Recently I went to Coast Dental for a standard dental cleaning. When I booked my appointment I mentioned about regular cleaning. Regular cleaning is covered under my insurance without any charges.
During the appointment doctor evaluated my teeth and motioned 'all is good just some tarter'. Hygienist started the cleaning treatment. During the treatment she got up went out of the room and came back in few minutes. Upon return she mentioned this is not a healthy mouth and she will require little deeper cleaning. She also said that she will try to clean as much as this time and I will have to come back in a month for second phase of cleaning and polishing. I nodded to her comment. She continued her cleaning job and when it was all said and done she went out again. This time came back with piece of paper outlining the charges for phase she just completed and estimate for next phase.
Turns out that per invoice she did Full Mouth Debridement instead of regular cleaning and charged me $175. I was not told at all that she is changing the treatment plan in middle of treatment and it will cost me nor she used word 'Debridement' in her comments. She only said that tarter is little deep and will require more cleaning.
If I would have known that her change in so called plan would cost me $175 - I would have outright denied it since I did not had any problems with my teeth - just wanted some cleaning.
I talked to Coast Dental Hygienist again through 3-way conference call with my insurance company representative. And there Hygienist just kept saying that she went out of the room in middle of treatment, returned and mentioned to me that it's not healthy mouth and requires deeper cleaning. To her point I did not object to that comment so now I am being charged for it. She never mentioned of what is different she is doing compare to what she was doing before leaving the room. It looked and felt the same - use of suction pipe, water jet and scrapper.
They even got the invoice presented to me at the end of treatment which I had to sign which stated 'I request and authorize the dentist or qualified assignee to perform the work described above.' They are big rip-off and seems like master in scamming through putting treatment on invoices without communicating upfront on charges or clearly on details of treatment.
As I continue through complaint path, wanted to let others know to be cautious dealing with them.
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