The Deep Clean Scam

[CKN]

You mean deep or regular?

Regular? You have never had a deep cleaning- correct?

 

[97prizm]

Monday, I woke up with an abscessed tooth. It was a 20-year-old root canal that
decided to go full bore with pain. Only root canal I have ever had, and I still have all my teeth.
My dentist is no longer in business, and I have to go in network with my new provider.
I called around and was offered from 30-90 days just to be seen. Yes really.

I found a local dentist that I called, and they said we can see you mid-September.
With this kind of pain, I would be dead. lol

I got educated pretty quick as I only go when I have an issue.
The local dentist started off the conversation with how clean are your teeth?
When was the last time you were at a dentist and all of that.
I told her thanks, but I need to resolve this sooner than later.

Thirty minutes later she called back and said If I could get there in one hour, they have an opening.
Bear in mind she was told my exact situation in detail. So, I get there and fill out 20 minutes of forms which is normal.
Do I see the dentist... nope. I get 18 x-rays and my teeth cataloged with pictures.

They start trying to sell the "deep cleaning" nonsense and are contacting my insurance.
I said I am not here for that. The #19 tooth is the issue.
I see the dentist for 5 minutes and she says we don't do the retreatment here . You have to go to an Endodontist for
that.

So, they hook me up 60 miles away and I have to wait until 8/22 for that.
This whole visit was nothing but a scam and after this I read up on the deep cleaning and it
simply is a deep wallet flush.

This is not an attack on dentist as my old one was great and never tried stuff like this ever.
After more reading this seems to be the new scam, and many say the deep cleaning at nearly $2000 was
simply a regular cleaning and nothing more. Live and learn.

I try not to go to doctors as personally I never get any resolution.
My general doctor has had his staff weekly call me that I have to get in there quickly.
I finally agreed and she said we can see you October 16th.
I told her I am starting a new insurance in October, and you are not in my network.

Further calls for my tooth issue resulted in either we are not accepting new patients or several months out.

Wow. I was treated much better. My original dentist was out sick and referred me to another dentist he trusted. Yep needed a root canal. They got me in contact with a specialist that week. I was originally going to see another dentist years ago but he looked at my cracked filling and immediately quoted 3 grand on the left and 2 grand on the right without a second thought. My current dentist fixed the cracked filling and it's held ever since. Some dentists aren't as methodical or are wanting to jump to the highest costing option first. A huge red flag.

 

[Donald]

I have an issue with a tooth and my regular dentist felt it probably needed a root canal. They referred me and the Endodontics who gave me an initial appt about 3 weeks out but I got the feeling that if I was in pain it would be sooner.

I live in Delaware and there are so many people moving there to retire I assume, that doctors and dentists are an issue. Some not taking new patients or the new patient initial visit is 6 months off. But once your a patient it does not seem too bad.

 

[Zee09]

Regular? You have never had a deep cleaning- correct?

Only Joking
Early January I had a regular cleaning and x-rays
No issues found

 

[Zee09]

I have an issue with a tooth and my regular dentist felt it probably needed a root canal. They referred me and the Endodontics who gave me an initial appt about 3 weeks out but I got the feeling that if I was in pain it would be sooner.

I live in Delaware and there are so many people moving there to retire I assume, that doctors and dentists are an issue. Some not taking new patients or the new patient initial visit is 6 months off. But once your a patient it does not seem too bad.

Agreed. My old Dentist was in Delaware. The wait times these days are crazy. MD is just as bad.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Wow, my Dentist would get me in, perhaps that day or the next at worst. Things must be different in your neck of the woods.
Hope you get relief ASAP.

 

[Zee09]

Wow, my Dentist would get me in, perhaps that day or the next at worst. Things must be different in your neck of the woods.
Hope you get relief ASAP.

Thanks Jeff..
The original root canal my dentist couldn't do but he called and Endo while I was in his office and sent me right over. Done....
Today in my area there doesn't seem to be any urgency.

 

[fdcg27]

Wow, my Dentist would get me in, perhaps that day or the next at worst. Things must be different in your neck of the woods.
Hope you get relief ASAP.

