Family Dental Solutions Family Dental Center of Marietta Bait and Switch , Internet

I have to say that I am flabbergasted by this "report" and the entire platform (this web site) that it sits on. I will address my beef with this site in a follow up rebuttal.  First I want to thank the kind responder to this slanderous complaint.  It gives me hope to know that there are people willing to take time from their busy schedule to help a stranger being unfairly accused.  Yes the accusation against my dental practice is an accusation directed at me personally as any sole proprietor will tell you.   

I think it important to note that as reflected in our raving reviews on an independent site demand force excellence and patient satisfaction is a culture in our practice.   We will go the extra mile and then some, but, we are most proud of the fact that we provide very high quality care efficiently, gently and at a very reasonable fee. 

Slander refers to a falsehood presented as true which could harm the reputation of a person or entity.  Weather intentional or not, this definition totally fits this situation.  It seems to me the crux of this complaint is his claim that he thinks it unfair that he has to pay for the services he received and thought his insurance would cover, and from the information he presented I would have to agree with him, but, there is some information missing. 

First my dental team has been with me for years and everyone on the team knows the only people that deal with insurance is the ones trained to do so, to avoid this kind of issue.  No one will ever represent the patients portion (estimate) as the total liability on the patients part.  I am glad to hear that the patient has a copy of the "written quote" which is titled treatment plan,since the second page directly above his signature  clearly states "If you have dental insurance, please be aware that THIS IS AN ESTIMATE ONLY.  Coverage may be different if your deductible has not been met, annual maximum has been met, or if your coverage table is lower than average."  I find it hard to understand how we intentionally misrepresented his liability when the treatment plan breaks out what the full fee, insurance and patient's estimated portions are in the same signed document that clearly points out this information is an estimate only.  

The point of verifying insurance is very simply to make our estimates as accurate as possible and frankly my team does a great job doing this very complex, tedious and mind numbing task. Our estimates are surprisingly accurate and almost always when there is an issue it is because of reasons beyond my teams control. In this case, the original policy was already in the computer, upon being informed that his insurance may have been dropped or changed, we called his original insurance company, using the same information and phone number originally provided we were told his coverage was still active.  This is actually a routine call with nothing extraordinary, so we resumed our routine under the assumption his coverage was the same.   After much investigating in to this situation,  we were recently informed that there was a lapse of coverage due to non payment and once this was corrected the policy was reinstated, however, the new policy was down graded.  You can see how difficult it is to nail down an exact quote for the actual out of pocket expense.  It is also a classic example of why we have the disclaimer and why we expect all patients to sign that they understand it is only an estimate.  To hold my team to a higher standard is not reasonable and not even possible.

Jeremy you seemed most upset about being sent to collections.  I would like to see a copy of the letter you got or the contact information for the collections agency, since I personally OK every account that goes to a collection agency and there just are not that many accounts that end up going that route.  I certainly did not OK your account to go to collections, so there is no way my office did that to you and if it turns out that we did, I WILL MAKE IT RIGHT IMMEDIATELY! 

As surprised as I was to read this above "report", I was really upset reading it after I spent time out of my day specifically dedicated to this issue with you.  Then I saw it was dated before we met and felt I still needed to respond pretty much along the lines we talked about when we met.  I though you may have apologized for a negative review when we met and since I could not find one, I dismissed it.  I have to admit the scathing remarks took me by surprise.... that anyone could see myself or my dental team in that light caught me off guard.  I regret to inform you that the site you used to post your remarks  will not allow even you to retract the comments.  My only hope is that you will add a rebuttal to the original post updating the satisfactory resolution to this issue.  It seemed to me after our last meeting you understood the value I placed on you continuing to consider me your dentist and that you were appreciative of my flexibility in working out a payment plan with you.

Sincerely,
Dr. Ranch

You went about a year needing a root canal? That must have been painful. Also, if you needed a root canal, you had an infection. It's surprising that the infection didn't spread beyond that tooth and damage surrounding teeth.

What they are charging you for the root canal and crown is in line. You should get the permanent crown put on as soon as possible, as the tooth is now compromised from the root canal. It is more susceptible to fracture. If you fracture the treated tooth, it will need to be extracted. If it is extracted, an implant could cost up to 5K depending on the bone structure.

Dental insurance can be really tricky. I doubt that they were trying to scam you. It's difficult to keep track of what is and isn't covered between insurance companies. In the future, you should call your insurance company. The provider doesn't really care who pays. They do the work, they expect payment.