Friendly Dental Center Nitin Mody DDS :Costly repairs for shotty workmanship, which caused excessive bone loss! Lakewood, California

Recently I had a teeth cleaning performed by Dr. Mody at Friendly Dental as I typically do every 6 months.  I was told that a crown on the lower left side of my mouth was cracked and needed to be replaced.  I was quoted a price close to $500.00 for the work to be performed and this was my out of pocket expense that was beyond what the insurance company would pay. 

My wife suggested I go see her dentist for a second opinion as I might get a better price.  I made the appointment and went in for the exam  about four weeks after my teeth cleaning with Dr. Mody.  At that time a full set of X-rays were taken and the dentist informed me I had sever plaque on my teeth and descaling was needed immediately.  The dentist showed me the plaque and pointed out the bone loss on the X-rays  He also showed me and a picture he'd taken of a filling next to the damaged crown that was bad.  Needless to say I was pretty upset to learn the dentist I'd been going to for years allowed this condition to occur in my mouth.  Not only did he let the tarter build up after many years of being under his care, but the filling he'd provided was extremely poor workmanship.

I'd had an incident a few years back with Dr. Mody when I obtained a discount for a teeth whitening procedure called "Brite Smile" and had to go to a different dentist to have the work performed since Dr. Mody was not a part of the program at that time.  The only prereqresite was to have the whitening work performed was that my teeth needed to have been professionally cleaned prior to the proceedure taking place.  I had this done at Friendly Dental in Lakewood Ca. (Dr. Mody) on Saturday and found myself sitting in the other dental office the following Monday afternoon.  That dentist asked me if I'd had my teeth cleaned prior to seeing him and I answered in the affirmative.  I explained that the teeth had been cleaned just two days prior to me showing up in his office.  I was told the job was substandard and the dentist then put a scope in my mouth and showed me on the TV screen were tarter had been left behind.  There were several areas thoughout my mouth that had issues.

The following week I went back to Dr. Mody and expressed my dissatisfaction for the poor job he'd performed on me.  He appologized greatly and promised he'd never let that happen again.  Shame on me!  I should have used the same common sense my wife did and changed doctors immediately. I didn't choose wisely as I stayed with Dr. Mody thinking anyone can make a mistake and gave him the benefit of the doubt.  I trusted him...  The decision to stay has cost me dental health as discribed above and more I will lay out below.  Hey, it gets better!  My wife had the same results with Dr. Mody and was told by a independant dentist when she went in for her teeth whitening of the substandard work performed on her.  She remains with this other dentist today and he is the one I've recently had my descaling performed with.  He's actually very good...

My cost out of pocket for the descaling, crown replacement and the repair of the filling cost me almost $900.00.  But it dosent stop there.  When I was going through the descaling procedure I was informed I had many teeth that had deep pockets.  The dentist was so concerned he immediately put me on a specific regiment to try and reverse some of the damage that I continue to follow to this day.  They made an appointment for me to follow up with a Periodontist, which comes to his office once a week for the following week.  That was yesterday!

After the examination the Periodontist explained I needed to have my gums cut open and the infection that cannot be cleared by the descaling proceedure removed from my mouth or more bone lose will occure.  With my insurance my out of pocket cost is $3000.00.  I'm told this needs to be done immediately to prevent further bone loss.  My pockets are 6mm deep and are considered bad.  My problem is I'm barely able to put food on the table and pay my mortgage.  I'm being forced to choose between having my teeth fixed or not eating and keeping a roof over our heads.  These are costs I would not have incurred if Dr. Mody had simply perform the job he was hired to do and for what he has charged my insurance company for.  I am very concerned for all the other patients who have entrusted their care with and continue to put there faith in Dr. Mody.  Run don't walk to another dentist...  Can I make Dr. Mody responsible for paying for the work I now need to have done to save my teeth before major reconstructive work is required?  How someone this incompetent is allowed to continue to practice is beyond me...