I have 2 main problems with Dr. Kassan that I would like to share with others before they make a decision to become patients of his.
1. He made a dental mistake on our child that has cost our child his 4 front teeth.
Although I was terribly irritated by the second problem, this one is surely the more important one. We brought our 1 year old into his practice with concerns about discoloration on his top row of teeth. Dr. Kassan agreed to see him and give him a quick exam. Upon seeing our son's discoloration, Dr. Kassan communicated to us his belief the discoloration was a result of antibiotic use as an infant. He told us it would not affect his adult teeth, and there was nothing to worry about. He also said explicitly NOT TO SEEK ANOTHER OPINION from a pediatric dentist unless we had cosmetic concerns. We certainly did NOT have cosmetic concerns and didn't want to expose him to anything unnecessary. Over the following 2-3 months, his teeth appeared to get darker. It was hard to see into his mouth, but it did appear to be getting worse. Finally 3 months later, despite his recommendations, we decided it would probably be best to visit a pediatric dentist. The pediatric dentist was able to spot the DECAY as soon as he opened his mouth. Simple but severe decay. He would need to have all 4 teeth removed. I brought him back in for the procedure there and was in tears as they removed the teeth. When I told her how angry I was feeling at our dentist for having missed it, she simply said that I wasn't wrong. It would've been easy enough to have referred us out for another opinion, and it was, after all, only decay. We now have choices to make over whether or not to place implants and are in the process of seeking out a speech evaluation.
2. He is very strict about missed appointments.
To a flaw. I understand how doctors' offices need to be able to run their operations smoothly, and good attendance by patients is a necessary part of that, but there are times when these policies should be loosely adhered to. Dr. Kassan charged my family $150 right before Christmas because of a missed appointment and would not excuse it even after I called to explain the circumstances (which had to do with another emergency medical appointment for my child). He also just charged me a $50 broken appointment fee for an appointment I walked out of. I tried again to explain the circumstances and again was told he would not excuse it. I was also told he had a policy (which he doesn't seem to tell his patients about) that states if a patient is late (which I was by 6 minutes), he has the right not to see them. And I feel he has the right to make whatever policies he wants to as long as he clearly communicates them. I have never been to an office who doesn't run by the standard 15 minute late rule, and I certainly would never bother making an appointment somewhere if I knew they did. My family and I have been patients of his for at least 5 years, and we have missed a few appointments. However, the missed appointments were due to emergency or sickness, were canceled more than 24 hours out, or truly were because we just plain forget (MAYBE 1 or 2 were a result of the latter over the 5+ year span). He keeps a running tally of all missed appointments and considers any missed appointment within 24 hours, regardless of circumstance (illness or emergency or whatever), a result of the patient's negligence. I am a very considerate patient, but I am not perfect. So I paid and now have chosen another dentist. read more