I wrote and sent to Dr. Egan the following email:
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2017 4:29 PM
"To: Jessica Eagan DDS
Subject: CLIENT FIRED BY DR. JESSICA EAGAN
Hello Dr. Eagan:
I hope all is well with you and your family.
Dr. Eagan, I selected you as my dentist in November 2013 and had my first appointment with you on December 9, 2013. I still have the receipt of services received that day which included Comprehensive Evaluation, Panoramic X-Rays, Vertical Bitewings (8), Cancer Evaluation of Mouth and Anti-infection Application of Gum Line. Since then I have been going to your office every 6 months for preventive dental hygiene, X-rays as needed and dental examination by you each time. To the best of my knowledge no cavities were found, observed or reported during this 4-year period.
My last visit to your office was on September 27, 2017 for my 6-month cleaning, dental examination by the dentist, etc. You were not in the office and your back up dentist (D2) performed the dental examination after the hygiene part. D2 performed a very detailed and comprehensive examination and found a cavity on tooth # 11 (left colmillo) and an X-Ray was taken. What he explained to me left me totally cold. The cavity in tooth #11 is very large and one that has been in the making for a long time, like years and not weeks. He said, that the cavity is so close to the nerve that most likely after its removal there will not be much of a tooth left for a filling. He said that, most likely, I will need a root canal and a crown in order to save the tooth, which he said that functionally is a very important one since it serves as the cornerstone of the dental structure, force resistant tooth and it helps maintain your upper lips appearance.
I could not believe my ears? I asked him how could it be possible with all the preventive services I have gotten from you and your hygienist for almost 4 years that such a cavity could be formed without being detected by the dentist pick or the many X-Rays that you have taken during this period. Dr. D2 found the cavity with the pick immediately on his very first examination ever of my teeth.
I left your office in total disbelief of Dr. D2's report and decided to get an independent second opinion. I made an appointment with my previous dentist and he examined my teeth and quickly found with the pick the cavity in tooth #11. He had an X-Ray taken and said it was a very large cavity indeed that have gone unnoticed for a long, long time. He confirmed what Dr. D2 had told me regarding the procedure to be followed to save the tooth. He said that the hole into the cavity that you pick by the gum line is very detectable during an examination and the most probable alleged cause for the cavity to grow over such a long period of time is "negligence". The last X-rays in his files taken in year 2013 included tooth #11 and there was no evidence of any cavity in it.
Dr. Eagan, I have made an appointment with you for October 24, 2017 at 11:30 am (first available date given to me) in order to discuss this situation with you and give you the opportunity to examine it and determine the best and most effective and fair course of action. Needlessly to say I am very disappointed about this totally unexpected finding.
Thank you!"
I arrived early to my appointment today 10/24/17 and I was escorted to Dr. Eagan's office by one of her employees. He remained present at the meeting as witness during the whole 10 minutes the meeting lasted. I had expected that Dr. Eagan would had offered some options to reconcile or resolve this situation of my lost of confidence on her services. My loss involves the potential permanent functional loss of my tooth #11 or the very expensive restoration involving a root canal and installation of a crown. She could have offered some options to fix the situation by the use of the services of her staff dentist D2 in order to save my tooth #11 and offer a discounted estimate for the repair process, etc.
Instead, she became very defensive in defending her position as dentist in charge and not responsible for the decay history of my tooth #11. Very briefly she ended the meeting by telling me that she could not be my dentist anymore and for me to return to my previous dentist for the fixing of tooth #11 or find another dentist. As I was getting up from my chair she said that she would send to me (by email) all my dental X-Rays she had on file. I said Okay and that I was sorry for this conclusion. She said she was also sorry and I left her office.
Definitely there is a process problem in this business. In my case, I am convinced there has been a progressive lack of attention to details by Dr. Eagan, as the business has grown. This has impacted the preventive dental care process and service quality executed by Dr. Eagan during the 4 years I was her client.
Jose Martinez read more