Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/10/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My appointment on April 4th was at 9am, to put my new crown. I was very disappointed. When ************** started with the injection, he was just standing and in a rush. The doctor couldn't fix my crown after he cemented it onto my teeth. He kept leaving the room and helping other patients. He came back to grind my teeth, but it was still the same and he left the room again. I waited in the room from 9-11:30 am just for my crown. While they were doing the procedure, one of the assistants did an x-ray on me, and left the heavy x-ray sheet on me from 9-11:30am. While the doctor was grinding my teeth, the assistant shoved the sucking tube into my mouth and it caused all the water to spill all over me. This doctor also kept leaving the room for long periods of time. When he came back, he argued with me and said "I even spent the most time on you. We're very busy today," and wanted me to just take the crown as it is. I feel really bad about the way this doctor treated me. I patiently waited for him, I waited for over two and a half hours, and HE was still the one to get mad at me. I just wanted to leave. I didn't realize that he chipped the corner of my crown. There was no apology, and he didn't even tell me that he chipped my crown. He even told me "No, I can't fix your teeth". But ************** took 2 and a half hours, and it wasn't even fixed. They splashed water over me and I sat cold for 2 hours. I told the manager ***, and she agreed that she would give me a full refund. She even gave me her number to say she would help me out, but in the afternoon of April 4th, she said she would call me the next day. I waited all day April 5th, and I even called and texted the manager ***, but she never replied. I need my money back. When I left, there were no more patients which means he finished all of them first before me, even when my appointment was the first of the day. I asked other clinics how long it takes to put a crown, and they all said it should only take ***** minutes.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/19/2023

  I treated this patient beginning on March 7, 2023 at our dental office. She was a good patient at our first appointment where we did the exam and where we started treatment for 4 crowns for teeth ****. Patient was very particular about the way she wanted her new crowns to look. We spent about 3-4 hours on this patient for this first appointment to perform the treatment and to satisfy her requests for how she wanted her temporary crowns to look. She requested that her new crowns be much longer than her current anterior teeth. I spent a good bit of time on her temporary crowns to get them just right. She had me add to the temporary crowns multiple times which took a considerable amount of chair time. She was one of the last patients of the day so I was able to spend a lot of time on her to make her happy. Making temporary crowns is usually a task given to the dental assistants but I wanted to give her a good experience so I personally made the temporary crowns myself. We also performed a deep cleaning on that day for her upper teeth. Patient was very happy at the end of the appointment and stated she had finally found a good dentist. She said it was hard to find a good dentist for her. She stated she would bring us her family and other referrals. The patient came in four more times between her first appointment on March 7,2023 and her delivery appointment on April 4, 2023. For two of those appointments, we made modifications to the temporary crowns by adding more length to satisfy the customer. I again used a considerable amount of time to satisfy the patient by modifying the temporary crowns to her liking. I let the patient know that this is not normally what is required or necessary for me as her provider to spend hours on trying to get the temporary crowns to be exactly what she wants but I did so anyways. I told her that the aesthetics of the crowns is usually done by the lab and not by the provider. The patient was so happy with our services that she brought in her kids on March 15, 2023 for us to take care of them. The patient was last seen on March 16, 2023 to get the temporary crowns shaped and lengthened to her satisfaction again. We then digitally scanned the temporary crowns to show the lab exactly what the patient wanted. The patient left happy and satisfied and raved about how great we were. We didnt see her for about 2 weeks until her delivery appointment on April 4, 2023 at 9AM. We did not hear any issues that she had with her temporary crowns during those two weeks. 
  

  On April 4, 2023 we had 3 patients including her that were scheduled for 9AM. We also had a walk-in new patient. Due to her teeth **** being vital, I opted to give her local anesthesia to make the delivery of her crowns more comfortable. I showed her the crowns and we observed the color and shape of the crowns. The patient stated that she thought the crowns were too bulky and she didnt like the color of the crowns while they were on the model. I explained to her that we won't know for sure how they look until they are over her actual teeth and in her mouth. Patient began to complain about telling me she had mentioned before multiple times about making sure the crowns were not bulky. I compared the crowns to her temporary crowns and told her that they were very similar in size and shape and that they looked good. I left the operatory to attend other patients who were also scheduled during that hour block. I also left time for the anesthesia to infiltrate the surrounding tissues so that I could achieve profound anesthesia. I came back soon after to remove the temporary crowns and to deliver the crowns. I purposely focused my time on her because I felt I could finish her case more quickly compared to the other patients that were also in the office for other different procedures. Once we removed the temporary crowns and placed them in her mouth over her teeth, the patient was extremely happy with the results. She said they were beautiful. We went ahead and cemented the crowns. The dental assistant removed excess cement and the patient told her that the crowns felt too high. By this time, I was attending other patients. The dental assistant told me she needed some adjustments as is typical for the delivery of crowns. Usually I spend less than 5 minutes to adjust crowns after they have been delivered. This is what I expected in this case but the patient kept stating that her bite felt different. I adjusted the crowns numerous times. The patient kept telling me that the high spots kept moving and we adjusted the crowns using articulating paper to mark high spots. We must have spent over ***** minutes trying to get her bite correct for this first round of adjustments. My goal was to finish her case first before moving on to the other 2-3 patients that were in the same hour block because I knew this patient was more difficult to work with being more particular about how she wanted things to look and feel. I let the patient know that I needed to see other patients and that I would come back to adjust her crowns some more. I wanted her to spend some time to test her bite and to test out the crowns. I focused most of that first hour on this patient alone. I came back another 2-3 times to make adjustments for this patient while trying to treat the other patients and to keep the flow of the office moving. During this period, the patient started complaining to my dental assistants asking them where I was and telling them that she wanted to go and that she was waiting there for a long time. She raised her voice to the point where everyone in the office including other patients and staff and me could hear her complaining about her waiting there. She did not wait in her operatory for any period of time more than 20 minutes while I was working on other patients. When she started raising her voice and causing a scene in the office, I asked the patient that I was currently working on if I could step away to take care of the matter. 
  

