I had to my cavities filled and root canal crowned by the end of may because that's when my insurance ended, so I called and told them that and they got me in and said that they could do my cavity fillings the same day that they did my crown for my root canal tooth and that the out of pocket charge would be 2,100 that had to be paid at the appointment. They emailed me the morning of my apt. and said they underestimated me by $500. My mother was paying for my work, so when I was in the chair being numbed and the receptionist told her about the price she asked about possibly just doing the crown and not the fillings. The receptionist then came back into the exam room and announced, "You need to come out here and talk to your mother about what we are doing today!" So I go back, and we decide to just do the crown and I get back in the chair. Meanwhile apparently the receptionist made a comment about how the doctor had blocked out a huge time slot for me that he would now waste, so my mother says fine and the receptionist interrupts the dentist a second time and says go ahead with everything. The dentist then says, "There are people not in this room that are irritating me and making things more difficult than they need to be. Don't worry, we will will persevere and I will do good work." Whether he was talking about my mother or the receptionist I am not sure, but still wtf.
And then the entire time he was working out my mouth I got the feeling that he was being extra rough because he was in a bad mood. For example, they usually put cotton or something to hold your cheeks and lips away from your teeth while they are working and he didn't, instead of holding my bottom lip away from my mouth he put his drilling instrument on top of it with my lip folded in, so my lip was pressed down sandwiched between my teeth and his metal drill. The root canal crown was on one of my back molars and the cavities were on my bottom and top very last molars on each side. He didn't hold my cheeks open with anything and the whole time his drill was 1/6 of an inch from my flesh. I was terrified to move or swallow. One time I did exhale and his tool did hit my flesh. After two or so hours he said, "we'll wrap up for today, you look like you are having fun. I can appreciate your eye rolls." I never rolled my eyes at him. My entire face was numb and I couldn't have rolled my eyes if I had wanted to. He left and his assistant finished up molding my temporary crown and he never came back, no follow up advice or anything.
My crown came off the next day in one piece, I went back in and his assistant did the re-cementing and said my gum tissue had been lodged under the crown forcing it to not adhere right. I leave, it comes off again the next day while I am eating a wrap and I don't even feel it and bite down on it and break it. I haven't gone back and now that my insurance is gone I cannot afford to go to a new dentist. Is this normal? Is it really that hard to get a crown on right and was he as unprofessional as I think he was?
Aside from all of that, disputing finances is never a great experience and I take responsibility for not knowing what we should have gotten done ahead of time but still, if you are annoyed with a patient should you really make it obvious? I felt like their attitude was sort of, "Ugh these stupid poor people and their not being able to shell out thousands of dollars in one visit, she clearly won't spend much money with us so let's just rush through this."
And then the entire time he was working out my mouth I got the feeling that he was being extra rough because he was in a bad mood. For example, they usually put cotton or something to hold your cheeks and lips away from your teeth while they are working and he didn't, instead of holding my bottom lip away from my mouth he put his drilling instrument on top of it with my lip folded in, so my lip was pressed down sandwiched between my teeth and his metal drill. The root canal crown was on one of my back molars and the cavities were on my bottom and top very last molars on each side. He didn't hold my cheeks open with anything and the whole time his drill was 1/6 of an inch from my flesh. I was terrified to move or swallow. One time I did exhale and his tool did hit my flesh. After two or so hours he said, "we'll wrap up for today, you look like you are having fun. I can appreciate your eye rolls." I never rolled my eyes at him. My entire face was numb and I couldn't have rolled my eyes if I had wanted to. He left and his assistant finished up molding my temporary crown and he never came back, no follow up advice or anything.
My crown came off the next day in one piece, I went back in and his assistant did the re-cementing and said my gum tissue had been lodged under the crown forcing it to not adhere right. I leave, it comes off again the next day while I am eating a wrap and I don't even feel it and bite down on it and break it. I haven't gone back and now that my insurance is gone I cannot afford to go to a new dentist. Is this normal? Is it really that hard to get a crown on right and was he as unprofessional as I think he was?
Aside from all of that, disputing finances is never a great experience and I take responsibility for not knowing what we should have gotten done ahead of time but still, if you are annoyed with a patient should you really make it obvious? I felt like their attitude was sort of, "Ugh these stupid poor people and their not being able to shell out thousands of dollars in one visit, she clearly won't spend much money with us so let's just rush through this."
