I wanted to love this office and I honestly was very close to it. I enjoyed the initial visit and…read morethe dentist was very nice and personable. The front desk staff? No. Adriana was patient and thorough. Once I got denied by my insurance to cover a deep cleaning, I figured ok well I can at least get a regular cleaning. I requested to schedule that, and got told through text I couldn't get a regular cleaning because the dentist recommends a deep cleaning. The deep cleaning out of pocket is $400 per side of mouth. I disclosed to them that paying $800 for a deep cleaning isn't something I'm able to do at the moment. I decided to call, because surely this response was mistaken. I called and unfortunately I spoke with a "Maya". She rudely asks for my first and last name and puts me on a 10 minute hold, never once checking back. I call back and she immediately puts me on hold, and doesn't confirm who I am or what I'm calling for. After another 2-3 minute hold, she gets back on the phone and just says, "how may I help you?" I explained I was the same person on hold waiting for an answer about a regular cleaning. She proceeds to say, "Yeah, so you can't get a regular cleaning because..." She begins rattling off the many things going on with my teeth from my private dental chart. I then asked her if I could speak with the dentist, and she responds very snarky, "He doesn't speak with patients over the phone." I asked if I could speak with a manager instead, and she sarcastically responds with, "That's who you were texting...." I ignored her remark and asked again to speak with the manager. Annoyed, she says, "I'll have to put you on hold, she's with a patient." At this point, I'm sure you can understand my frustration. Instead of becoming insulting like she was probably aiming for me to be, I asked her to confirm the manager's name. She finally discloses the woman's name as Adriana. I then asked her name and she dryly and a bit hesitant said, "Maya." Her attitude over the phone matches her demeanor in person. She has a very nasty disposition and it's unfortunate that there's a possibility first time clients speak with her first. If I hadn't spoken with nicer people at that office and spoke with "Maya" first, I'd think the whole staff is like her and wouldn't go there at all. Not only that, but when I came into that office for the first time, she had either been coming in from break or coming in for the day. The whole office environment changed. She sat at the front with a stale face, rolling her eyes at patients and some staff when interacting with them. Isn't it illegal to disclose patient information over the phone without confirming who you're speaking with? I never told her my name when I called back. She just began exposing sensitive information freely out of frustration because I asked about why I couldn't have a regular cleaning versus a deep cleaning. Isn't that a violation of hippa? I'm almost positive I'm not the only one that has said something about her attitude. It's always one of us mistreating one of us. I can handle being told I "don't qualify for a regular cleaning because I'm a smoker..." (I'm not a smoker, but good job Maya for doing too much...) but for my whole chart to be disclosed without prior approval? That's a problem. I'll make sure I look into Maya. Back to the situation at hand, how is it that I cannot get a regular cleaning if that's what I ask for? My insurance doesn't allow me to pay out of pocket for services. So if they're denying me coverage for what the dentist is recommending........I do not want to pay $800 unexpectedly........and my insurance is saying I cannot pay out of pocket anyway......I can't get the bare minimum of a regular cleaning? I'd assume if a dentist cares about their patient's teeth, they'd do what they can and take care of the patient as best they can. Had I gotten a better explanation and probably not spoken to "Maya," I would have eventually just gone ahead and put the charges on my care credit and fought with the insurance about it later just because I really wanted to stick with Todays dental. I've spoken to several people thus far about the way this situation was just handled, and I was simply told if I'm being treated this way now, I probably wouldn't want them working on my mouth. That statement is SO valid. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt you guys to lose one patient, but word of mouth travels pretty quickly. Especially when it's negative. Hopefully, something is done about your front desk staff's bedside manner.