  I then went back to the patient and apologized to her for things not going so smoothly and for her spending more time in the office than we expected. I told her that we typically dont need to do this many adjustments for crown deliveries. I again made some adjustments to try to get it right. During this time the patient lifted her head while water was in her mouth and it spilled on herself. I had an assistant there with the suction helping me but her suction was not completely on by the time the patient had lifted her head upright on her own with water in her mouth as it was open. The patient got her bib and part of her shirt wet and screamed at my assistant telling her What are you doing? Why did you wet me?. My assistant stated ****, I didnt wet you. The patient stated Yeah you did and she grabbed the suction from my assistants hand. The patient also stated that the assistant had an attitude and that she noticed it from the beginning. The assistant stayed quiet while the patient continued to complain about her and about being wet. I dismissed the assistant because it looked like she was about to cry and I didnt want her to be subject to that kind of harassment. At this point, the patient was very angry and stated she was not coming back. I apologized to her and told her I was sorry that her experience wasnt what she had expected but that I understood if she didnt return. I tried to explain to her that my assistant did not purposely try to get her wet and that she really wasnt able to because she was only holding suction tips in her hands which could not actively wet the patient. The patient kept claiming that she did wet her and that she was giving her attitude. I told the patient that the assistant had not given her attitude until the patient herself had raised her voice at her claiming she had wet her on purpose. The response the assistant gave was still respectful and professional given the situation. She just denied purposely getting the patient wet which was a false statement from the patient. The patient argued with me stating that she did not give her attitude or raise her voice. I also told the patient that we just had a lot of patients all at once and that it was stressful for everyone and we were trying our best. The patient stated that it was not her fault that you guys scheduled all these patients at the same time. I tried to explain to her that I could not spend all my time on her until she was finished because adjusting her crowns were taking longer than expected. I had other patients to attend to. I even told her that most of my time during the first hour was primarily spent on her. She didnt seem to care or appreciate this. At this point, the patient stated she was not going to argue with me and for me to finish adjusting her crowns. Even though I felt the patient was wrong and rude, I finished adjusting her crowns to her satisfaction before working on anyone else. I even explained to her afterwards how she could keep the warranty on the crowns and that she could seek treatment at another one of our offices if she wasnt satisfied but that the crowns would only be redone if needed with me. She kept stating that she was not coming back and that she was surprised by me. She also stated that she was a paying customer and that she shouldnt be treated like this. At the end, I again tried to apologize stating I was sorry her experience wasnt the best this time, but she continued to raise her voice and complain to our office manager who also tried to apologize and calm the patient down. At this point, I left the patient to attend all the other patients who were seated in the office, which was about 4 other different patients. I personally apologized to all of them for waiting and for hearing all the commotion. The other patients were understanding.
  

  For this patient, we tried our best to satisfy her. We finished the job by delivering her crowns to her satisfaction on April 4, 2023. We spent a lot of chair time to satisfy her requests and to make her experience comfortable. We do not agree that she should get a full refund or any refund due to the work being completed. We will dismiss her as a patient due to her being rude to staff members and to me. 
  
  Respectfully,
  ************************* DDS 
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/20/2023

   
  Complaint: 19902889
  
  I am rejecting this response because this is full of lies. First of all I did not yell, they are accusing me when I did not yell. The doctor is the one who was raising his voice and giving me an attitude, and saying that he was "Very busy". I mentioned that I was surprised that the water was spilling from my mouth and that's why I moved. The doctor had an attitude with me and was siding with his assistant. Yes I went there three times, but that's because my temporary crown kept chipping. I tried to go to get it fixed, but everytime he only said "It's just a temporary crown", does he want me to just take it? 

  To get my crown I was the first patient there at 9am and I was the last to leave at 11:30am. They even left the heavy x-ray sheet on me.

  He rushed the work on my crown. The entire time he was standing while he was giving me a pain reliever, and while he was putting my crown. His hand was shaking while he was doing it and ******* it, and now my crown has two chips.

  He is lying, I am not satisfied, my current permanent crown has two chipped. I do not accept his explanation. I need my money back so I can get my crown fixed somewhere else.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************************

  Business Response

  Date: 04/21/2023

  We have made many efforts to satisfy this patient and me and my team have been professional and respectful to her even during her rude behavior in the office on April 4, 2023.  I have completed the work and the patient signed the consent forms for the delivery of the crowns dated on April 4, 2023 at the end of her appointment. Due to the patient's rude and uncooperative behavior to me and my staff, we are dismissing her as a patient. She left the office on April 4, 2023 satisfied with how the crowns looked. She did not leave until her bite felt correct which took over an hour to adjust. She constantly looked at the crowns and over my work during the delivery appointment and she did not mention anything about any chips on the crowns then. I did not observe any chips on any crowns when she left the office. We have provided her a service and we completed the treatment. We even discounted the patient for the work we provided and allowed the patient to be on a no-interest payment plan for 12 months. I believe we have been more than fair with her and we deserve to rightfully receive payment for the completed work. Thank you very much.
  
  Respectfully,
  
  ************************* DDS