As individuals, we confide in medical and dental personnel to make the right decisions in the form of treatment, maintenance, services, etc. For the most part, dentists, doctors, optometrists for example are usually on par and qualified individuals to obtain and give medical advice. Enter Coastal Dental in Placentia, California….
In the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect with Coastal Dental. After I researched a little through the Better and Business Bureau, and yelp after-the-fact, it was a shocking find. Here is my experience with Coastal Dental.
First off, let me start of by saying that everyone is quite pleasant at the Placentia office. The staff is nice and very friendly. Their service (the small amount I had done) was okay for the most part. The major issue I have (along with others…see below) is the shady practice of over-charging patients. To no surprise, I needed extensive dental work and had been looking for a dentist close to my house that accepted out insurance. Coastal Dental fit the mold so we came aboard. As stated earlier, I needed extensive work done. One process of this was a root canal, and crown on tooth #31 (last tooth lower right quadrant). I also still have my wisdom teeth (impacted) that they said I needed to get removed. The office manager, Yolanda quickly tallied the charges and the surgery came to a whopping 1000.00 for just two teeth. It is within my rights to verify pricing so I asked for the dental codes and double-checked them with my insurance. Low-and-behold, ALL CODES they used were NOT covered. My insurance has extensive coverage for extractions and when I informed Yolanda, she says, “Well these are the code the surgery requires.” Now, my wisdom teeth are impacted, full bony. The same code she says it calls for is technically covered by my insurance.
Instead of getting into a fight over this with Yolanda, I chose to NOT get my wisdom teeth removed. Yolanda then tallies the charges for the root canal, and guess what? There was a 375.00 charge for some cleaning solution that once again was not covered. When I questioned the pricing on this Yolanda says, “This is a companywide policy, we only use this cleaner for root canals.” I thought, no problem, so I agreed to suck it up. The only other aspect I wished to address was the price of the crown. I asked to see the actual laboratory costs (since my insurance states that the cost of the crown cannot exceed the actual laboratory costs).
Yolanda then blew me off several times when I asked to see the laboratory costs before I agreed to have the root canal. Prior to this we had already scheduled an appointment to have this procedure done. Anyhow, she then informs me that, “we do not provide patients with the laboratory cost information.” My next question was to Yolanda, “then how do I know that I am not being over-charged for a crown if I can’t see the actual costs?” Yolanda then told me she was going to call my insurance company and get back to me on pricing. Once Yolanda called me back she instead gave me the prices/costs of the different types of crowns and variations that Coastal Dental charges me, not the actual laboratory costs.
In the mean-time they canceled my future appointments, and two days later, I received a call back from Yolanda. She informed me that the insurance said they could only use a base metal crown because this is sufficient for a dental restoration. What she didn’t tell me was she was trying to sell me porcelain fused to base metal crown for slightly less-750.00. Since I had been through this agonizing process before with Yolanda, I once again asked to see the actual laboratory costs. Yolanda didn’t get back to me for several days, and the next time I had heard from her, this was her response:
“I spoke to Dr. Shi and due to the proximity of the wisdom tooth # 32
>>to tooth # 31, you will need to see a specialist for this root canal.
I called my insurance company, and they informed me to file a grievance (currently in process). I figured out what Coastal Dental was actually trying to do with the help of my insurance, was “unbundle” service so they could obtain and squeeze as much revenue as they could. A couple of days later, I had made an appointment with an oral surgeon. I received authorization through my general physician to see if I could get this covered, and my plan worked. I was seen by an oral surgeon in the city of Orange. He advised against taking the wisdom teeth for two reasons: 1. my age (currently 31), and 2. My wisdom teeth were not bothering me. He concluded, that the Dental association does not recommend removing the teeth after the age of 24 unless they are bothering you. By this time, an infant appeared to be more credible than Coastal Dental so I took his advice and went on to my second opinion.
The next dentist found out (regarding tooth 31) that I indeed needed a crown, but DID NOT NEED A ROOT CANAL. What this actual dentist found, was an overhang of my filling. The filling was over-hanging and digging into my gums causing sensitivity around the gum line. He has since placed a crown over this tooth and everything feels great. And guess what????? This dentist did not accept my insurance and because I paid cash, the crown was 550.00 WITHOUT INSURANCE. This price was a dream compared to the erroneous charges from Coastal Dental. I was just happy to deal with a dentist that actually cared.
In conclusion, it appears Coastal Dental is actively trying to screw people over financially. I should have checked their record through the Better Business Bureau. Needless to say, I did and they have 10 complaints in the last 3 years (http://www.la.bbb.org/business-reviews/Dental-Office/Coastal-Dental-Care-in-Huntington-Beach-CA-13151664) and this is not just at the Placentia office, its several other locations they own.
In retrospect, this review is quite long and I just broke the surface on my issues with Coastal Dental. More importantly, asked yourself this: Would you really want an organization like Coastal Dental treating you like an ATM machine? Or would you prefer an honest organization basing their reasoning on your health, rather than your wallet?
This is just my review, but there have been others that have had issues (see below). I caution you to look elsewhere for your dental needs. I figure with the BBB reports, along with the links to the other negative comments, I have done the best I can to save your money and place it into a better more trustworthy organization.
Comments:
Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/coastal-dental-care-placentia
City Search:
http://orangecounty.citysearch.com/profile/680135/placentia_ca/coastal_dental_care_placentia.html
Google:
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=coastal+dental+care+placentia,+ca&fb=1&gl=us&hq=coastal+dental+care&hnear=0x80dcd41ec5fb4199:0xdd4ab2b148d1758,Placentia,+CA&cid=9497569689293012196&ei=dL6RT8XbN6fZiQKL9oyBAw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CG8Q4gkwAA
Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/coastal-dental-care-anaheim
by Mykers
xxx.xxx.41.18
April 23, 2012