Our dentist would do the same. He often tells me that I have a high tolerance for pain, so the one time that I called with a really painful abscess, he worked me in that morning. He is my age, though, and while Covid set him back financially I don't know how much longer he'll maintain his practice.
Thing is that a lot of practices are acquired by vulture capitalists. The practice may still be called "Joe the Dentist" but Joe is long since retired and the VCs are using their usual MBA school learned skills to maximize returns while ruining the care the practice once provided.
New dental school grads have little choice but to go to work in these corporate enterprises, since we don't provide for much in the way of support for those pursuing health care credentials and thus they graduate with a crushing debt load.
This happens nowhere else in the world.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

No it's different.

I actually agree with PWMDWD’s comment about mouth health being a forward indicator of body health. There’s plenty of data that even I agree with there. What I was saying is a scam are all the layers of insurance bureaucracy and caveats in policies to trip people up into owing more money.

Like how my 22 minute knee arthroscopy and half-hr recovery was billed to insurance at nearly $34k all-in; after my insurance “adjusted” things I owed about $3k, which was all to meet my deductible so I paid 100%, on top of the nearly $400/mo I’ve been paying Anthem while never using coverage over 15 years. Yet someone on a “public” government-subsidized health exchange plan pays $10/mo for “insurance” and would likely get a bill for no more than $300 after all was said and done, maybe even zero.

Lawyers and politicians have ruined our country. /rant

 

[walterjay]

I truly wish that I had half of the money that I have doled out to insurance companies over my lifetime. And barely used it.

I recently went on Medicare. Now they are using me to take advantage of the government.

 

[Zee09]

I truly wish that I had half of the money that I have doled out to insurance companies over my lifetime. And barely used it.

I recently went on Medicare. Now they are using me to take advantage of the government.

I'm not on Medicare but I feel the same way.

 

[ZeeOSix]

I see the dentist for 5 minutes and she says we don't do the retreatment here . You have to go to an Endodontist for
that.

Yep, that's normal procedure even if you would have seen your old regular dentist, if he was still around.

 

[Zee09]

Yep, that's normal procedure even if you would have seen your old regular dentist, if he was still around.

Correct but they advertise as an Endo... Note my screen shot.

 

[Al]

You don't have to, the doctors and insurance do that for you.
That said- many more years of great health to you.

I know I go overboard. But you can't take it with you.
Thank you!!!

 

[ZeeOSix]

Correct but they advertise as an Endo... Note my screen shot.

Didn't have time to read the whole thread. So did you ask them why they show Endo service there, but referred you to another?

 

[Zee09]

Didn't have time to read the whole thread. So did you ask them why they show Endo service there, but referred you to another?

I did on the phone prior to the visit and they said they did. They are root canal specialist.
After the check-up I saw the dentist and she said we don't do retreats...they advertise otherwise.
That is my basic beef. All they did was lure me there wasting my time and if I knew I wasn't going to get the help I required I wouldn't have went.

Having an abscessed tooth isn't fun and having your time wasted isn't something you want to drag out without resolution. It is what it is but came off to me as a money grab.

 

[Blueshound]

I'm not on Medicare but I feel the same way.

That's literally the whole point of Medicare Advantage plans (using you to take advantage of the government). But traditional Medicare is actually administered by the government for the people.

 

[Zee09]

That's literally the whole point of Medicare Advantage plans (using you to take advantage of the government). But traditional Medicare is actually administered by the government for the people.

Advantage being the key word eh...

 

[MrJayhawk]

Correct but they advertise as an Endo... Note my screen shot.

My guess on that would be they do limited endo procedures. My dentist does that, root canals when its easy to do so. If there is a crown to go thru or its a tooth further back he farms those out.

 

[ZeeOSix]

I did on the phone prior to the visit and they said they did. They are root canal specialist.
After the check-up I saw the dentist and she said we don't do retreats...they advertise otherwise.

So did they at least X-ray the tooth to see what was going on? If an X-ray shows the root is cracked, then it can't be retreated, and will rather have to be extracted.