Western Dental They gave my 12 year old a 24 mo. plan for braces, 3 years later, still in braces; can't get a call back from patient relations (complaint dept.) Cathedral City, California

I made the mistake of taking my daughter to Western Dental Ortho 3 years ago.  After she had been going for 2 years -- we had been paying regularly, sometimes in advance, I discovered she still didn't have bands placed on her rear molars and they were tipped toward her tongue making it impossible for her to use them for chewing food.  I had assumed all was going well since I had not received any communication from the doctors or staff, but at that point I went in to speak with the orthodontist about her molars.

I found out at that time, she had been through several orthodontists and none of them had even noticed she didn't ever have bands placed on the molar teeth.  It took several months for them to place the bands because it would take an extra long appointment and they kept scheduling her for "shorter" appointments.

Obviously she didn't finish her treatment within 24 months and never did they tell me how long it would be extended or why her teeth were still not properly lined up.  At one point I took her to a dentist for a cleaning and found out she had a case of gingivitis, which they never noticed or alerted us to at the Western Dental office. 

After doing some research of my own, I found out that it is the standard of care to do regular fluoride treatments to prevent white lesions of demineralization when the brackets are removed, but she has never received even one.  After I asked the orthodontist about it, he said I could purchase a rinse over the counter.  Also, I discovered that sometimes orthodontia can cause bone resorption, so it is the standard of care to take x-rays periodically throughout treatment to be sure everything progressing okay with bone health.  My daughter has not received any x-rays and seeing how they operate in there, I am very worried! 

Parents never go into the back where all the kids are herded through like a cattle call, but I went back with her the past couple visits.  The instruments they used on her were rusty!  The barriers were not changed between patients.  There was a wall of shelved plaster teeth models that were just piled on top of each other, no boxes, just piled up models -- had to be at least 100 of them. 

There was only 1 dental assistant who seemed to know what he was doing.  The others kept making mistakes. 

Needless to say, I do not want to take her back there.  I have tried several times over the past 3 months to reach patient relations at headquarters, but it is just a voicemail and nobody calls back.  I still owe them $500 and they call for the money every day.  I've tried to get the billing department to put me in touch with someone who can talk to me about my daughter's care, but they will only discuss payment "in full".