I could type for days about my nightmare experience at Coast Dental. But I will try to stick to the point. I used to go to a private family dentist, but after joining an HMO plan I had to relocate. I've always had great experiences at the dentist... Until Coast. I lost a filling and needed a cleaning - simple enough, right? Coast Dental was close, and they had an appointment available so I took it. This turned out to be a costly, and PAINFUL mistake.
While there I was told that I had 7 cavities - very unusual for me. They tried to push me into scheduling an appt. To fix them all "right away". They tried to sell me expensive flouride treatments, and told me that I would have to pay full price since my plan didn't cover it. (I discovered later that my plan fully covered it) They charged me full price for a root canal and a crown - on a credit card that they pressured me into getting.
They said they were only charging what the "estimated that my insurance didn't cover". I later found out from my ins.Co. That the insurance paid out the amount to Coast for the work. So, Coast got the money from my insurance and then they took mine too.
For the tooth that had lost it's filling, the dentist attempted to do a root canal. I was fully numb, but he kept leaving me and after about an hour the novocaine wore off. I was in a great deal of pain as he continued with the procedure. I could feel EVERYTHING - the root canal file was in my root and it felt like a needle going into my skull. I was crying and he stopped, stating that he "couldn't do it"... This was after almost 2 hours in the chair. He claimed he couldn't numb me. I'm no dentist, but I do know that I was numb even I know the novocaine does wear off and more would need to be added after about an hour.
They charged me for the root canal anyway. They also charged me for a crown that I hadn't even been fitted for yet. And they didn't charge what my insurance didn't cover, but the full amount! I didn't realize this until I checked my credit card statement... Oh-the credit card they pressured me into getting so that I could pay for these things.
It took me many months and phone calls to finally get my money back. The refund back to the darn credit card was almost $2,000. I went to a reputable dentist who referred me to a specialist for the root canal. There, they said I'd already had a claim on that tooth for the procedure. So I had to go back to coast to have them contact my insurance company to tell them I hadn't really had the work done.
*In the end, I had no cavities. At the specialist, I was numb throughout the whole root canal - it was a breeze. At my new dentist, I am only charged what I am supposed to be charged. The crown that Coast charged almost 1000 for was 50.00- what it should have been all along. My new dentist treats me like a patient and not a sales prospect. Please spread the word about Coast Dental so that this doesn't keep happening to gullible people like us! And if it's happened to you, be persistant and you will get your money back.
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