I had a toothache the afternoon of Monday July 25. I went to Creative Smiles to get looked at a few days later. The fun began immediately. After two unsuccessful attempts to get an accurate x-ray of the lower right part of my mouth where the pain was, the dental assistant got a partial x-ray of the area. However, I was unable to pinpoint the pain for her before the doctor came in to examine me. The doctor magically determined from the partial x-ray and an examination of that area that my pain was being caused by a cavity that had formed under a filling on one of two teeth. He said he would have to do porcelain onlays. I signed the insurance estimate which estimated that my insurance would cover half of it. This ended up being a complete sham and he knew it.
Three hours and two unsuccessful attempts at a panoramic x-ray later, my two silver fillings had been taken out and replaced with two temporary caps in preparation for the inlays that I was fitted for. I was sent home with an $810 bill for a procedure that I did not fully understand and they presented to me while I was in pain in the dentist chair. I gave it until Monday August 1 before making a couple of phone calls to other dentists in the area. I asked them if silver fillings were still a normal procedure for their practice and both offices said, No, but tooth-colored fillings are. I was able to get an appoinment with someone else for an examination free of charge the next day.
When I woke up the next morning, I noticed something was wrong when I was brushing my teeth. The temporary cap on tooth 30 had been knocked out during the night and had taken a part of the tooth with it. I was extremely worried that I was going to do more damage to my teeth that I went to the appointment scheduled for that afternoon as soon as I could.
The new dentist told me that the onlays were completely unnecessary and a financial burden that more then hinted of fraud. He explained that fillings should have been used and they would have only cost a couple hundred tops. But since the temporary caps, which should never have been put on and were done incorrectly I now had to get crowns which cost more then the original onlays would have.
I sent a letter to Dr Monteagle demanding that he pay for his error and his dishonesty and he took several months to reply with a screw you I'm not paying. Since I can't afford to sue him for it I am reporting him here. Every dentist in the world knows what insurance covers and what it doesn't. That it covers what they consider to be standard (in this case fillings) but he said insurance would cover the cost of the inlays. This isn't just a mistake it is fraud.
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