I went to go see my regular dentist, Dr. Mau Nguyen, in Feburary 2008 at Pacific Dental Group in Temecula, CA. After examining me with "ooohhhs" and "hmmms", he told me that I had 6mm pockets in my gums, which constitutes Periodontitis. He made a real big deal about it. He told me I would need $800 worth of Arestin, which is a pretty expensive antibiotic, in most of my gums. He said that if I did not have it, it may get worse and I might have to have a surgery where the gums are cut so that plaque may be removed.
I was fairly scared about the process and he sent in the financial manager to tell me what my insurance would cover. I could tell something was fishy. The dentist knows that I have very good insurance and am quite financially comfortable. The financial manager said "your insurance doesn't cover this procedure, but we can bill them after the procedure and see if they will pay it". That means I would get hit with the $800 if the insurance didn't pay for the procedure.
I asked a lot of questions and decided I would go to another office for a second opinion. Long story short, I talked to a friend who is a dental assistant at another office in Temecula. She said that Arestin should not cost that much and invited me to her office.in the end, the doctor there concluded that my pockets were mostly 2-3mm, with one being 4mm. I only needed a routine cleaning and NO Arestin. It ended up only costing my $10 and the doctor was baffled that the other office wanted to perform the deep cleaning procedure with Arestin.
I wont be going back to Pacific Dental Group!
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