Posted on 05/30/2021 6:06:13 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
In 1993, Dr. David Silber, a dentist now practicing in Plano, Texas, was fired from the first dental clinic he worked for. He’d been assigned to a patient another dentist had scheduled for a crown preparation — a metal or porcelain cap for a broken or decayed tooth. However, Silber found nothing wrong with the tooth, so he sent the patient home.
He was fired later the same day. “Never send a patient away who’s willing to pay the clinic money,” he was told.
(snip)
But sometimes dentists escalate to outright fraud. A recent article in the Journal of Insurance Fraud in America put it plainly: “Medicaid fraud is the most lucrative business model in U.S. dentistry today.”
(Excerpt) Read more at khn.org ...
“Same with hail damage.”
Not to mention ‘mold’.
You are precisely correct. That has been my experience.
‘Cracking’ seems to be the new notion among dentists. I was told three years ago by a dentist that I had lots of ‘micro cracks’ and they could probably do some kind of ‘laser treatment’.
I’ve had an actual cracked tooth - it led to several years of trigeminal neuralgia (the ‘suicide disease’) but no dentist could find it - they kept trying to do TMJ therapy on me.
Finally I went back to my childhood dentist’s practice - I had avoided them, because they didn’t take my insurance. They found it right away, with a simple X-ray.
Take the time, and pay the money you have to, to get your teeth done right by an honest dentist.
I stay away from dentists as much as I can.
I know a crazy old guy who is almost as mad as a hatter (possibly for the same reasons), but he is the only guy around me who likes to do gold fillings
Or, if you have dental insurance, they want to drill out all the old fillings and replace them.
I have an old guy who has pulled two of my teeth, absolutely painlessly and with no after-effects. I dread his retirement...
😂 fangs! Love it!
Years ago, I had a filling done, and paid through my employer insurance plan.
About 2-3 years later, due to poor work on the filling, I now needed a root canal & crown.
The original dentist had already lost his license for shoddy work, and defective equipment, so the new dentist charged me my co-pay, and billed my employer’s plan.
I soon got called to the insurance admin’s office, to be told the billing was being denied: only one root canal per tooth allowed!
Fortunately, I had my copy of the original billing. The MOFO had double invoiced: filling invoice to me; root canal & crown invoice to the insurance.
This time it was the legal authorities, rather than the State Dental Board that nabbed him. Before it was over, feds also had him for tax fraud: double books, one set of what he was charging the patients; the other, what he was actually collecting from insurance.
Retired military and private practice oral surgeon here. You and I agree on the chain and group dentistry model that is so prevalent today. The goal is maximum profit, end of story. Patients and their insurance are just a harvest to be maximized. I apologize to the good and honest dentists but they are becoming fewer every day.
I had an appointment with a local dentist here a couple of years ago, OMG I felt like I was in a telemarketing office when I walked in!! They had to have 7 girls at the front desk on the phones absolutely HATED that dentist never went back!! Found a small office dentist very close by LOVE HIM!!
Yes, Smile Generation tried to rip me off, got a second opinion and stopped just in time. My company choice one year was supposedly the premium dental for low price, turned out to be all companies with “Smile” in the name. Checked them out, all rip-offs. Went to one just for a free exam just to tell them off, then had to wait a year to get coverage with a real dentist.
Did he look like Laurence Olivier?
It’s not just chains.
And it’s not just dentists.
I’m seeing sleazy stuff from practioners I’ve known for years.
My cousin is a dentist in ETx. Honest as the day is long. He’s got a wait list and you can’t get in to see him for months. He and some colleagues go down to Honduras regularly to treat the poor. He won’t take payment from me for my occasional services so I plop down some cash and he puts it toward the cause.
Well I'll stick with my coffee stained teeth, so long as they are healthy.
I guess we simply have different experiences.
Both my PCP and my Dentist actively work to save me money. And they are up front about it.
They are both established, un-affiliated with any “health care syste”, and about my age (60).
I feel bad for people who have to rely on “corporate” systems. I know when “my guys” retire, I will experience culture shock—probably at the point in my life where it will hurt the most.
There was a California proposition on the ballot 25 years ago that failed. It would have allowed hygienists and other lower level professionals to open their own offices. People such as legal secretaries filling out forms for clients or RN’s serving patients for more minor ailments. No you had to have the high level pro come in for a couple of minutes and call the shots. Just think what they would do if they needed the referrals from these people. I tell you man it’s fixed. Perhaps dentists should only be allowed to diagnose or treat patients, not both.
Los Angelodes(Yuma) has 500 dentists. Like here you have to shop.
“A dentist is someone you should build a relationship with. I’ve been with mine for 30 years. He’s come in on weekends for me. He never tries to “sell” me because he knows the value of a lifetime client.”
My dentist is in business with his twin brother. They run what appears to be a very successful practice. After 9/11 they both joined the Naval Reserve Medical Corps purely out of patriotism and are now Captains. He was going to perform dental screenings for a bunch of reservists who were being deployed. He didn’t think the facilities provided were up to the level of what the reservists deserved so he brought them all to his private practice for their screenings. I trust whatever he tells me.
The resemblance was rather ominous.
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