I had been going here for a couple of years for routine dentistry, and it was fine. Nothing to write home about, but good enough. I had a small space between my front teeth that was bothering me, and Dr. Patel kept insisting Invisalign was the only way to fix it. I finally agreed, and was told I had to do both top and bottom in order to correct the top. Fine. Went in for my first set of trays and was told to come back in a couple of weeks for the "attachments." I had no idea what this meant as it was never discussed with me. (In fact, there was never a consultation or discussion of treatment plan.)
So two weeks later, I return, and the hygienist (who is nice enough, but kind of uncomfortable) explains they are going to be cementing these attachments to my teeth...ok...he begins cementing these things to my teeth. Not what I was expecting but I am keeping an open mind at this point. At one point, he shines the blue light curing wand directly in my eye, causing me to flinch, turn my head, and say "OW! You shined that right in my eye." To which he hurriedly responded, "I know. Hold still." He finally finishes them (after several failed attempts to do it correctly), and I now have small white "buttons" on my teeth.
The front desk attendant then told me the doctor would be in "to do the IPR." Not familiar with this term, I Google it, and discover it is a procedure by which they shave the sides of your teeth to "slenderize" them. Evidently a common procedure to address overcrowding in adult patients, but again, never discussed with me. So when the doctor comes in, accompanied by his front desk attendant, they both insist it's "no big deal," and I "won't even notice it," and he's done it "thousands of times, even on his daughter." They begin what was a very shocking and distressing procedure of shaving between my teeth with a mechanical saw and a tiny little hand saw. I was able to get through two of them before I finally listened to my gut and asked them to stop.
At this point, they became pushy and argumentative (especially the front desk attendant, who is quite unprofessional). They acted incredulous that I wanted informed consent (which is by the way their legal obligation to provide) to a procedure that was permanently altering my teeth. As if I was somehow being ridiculous for not allowing them to shave my teeth without question. I asked some clarifying questions about the treatment plan, which again, should have been discussed with me at any point prior to this. Their pushiness continued and I felt the need to ask them to remove the attachments from my teeth. At this point, the front desk attendant stormed out of the room. I told Dr. Patel that her pushiness and lack of professionalism was only convincing me further that I didn't want to continue this treatment with them. He did his best to smooth things over while he grinded the cement off my teeth.
It's been a week, and my teeth feel rough, so I went to a different doctor for a second opinion. He told me that my orthodontia case is "too complex" for a regular Dentist to handle, and would need to be addressed by an Orthodontist. He explained that while IPR (teeth-shaving, for Laypeople), is occasionally the only way to fix overcrowding in adults, it is not always required and can sometimes have severe consequences for people with complexities such as mine. I asked if he could remove the remainder of the cement from my teeth to fix the rough feeling, and he said he was not comfortable grinding my teeth any further as it could damage the enamel. He also explained the rough feeling could be from enamel already damaged by Dr. Patel.
Dr. Patel still has all of my Invisalign hardware, which I have paid for nearly in full. I doubt my new Orthodontist will want to pick up where he "left off" with the technology, so I'm considering just cutting the loss and moving on before this guy has any further opportunity to mess up my teeth. read more