I had one of the WORST experiences at this practice- not just with the dentist but the office manager. One of my children was seen and Dr. Newman was an alarmist. She kept insisting my child was being snuck juice because she's the baby. I was so confused and all I can think is that she had our family confused with someone else. My child isn't the youngest and we don't have juice...juice has been off the heathy list since the 90's? Wow. This professional told me all the work needed done NOW and to use CareCredit instead of pacing the work with our insurance. This is a concerning red flag and everyone reading this should be aware of common abuses like this that occur in pediatric dentistry (Alarmist dentist + concerned parent = $). A second red flag was the cost of nitrous: $183. In June of 2020 my other child had one cavity in her last remaining baby tooth filled and nitrous was $80. Dr. Newman said the price of everything has gone up. I did call our former pediatric dentist in Baltimore and Nitrous is now $95. I also called a third dentist in Fredrick and the price is $105. Of course, Dr. Newman insisted we HAVE to do the work in 4 appointments. When I asked if we could do it in two (top and bottom left and top and bottom right) she completely side stepped the question and told me she will not do anything without nitrous. That is not at all what I asked! I felt like I was being manipulated and gaslit by a used car salesman.
I requested a treatment plan showing the in network price and The office manager kept Claiming she could not do that. Again, this was odd to me because our previous pediatric dentist, an orthodontist, and our adult dentist have been able to- the day of the visit! I even offered to be helpful and call my previous dentist and the office manager cut me off and snapped at me telling me I have to wait a month if I want to know how to budget this expense. Imagine that! How dare I want to be informed with accurate prices and financial planning! This isn't a miscommunication or misunderstanding regarding my insurance. Instead, they've likely never had to process trust fund insurance-and instead of calling to get answers they decided to be unkind toward me and tell me it's MY problem they can't do their job.
How did this end? I called a second dentist and was assured we can (almost certainly) do the work in two visits. The new dentist's office staff was far more competent and once the in network/contractual price was given to me we saw that all the work can be done in one calendar year...it will cost around $400 co-insurance (plus nitrous). Fountianhead wanted me to agree to pay $3,400 plus FOUR $183 nitrous charges.
Please take some time to look up common red flags in pediatric dentistry. My child (7) hadnt been to the dentist since November of 2019 (0 cavities, 1 tooth being watched) so I'm sure she does have five cavities at this point...one Is so large the dentist told me it was abscessed...when I asked to see it on the X-ray she quickly backpedaled to tell me well, it's not abscessed yet but it will be if I wait until January- again, like the Nitrous thing that's not what I was asking to do and the dentist was trying to scare me and make me feel like a bad parent by considering anything other than her expensive, unnecessary treatment plan. Again, this dentist told me to (I can't stress enough these are her words) "max out your insurance and put the rest on CareCredit."
I'm still so upset over my visit to this place. I was really shaken up about it and wanted to sleep on it before leaving this review. I've never been treated like that before. No one has ever tried to force me into dental procedures while simultaneously acting like I was a derelict mother for critically thinking through ways to best address the problems- solutions that could reduce stress to my child and minimize out of pocket expenses. It was insulting to be handed a pamphlet on how to brush my infant and toddlers teeth- my kid is 7, and to be told-not asked that there is a juice contraband problem under my roof. This woman really acted like we've never seen a dentist- but don't worry she's here to save us. It is still so egregiously shocking to me, I remain speechless.
Do not be manipulated here. If these people truly cared about my child's (or your child's) health they would be willing to work in accordance with the benefits schedule. They also would take five minutes to call the insurance so we didn't have to wait a month. read more