I had an abcess on a tooth that had already had a root canal. My dentist referred me to a very reputable endodontists in E. Cobb. After paying for his consultation fee, I found out that he was not in my insurance''s network. However, this highly reputable endo told me that he could do the retreat and that it would have a 75 percent success rate.
I then chose Dr. Goldstein from my in-network lists of endo doctors and scheduled what I thought was going to be a root canal retreat. I had the x-rays from my previous consultation sent to Dr. Goldstein's office. At my appt. with Dr. Goldstein, he informed me that he thought there was more going on with my tooth but he needed to do his "own" set of x-rays. He then told me that he thought I might have a fracture on my tooth but the only way to tell for sure was to do a scan using his very expensive piece of equipment that insurance doesn't cover (CBCT). I was very emotional and didn't want to lose the tooth, so I told him to go ahead with the scan. After the scan, he told me that he still couldn't tell if the tooth was fractured but it was my decision if I wanted the retreat or not.
I started crying and truly didn't know what to do at this point. I decided to not to go with the retreat and to have the tooth pulled. I left his office owing the same amount as if I had had the root canal because he charged me for a consultation fee and for the expensive scan. I felt like he played on my emotions and over charged me for that visit. He boasts that most doctor offices does not have this equipment. What good is it if you still can't tell your patient for sure if their tooth is fractured or not? It certainly did not live up to what he said it would do.
I was upset for days and at night would wake up thinking about this appt. I very much felt like I had been taken advantage of. I called the office the following Monday. The girl at the front desk argued with me and basically told me that my insurance would pay me for part of my consultation fee. I told her that it goes toward my $1,000 deductible and with all the teeth work that I have to pay for this year, that is NOT any help. She refused to help me in any way. read more