How you are treated when you are no longer a patient says as much about a medical practice as how you are treated when they're trying to get you in the chair.
I visited Dr. Judd in May for pain in mouth that I suspected was a cavity. I hadn't been a patient before and when I called explaining my discomfort, I expected an oral exam that would include diagnosis of this problem. When I arrived, had some obligatory x-rays done and the doctor was called in, she asked me if I was ready to fill my cavities. I told her that I wasn't expecting to get the fillings today, just an exam to see what was wrong. Her reply, "I'm ready to go, I thought you were ready to fill the cavities."
She filled my cavities. This was after x-rays of just one side of my mouth and no complete oral exam.
Fast-forward a week, I'm still experiencing the same kind of pain as before the fillings. I call her office and she personally calls me back to follow up (one point for her). We talk about what's going on and she recommends that I go back to see my endodontist, because she knew that I had recently had a root canal and was scheduled to go back for a follow up.
Huh? This is your work that we're talking about. Why would I ask another dentist to tell me why the cavities you filled are still hurting?
Anyway, I make an appointment to come into her office about the pain. She looks in my mouth, does MORE x-rays of the same teeth (that she subsequently charges me for) and concludes that she doesn't know what's going on. She prescribes me omoxycillan to "calm the mouth down" and says she will follow up with me in a few days.
She never follows up. I do indeed ask my endodontist about the pain at my follow up visit and he says it might just be my mouth still healing from the trauma of the filling. If the pain persists for more than a couple of months, it could signal something else. Wow, why couldn't she have told me that? She seemed utterly clueless.
At this point, I'm convinced that she is not the type of dentist that I'd like to keep seeing. I cancel a subsequent appointment that I have with her and go on about my life.
In July, I start getting bills from her office. Which confuse me because I paid my $80 estimated co-pay for the fillings and I didn't get any more work done, right?
Wrong. She charged me $40 for the second time I went into her office. Remember, when she didn't know what was wrong, gave me random pills and never followed up?
When I called to get some sort of explanation of why I was being billed, I was told the person that handles billing was busy or out. Two days in a row.
When Laura finally calls me, she is pretty rude. She says that she is confused to why I'm calling her and that I should just pay the bill. I tell her that I don't think it's fair to be charged for an "exam" that could have been avoided if Dr. Judd had done her due diligence the first visit and that wasn't exactly comprehensive. After all, I went in as a follow up to an earlier appointment, not with a whole new issue. That should be a courtesy, as I've experienced with other doctors and dentists.
Laura doesn't understand this. She is very curt and continuously interrupts me. She keeps saying that filing things to a person's insurance is a "courtesy," as if I should be thanking them for doing their job.
Long story made slightly shorter, she does agree to take the second exam fee off my bill.
This place nickel-and-dimes you for service. They charge everything they can to your insurance, which seems to be generally the way dentists in Maryland work, I'm coming to find out.
I wouldn't recommend this office for the quality of work nor for the poor customer service. read more
