There were so many red flags; and a part of me DID know, but I just kept thinking, "No, it's fine. Medicare would never send me to someone incompetent or dangerous."
I called to get a crown out on a molar I had broken. Dr. Kashfi answered. To my surprise, he made the appt. for me. No receptionist?
I missed that appt. I called as soon as I realized I'd missed it and again, Kashfi answered. He told me we could reschedule for the next day. Now, growing up in SB, my dentist was always so busy that if you missed an appt., there was a $100 fee and you'd be lucky to get another one a month later. But here's Kashfi telling me he can get me in tomorrow? He tells me ANY time. Like all day? Yes, any time.
Why doesn't he have a SINGLE appt. all day tomorrow? He's one of only a few dentists here who accept Medical.
I came in the next day. Yes, there was no receptionist to be seen. But there were also no dental assistants. ANYWHERE.
It was just Kashfi. Alone. In his one-roomed dental office. There were papers everywhere, and an old ugly, dusty couch. And the chair.
Ok, whatever. I sat down in the chair. He informed me that crowns are not covered by Dentical, and so I'd need to pay for that. I asked if I could call my mom for her help with it, he said sure; she didn't pick up. Then he said well you have a few small cavities forming; why don't we just take care of those while we're waiting for her to get back to you?
Now I guess I've been spoiled with the precision and just, GRACE with which I've been handled by my dentists my entire life, because I've never felt like I was being WRENCHED on before. He practically put his foot up on me. I kept gripping the armrests with white knuckles and grimacing. The only way I can really describe it is to say that it was VIOLENT. The whole time he drilled out what I THOUGHT were going to be a few small cavities, but were really literally every other tooth in my mouth. Then, he started preparing the fillings. My uncle has been a dentist in Redlands my whole life, and so I actually know a few things about fillings. I requested that he use porcelain fillings, to which he replied after some thought, "Oh, well you see, I'm just very concerned that because of the rather large surface area of some of these, that porcelain just won't hold up, and I'm afraid that it will crack."
That sounded like bulls*it. I just thought at the time, ok he's the dentist. He must know best. No, no, Dentical would never send me to someone that would be dishonest.
So he proceeded to do the fillings instead with Silver Amalgum. You know, the dark-looking fillings that have Mercury in them? Ya, in the visible teeth up front, too.
My uncle being a dentist, I know this: when doing a filling, after drilling out the cavity, one absolutely MUST dry and isolate said tooth, which is usually done by placing tightly-wound gauze rolls around it and then hitting it with air until completely dry, the gauze rolls keeping any saliva clear of the tooth.
This never happened. For any of the fillings. He simply filled all the holes he drilled out with silver amalgum.
I know that porcelain is expensive. It's more expensive than silver amalgum. Dentical covers the use of porcelain for fillings. Do you want to know what I suspect? Kashfi DID bill Medical/Dentical for each filling he did in porcelain. He just filled each hole he made with silver amalgum instead, so that he could keep the difference. I believe Kashfi is scamming Dentical. read more
