TLDR; If your priority at a dentist is the decor, this is the place for you. If you want cost transparency, high quality care & candor -- this is not it. I hope my experience will help others recognize red flags earlier than I did.
Many of the issues I list are not new, as past reviews also mention them (even from 2016!)
1) their business seems to trump one's health: I came to Les Belles after an osteoporosis diagnosis (from 2 years of endocrine treatment for breast cancer). I needed to start on a bone strengthening agent & that requires to first do any invasive dental work. I was in a hurry & wanted to know what dental work I absolutely needed before moving forward with the treatment. I knew I needed a tooth extraction (for an old filling that fell before chemo & before covid; making me postpone it).
Can you imagine how little integrity one has to have to take advantage of a patient just because they are in a hurry, scared & willing to take care of any health issue they have as soon as possible?
This by far upsets me the most. Instead of prioritizing that tooth extraction (which I found was the main priority), they urged a deep cleaning (that could have been done after starting the treatment). They also suggested taking all my wisdom teeth out.
It surely feels like they jeopardized my health for financial gain. It further delayed my treatments :-(
2) bait advertisement: I choose Les Belles as they list themselves as in-network on Zocdoc for insurances they are out-of-network for. They could correct this but instead appear more willing to bait & switch. Why not correct it?
3) there was uncertainty about in-network status: We asked about insurance. But even if they knew I think they are in-network (as I kept asking them to confirm in writing), they did not explicitly clarify they are out-of-network. Esmira (the "general manager") suggested it was my responsibility to know.
They also seem to avoid responding in writing, in contrast to their hypocritical claims about being transparent.
4) dubious billing: they bill the insurance more than they quote you. For example: in-network cost for all 4 quadrants for deep cleaning (SRP) is ~$400, they quoted $950, but then they billed $1250 to the insurance. They also billed the insurance for things they didn't provide a separate quote for (e.g., xrays supposed to be part of the fixed consultation cost).
When I noticed the insurance claim reflected neither in-network rates nor the amounts I was quoted, I asked them to retract it. They refused & kept the larger amount.
If you learn they are out-of-network, ask for itemized bills & submit claims to the insurance yourself (as is typical). In the end, they billed me $2011.5 (out-of-pocket cost) & billed the insurance as out-of-network $2680. I am yet to receive any sort of refunds after over 2 months.
5) difficult to get full records: while I asked for all my records, they didn't share everything. I had to explicitly ask for some records to get them. When we followed up, Esmira kept saying she will send information, follow up, etc with me or the insurance, to then not follow through.
6) incorrect service dates & upcoding: they also submitted different dates for things done on the same date & lied about it. According to statements shared on different dates, the records dates were changed (likely after I complained) & tried to claim otherwise.
Based on the perio chart they also billed an upcoded code for cleaning (e.g., for one quadrant they submitted D4341 instead of D4342, when only 3 teeth are marked in the perio chart). They also SRP-ed the tooth to be extracted, maybe to bill an extra D4341.
7) hard to know what was done: the perio chart (marking the teeth to be SRP-ed) is dated 3 days after the SRP.
I don't recall the dentist calling 180+ numbers to the assistant, checking all teeth for perio pockets, or taking notes on paper. When I asked for a copy of that paper Esmira said it was shredded. It remains unclear to me if, how, & when the perio chart was done.
A full SRP (4 quadrants) is an involved procedure taking up to 4 hours. While scaling could be quick, root planing is manually done with a curette, requires controlled movements & takes more time. It only took by my estimation ~30 mins (40 max) in one appointment at Les Belles (yes, $1250 for a ~30 mins cleaning). It is unlikely that proper SRP was done.
Esmira claims the speed was due to anesthesia (maybe she thinks anesthesia to the gums dissolves tartar on teeth, or others do SRP without anesthesia, or maybe is a new scientific discovery by Esmira)
Sadly, these are not even all discrepancies ...
My advice after dealing with this practice from hell: find a name-on-the-door practice in a residential neighborhood. They tend to deeply care about the community they are part of, are more upfront & transparent about costs & want long term relations with their patients. read more