ABSOLUTE SCAM! Lied about cavities in an illegal and unethical attempt to upsell me. BEWARE!
Short version:
I went to this dentist for a routine cleaning and they said I had 6 cavities. They told me to schedule an appointment for 6 fillings, over $500 out of pocket. I did not like my experience at this dentist (for reasons I will explain below) so I decided to get the fillings at another dentist. When I went in, they had two dentists look at my teeth to confirm that I in fact HAD ZERO CAVITIES.
Very grateful I got a second opinion and did not consent for them to drill random holes into my teeth. If you are looking for a dentist in this area DO NOT GO HERE. I had a much much better experience at Tribeca Dental Design a block away on Murray St, more details below...
Full version:
As soon as I sat down they started putting tools in my mouth without explaining what they were doing. They spent 15 minutes taking my X-ray and it was a very painful process, frequently shoving the tool deep into my mouth and positioning it so that it cut up my gums. Very unpleasant. When I went to a different dentist, they used the same machine to get an X-ray in about 2 minutes and completely painlessly. After the X-ray they did a standard cleaning which was fine. After the cleaning the dentist came in and said from the X-rays alone she could tell that I had some cavities and that this was concerning because you can usually only see cavities in X-rays if they are extreme. After a thorough check, she determined that I had 6 cavities, 2 of which were so large that they likely needed a root canal.
Before I left they had me sit down with the 'treatment plan specialist' who insisted I scheduled 2 sessions to do the 6 fillings. In total it would have been over $500 out of pocket (and thousands of dollars through insurance). They were confident and persuasive, I thought I needed fillings right away to avoid the root canals they believed were likely necessary. It would have been expensive and PAINFUL had I listened to them.
Fortunately, I decided to cancel my appointment for fillings with Expert Dental and made an appointment with Tribeca Dental Design. I called Expert Dental and asked them to send my X-rays to the new dentists and they basically said no--said it would take 7-10 business days. So when I went to TDD I was shocked to discover that the X-ray was COMPLETELY PAINLESS and only took 2 minutes, despite that they used the exact same device that was extremely painful at Expert Dental and took 5-10x as long. Then the dentist came in looked at my teeth, and said 'Huh, I don't see any cavities, let me get my colleague to take a look." A second dentist came and confirmed that I had NOT EVEN ONE CAVITY. They sent me home with no copay (they very kindly waved the X-ray fee) and I avoided an extremely expensive and painful yet COMPLETELY UNNESSISARY PROCEDURE.
If you are looking for a dentist in this area, do not go here. Go to Tribeca Dental Design. To clarify, (because I know this may seem bias) I am in no way affiliated with them, but I do feel very grateful to them as they could have easily gone along with the fictitious 6 cavities and made a good chunk of money off of me. Instead they prioritized ethical practice over upselling me and sent me home without charging me a penny.
I really wanted to go back to Expert Dental and ask the Dentist why she would tell me I needed fillings when I don't. I was pretty upset about the idea of them drilling holes into my teeth and potentially even sending me for a root canal (which I have heard can be extremely painful) when it was not necessary. I figured it would be more effective to express my discontent here where hopefully other people will see it and know to avoid THE ABSOLUTE SCAM THAT IS EXPERT DENTAL. read more