Last year, I moved from CO to MA. Right before I left CO, I chipped my front tooth and went to see…read moremy regular dentist. He advised that the tooth had been repaired several times before and would need a crown. Because I was leaving state soon, he recommended that I find a new dentist in MA to do the work. Dr. Stokowski was a short walk from where I was staying at the time, and seemed as good of a dentist as any. Boy, was I wrong!
First off, when I stopped by to make the appointment, I gave them a copy of my insurance card with the dental info on the back. The receptionist was rude, but I chalked it up to a bad day. I went in later for the appointment, and even though his website says his office is "state of the art", his equipment was new, literally, in the 1950's. I told him what my previous dentist had recommended and asked for a crown. He inspected the tooth, and said he was just going to do a large filling. He seemed to think that was all I needed, so I agreed, against my better judgement. He did the work, and I was numb and comfortable enough, until he dropped the drill on the floor, picked it up, and went to put it right back into my mouth. No way. After he cleaned it up, he finished the work, and I went to the receptionist to check out. She asked me if I had a dedicated dental insurance card, and I told her no, our insurance does not issue one. She asked me to get a phone number and I explained it is listed on the back of the medical ID card I gave her. She insisted that I call and get her more information. I went home, and within 15 minutes was on the phone getting her the information she had asked for. I hung up with the insurance, called her back, and proceeded to give her the information. She refused to take it by phone, insisting that I write it down, and bring it back to her. I hung up and refused to make the trek back just because she couldn't lift a pen.
I then went into the bathroom to inspect the work that had been done in my mouth. The filling was several shades darker then the rest of my teeth! Like VERY noticeably darker. I was not happy.
Not too long later, I got a bill from the office demanding that I pay for the full amount. I wrote the insurance information on it, and sent it back. I got three more bills, before they finally billed the insurance, and then the next bill included a copy of the denial letter and asked for a full payment. The reason given on the insurance denial letter? "Practitioner has not provided this office with enough information to determine necessity of procedures." I circled this, wrote "DO YOUR JOB" on the bill, and sent it back.
It being now months later, and having finally been able to move into our new home, I found a permanent dentist in our new home town. I scheduled cleanings for the whole family, and when it came to my turn, the dentist mentioned how much darker the tooth was than the others, and then proceeds to tell me that it's going to have to have a crown done because there is a cavity under it. Less than one year after I had it done in Strokowski's office, and now I have to pay for the filling AND the crown I had originally asked for. And I FINALLY got a bill yesterday showing that they got my insurance squared away. At this point, however, I am not sure I want to pay for the "work" they did.
In summary, the office was antiquated, the dentist wanted to put dirty tools in my mouth, the receptionist was very rude every time I tried to work with her, and they don't want to be bothered with your insurance. Would I recommend this dentist to someone else? Not even my worst enemies. There's thousands of better dentists and my recommendation to you is to find one.
