I was extremely disappointed with my visit yesterday. A staff member tried to sell me a painful procedure that was not medically necessary. The cost was more than the advertised dental implant. A staff member claimed I needed a bone graft. That was a lie; there was no infected tooth that needed to be extracted. I had the tooth extracted over two years ago and a bone graft performed with the membrane at that time. There was no infection at the time the tooth was removed either. Next, she stated that the bone graft was not hard, it was too soft in the middle and had not completely healed, that is why I needed a new bone graft. That was a lie because the X-ray showed healthy bone, no infection anywhere and the bone graft had taken and was completely healed and ready for an implant. I questioned her misrepresentation because there was nothing in the xray to support her statement and the average time a bone graft takes to heal is 3 to 6 month. Today, I contacted the dentist who did the extraction and bone graft over 2 years ago, and met with him this morning. He also confirmed that the bone graft was completely healed and hardened, and ready for the implant. He asked me if the dentist told me these things about the bone graft, because if he had, he recommended I report him to the medical board. I explained to him, that it was the doctor's assistant who made these false representations, I assume to jack up the price of the implant (bait and switch advertising tactic). I also shared with him the assistant's claim that she was going to show the X-ray to another specialist to get a second opinion, but I don't believe a word she said, because the dentist who examined me; I'm assuming he was a dentist and can clearly see the area does not require another bone graph. That being said, I've had several consultations with dentists that have clean offices, and newer state of the art equipment, including CT equipment; all have stated the area is ready for an implant, no issue with the location of my sinuses, there's plenty of room for the implant, and no dentist ever stated I needed a second bone graft in the, tooth 13 area. I've had a dental implant before and felt the price was high so I was shopping around for a better price, but compared to what the Norwalk office quoted me, the other dentist price was lower than what the staff quoted. She stated the implant would cost $2,800, not the advertised price of $1,299. That is false advertising. By the way, the average cost for a bone graft and membrane on a single tooth is $150 to $300.
That being said, the office exam rooms and equipment were very old and visibly dirty, including the floors, walls, and entrance. The dentist's license was an old photocopy taped over someone else's license at the front desk. The address on the license was not for that location. The entire experience was very sketchy, and they did not appear to have the equipment in that location to perform any kind of dental procedure, especially a dental implant. Also, I was there for over an hour and did not see any other patients which was a red flag? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but it's difficult when you've been deliberately misled. The only positive thing was their X-ray tech Sergio, he was very pleasant and professional. read more