and if I can help somebody avoid this crooked business, I would at least feel better about helping others not end up in this situation. The kicker in it all is I could have taken her to her primary care physician, paid the $10 co-pay, and would have got a more extensive exam. Avoid, avoid, avoid, there are so many wonderful and honest dentists out there to choose from.
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