To echo the other one- and two-star reviews: This office seems to be engaged in routine misdiagnosis and over-provision of care. Here's my personal story:
First but least importantly, the office staff misled me about insurance coverage for their services -- seemingly intentionally. They told me that they accepted my insurance and charged me a $25 "copay," saying that $25 was the typical cost for an insured patient but that they wouldn't know the full coverage until they had submitted to insurance. A few days later, they sent me a bill for an additional $100 (beyond what my insurance paid) because they're out-of-network for all insurance carriers, a fact that they carefully avoided communicating to me ahead of time. Dr. Pham doesn't accept negotiated rates from insurance companies and balance-bills his patients for the difference between the insured rate and his much higher rate. Their careful non-answers about insurance when I made the appointment would be illegal if they were intentionally calculated to draw me in.
Second and much more importantly, the hygienist and Dr. Pham diagnosed me with periodontitis and urged me to come back for a deep cleaning, a procedure that would require two anesthetized appointments and would cost me nearly $1000 out of pocket (as well as costing my insurance an additional couple hundred). I couldn't believe that the diagnosis was correct given that I've had regular cleanings every six months for most of my life and had never before heard that I was a borderline case for gum disease. Since I needed to switch to an in-network dentist anyway, I got my records from Circle C and went to another office for a second opinion. The Rose Dental Group reviewed my x-rays and gum scores, checked my gums themselves, and could not believe that anyone could possibly have diagnosed me with periodontitis. Furthermore, the hygienist at Rose said that it would have been unethical for a dentist to give me a routine cleaning if I *did* have periodontitis because a routine cleaning would trap the calcification below the gum line, worsening the condition. A good dentist confronting a perio patient, she said, will recommend a deep cleaning only, not a routine cleaning followed by a deep cleaning a few weeks later.
Of course, you might think that Dr. Pham was right and Rose was wrong, but Pham has every incentive to make his patients think they need more care while Rose has no incentive (other than medical and professional ethics) to tell fearful patients that they're doing fine without further treatment. Furthermore, the more I think about the interaction with Circle C's staff, the more red flags I remember. For instance, when the hygienist first took x-rays, she said they looked great and perfectly healthy, but once she started her song and dance about gum disease, she started saying that the x-rays showed signs of bone loss. Why the change of tune?
In short: Please be very suspicious of anything this office recommends for you for follow-up care. Dr. Pham will give you a whole spiel about how gum disease doesn't cause pain or other visible symptoms until it's too late and how you need to take preventive measures now to avoid losing your teeth at a young age. He'll then encourage you to Google the issue if you're skeptical -- which, of course, won't help you figure out whether you, individually, need the care he's recommending. He gives a scary sales pitch, but he's just trying to get you back in the door for more extremely expensive care that you don't need.
Believe the others in these reviews who say that the office is all about profit and is misdiagnosing patients. Save yourself money and fear; go somewhere else. read more
