I began taking my daughter to Western Dental in late 2007 just after her 9th birthday; she had a cavity and hadn't had a good cleaning in awhile. We are on MediCal and I've played the games with other MediCal providers before where they make you come in numerous times to fill a cavilty, or they'll clean half your mouth and then make you come back to clean the other half (more visits = more money from MediCal) - so I was happy when I asked Western Dental if they did this and they were shocked that anyone would do such a thing. To their credit, they have not done this.
HOWEVER, on the first visit they took x-rays and one dentist came in, looked at them then listed off 6 teeth they were going to pull. One tooth had the cavity and because it was a baby tooth that was slightly loose so I understood - but they had no reasons for the other teeth. This dentist disappeared before I could ask why, or protest, and someone else came in to numb my daughter, who was crying and freaking out (understandably so for a 9 year old). About 20 minutes later a second dentist came in and looked at the notes left by the other dentist. No one bothered to try and comfort my daughter or even acknowledge she was a person (however I did have to sign a form giving them permission to use behavior modification techniques such as restraint and other unpleasant things).
The dentist then told me he was going to pull three teeth (the other three were to be done on another date); I asked him why and he said because it was written on her chart. He hadn't consulted with the other dentist or even looked in her mouth, he was just going to start pulling teeth. I asked why that dentist wanted them all pulled and he walked away somewhat irritated. He came back about 10 minutes later and said the teeth needed to be extracted because they were baby teeth and due to come out between 8 and 10 years of age (my daughter was barely 9). The x-rays did show that the permanent teeth had begun moving closer to the surface and that she'd have some loose teeth soon, but that wasn't unusual.
So I questioned the dentist again and again his only response was "the teeth need to come out between 8 and 10 years of age." Apparently letting them fall out naturally isn't ok anymore? So I let them pull the teeth against my better judgement (two on top and one on the bottom, all on the same side). It was all kind of a shock since we only went in expecting the initial check up and x-rays (it was her very first visit). The third tooth was not ready to come out, so they had to pull on it quite a few times to get it out, with plenty of root left on it (permanent teeth typically wear the roots down on baby teeth as they work their way out). She was screaming in pain and I finally said that's enough - about that time the tooth came out. I did not make a follow up appointment. The permanent tooth didn't come in for another 9 months. I felt horrible all evening for allowing them to do that to her and assured her that the others would fall out on their own.
Once all of the remaining teeth fell out on their own I made another appointment for a cleaning (about 6 months later). They ended up filling one baby tooth that had a cavity and that was it.
A few months ago one of my daughter's canines began coming in but the babytooth hadn't even gotten loose yet - I thought it was perhaps an extra tooth (the last year was a whirlwind of lost and pulled teeth) because I was sure the baby tooth had fallen out. So back to Western Dental we went to find out what was going on with this tooth. They took more x-rays. And then had to redo them because they weren't done properly. And the dentist came in an hour after our appointment time. He once again started listing teeth (eight, this time) that had to be pulled - one of which was the questionable tooth that turned out to be a baby tooth. One more time, I asked why they all had to come out and he said because it's time for them to. My daughter turned 10 only two months ago and these particular teeth are scheduled to fall out between 10 and 12. I told him no, we weren't going to pull any teeth that day so he was done talking to me. He walked away without another word and told another guy to do a pro/flo (cleaning and flouride) and make sure we scheduled a follow up to start the extractions.
This guy came in and was more interested in talking to me about school than cleaning my daughter's teeth and finished the whole thing in less than 5 minutes. He walked me out to the receptionist and told her to schedule us with another appointment; she ignored the fact that I was there for a good 2 minutes and I walked out.
I don't understand why they feel the need to yank children's HEALTHY teeth out for no reason other than "she's old enough to lose them" - and the ability to bill MediCal. There's a two year gap where these teeth come out and what if they aren't ready to come in until she's 12? By then the gums are healed and toughened up, making the permanent tooth coming in more painful. And once you tell them no they are done with you and walk away; they have never addressed my child by her name, never looked at her and told her what was going to happen, they just say "tooth extraction" and 20 minutes later the tooth is gone. I find the whole thing sadistic.
In addition, their customer service leaves little to be desired. The last time I went in I was ignored for five minutes while standing 2 feet away from the receptionist at the desk. She was facing me, and then had to argue with the girl over whether we had an appointment or not, an arguement I've had every time we went in. This time she swears I told her my daughter was a new patient, after questioning me on whether I was at the right Western Dental office (there's another across town). I'm assuming that new patients and existing patients are listed on different calendars, but I don't know - because once she figured out we were old patients she found it immediately. Of course, then I was treated like an idiot for not knowing she was an existing patient (which I told the woman in the first place).
Needless to say, my daughter is now anxious about any dental visit. At other places we are made to come back over and over to rack up the MediCal billings (and force me to miss work and her to miss school) and at Western Dental they're always trying to yank out perfectly healthy teeth. I have now had to start searching for a private dentist, whom I will have to pay in cash. Which I don't have. So my daughter gets the treatment necessary and nothing more. She needs a thorough cleaning and we couldn't even get that at Western Dental. Also, as many other's have said, the office was filthy, one room directly across from us looked like the spit buck had exploded all over it, it was disgusting.
I strongly recommend that parents not be intimidated by "professionals" and demand to know why they are performing work on your child. Also, you have every right to refuse treatment and get a second opinion.
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