Davis Dental Diary: Dental Treatment Scams, Dangers, and Ripoffs

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Dental Treatment Scams, Dangers, and Ripoffs

Upselling. Creative diagnosis. Driving the reward engine. Maximizing profits. Revenue quotas. Monetizing a patient. High volume dentistry.

These phrases should NEVER be associated with a dentist or dental services practice.

When a dentist is highly motivated, or corporately pressured, into getting as much money as possible out of a patient and their family, something is WRONG. Unnecessary treatments and overpriced services can result from such emphasis on the dental patient as a cash cow.

I will now list some of the patients that I have seen in my office after diagnosis and/or treatment from dubious "fast food" type dental treatment chains and corporate dental organizations.

CASE #1 -- I had a patient who was seen by a dentist who listed that she had 14 cavities in her mouth. She recently received dental insurance through her employer and hadn't been to the dentist for a couple of years. She desired a second opinion and I informed her that she had no cavities.

CASE #2 -- I had a patient come into our office who had lost a front tooth and had an implant placed by a dentist in a local corporate dental office in Peoria. The implant was improperly placed too far forward and was not in the proper position for the crown to look good aesthetically. She did not want to go back to that office again or remove the implant and place a new one in the proper position. I made a crown to look as good as possible for this patient.

CASE #3 -- I recently saw a young lady that was told that she needed all her teeth removed and needed full dentures. This lady needed about 5 fillings, one crown, and one or possibly two teeth removed. This was a lot better than full mouth dentures.

2ND OPINIONS -- I have had a few patients request second opinions on the treatment plans that they were presented at the corporate dental office. In the patients that I examined, the treatment was often not necessary and excessive.

Several patients had treatment plans costing over $4,000.00 and it would usually be about $1,500.00 or less in our office. I have had patients told that they needed several crowns on their teeth, when upon my examination the teeth were asymptomatic -- and did NOR need crowns or fillings replaced.

DON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN

I believe some people go to these corporate dental offices because of all the advertising that they see in the media.

I have talked to a few specialists about the referrals they receive from these corporate dental organizations.

The specialists state that they usually see the patient after something had gone terribly wrong with the treatment. In some cases, these disasters are difficult or IMPOSSIBLE TO REMEDY.

Most of the patients should have been referred much sooner.

Often these patients have used up any dental benefits before being referred to the specialist.

I know every business needs to make a profit, but I see too many patients dental health compromised for the profit of these corporate dental organizations. I think our American Dental Association needs to address these abuses and support the dentists that have the interest of the patient's health first.