I went to this dentist a few years ago when I needed work done, and was paying out of pocket, no…read moreinsurance - I ended up spending about $8000 with her. Although she's capable of decent work, her work-ethic isn't consistent, so the quality of work isn't consistent. There were also problems when it came to the bill, and quotes for services.
I first went in for a cleaning and assessment 'special' that was advertised. She did a fairly poor, rushed job on the cleaning, and made a lot of excuses for it, like the fact that I smoked at the time. Of course smoking will have an effect on the overall result that can be achieved, but obviously I wasn't paying her to use that as an excuse for her poor effort, nor to have a poor, unprofessional attitude( as others mention) while doing so.
However at the time I needed a bridge done, and had been to several other of these dental trades people for quotes, and they can get really carried away with what they want to charge - there's really no logic to it. Her prices were reasonable. In an odd way her poor attitude told me she was at least honest, and her attitude and demeanor did improve when I started talking to her about more extensive and expensive services, and procedures.
The bridge was $3600 - there had been a mold made before fillings, and one after. When the bridge arrived it had been made with the first mold rather than the 2nd as it should have been. It looked terrible and didn't match my other teeth. She altered it with her drill, right there, while it was in my mouth.
The week prior, she had told me that the material is so strong her drill doesn't effect it. But there she was, easily re-shaping the bridge with her drill. So obviously she hadn't been honest with me. For the money dentists charge for these things( and all the mark-up) there shouldn't have been any confusion with the molds. As a result, I've never felt confident in the bridges quality and longevity.
While altering the adjacent teeth to support the bridge, she 'discovered' I needed a route canal on one of the teeth. I don't know if I did, probably not, I'd never had any pain or problems with that tooth, but I wasn't in a position to say, "no, that's okay, just leave a stump of a tooth." Her quote in the chair was around $800. By the time I got to the receptionist it was $1200 because a route canal involves doing other things for various reasons a customer would obviously not know. So the cost for this $3600 bridge was now $4800 with the route-canal.
She did 4 full surface fillings( among others) that looked good other than an odd looking stripe she left on one front tooth for no apparent reason. She had no explanation for it. It looked like she ran out of composite. I had her correct it during the next appointment.
While doing so, she also did fillings on 2 bottom teeth, not on the original assessment. She said they were cavities, and would be $250 total. She didn't use any anesthetic they were so minor - whatever she did took 10-15min. Her assistant looked puzzled during the procedure, and it looked like 2 white globs on the tops of those 2 teeth.
By the time I got to the receptionist it was $325 because "other surfaces had to be done" on those teeth, so it would cost more. She eventually realized that didn't make sense when there was obviously very little done, or time spent, and went back to the quoted $250. I realized after, those 'cavities' were likely just stains - I was a smoker at the time. I got the impression she was trying to recover some money for the time spent correcting her previous mistake. It seems to be a different type of composite on the tooth she had to correct, seems more porous and easily discolored( even as a non-smoker) and it seems very thin - little spots of the dentin underneath started showing up quickly.
That was it for me as far as spending more money there - I found that really deceitful and unprofessional, especially given how much I'd already spent. The only thing I can say for certain about her performance is that it's inconsistent - ranges from good to unacceptable.