I went to Dr. Kopikar a few years ago. I was told I had a cavity in one of my back teeth and was told I needed to have it removed and have an onlay placed. Not knowing any better, I listened to the dentist and agreed to the procedure. It was very painful afterwards and wasn't told it would be. I had problems with food getting stuck in there for years. Recently, the onlay came out after flossing and I went to my dentist to figure out the next step. A part of it chipped and led it to dislodge over time. After my dentist went in a bit further and comparing it to xray, he told me that although the tooth was well bonded and seemed to have had a "fancy" way of placing the onlay in, the procedure was unecessary and a crown would have been sufficient. Not only that, but after I left Dr. Kopikar after the original bad experience, the dentist I was going to for a few years after that also said in so many words that the procedure was unnecessary and the dentist was overzealous. I have not had a cavity since nor did I ever have cavities in the past that needed anything other than a simple filling. I was told by Dr. Kopikar that I was getting older ( I was 29) and females who age tend to get more cavitites. I remember that he had a new machine to use for the onlay and am convinced he used me for financial gain. I have a small mouth and had many teeth removed as a youth for orthodontics and he took most of a perfectly good tooth. It is so upsetting and unfortunate that I've had to deal with an uncomfortable onlay for many years, had to pay him for that unnecesary procedure when I had just graduated from grad school paying outward of $700 out of pocket. I also was convinced by Dr. Kopikar that my $500 thin night/dayguard was resillient and that I could wear it when speaking to my own patients. No way and I chewed through the nightguard in 3 years.
I usually refrain from yelping about medical professionals because I'm a medical professional myself and it's tough to defend yourself on this platform against negative reviews. I caution people to be VERY careful with this dentist. I truly believe he is financially greedy and extremely agressive with his treatments.