I'm not sure how much of the x-ray money goes to the dentist office, but it surely feels like Dr. Pham pushes really hard for it every possible time. I have good health insurance coverage and don't mind paying for x-rays if they are necessary to perform a dental job, but I don't want unnecessary radiation in my body. The last time I was in his office I was put in the chair with the protective vest almost instantly and got asked if they can get new x-rays right after I said "I think one of my fillings came out". I mean... could you check the area with your eyes first?
Yes, he is "friendly". If by that you mean that he tries to chit-chat while you are with your mouth fully open during a procedure, holding a mirror with one hand and a suction hose with the other, blinded by the bright light on top of your eyes, feeling pain and wanting the procedure to be over as soon as possible. I can barely make a sound with my mouth open! Tell me about your trip to Cancun later, I don't care.
I'm very disappointed about how Dr. Pham handled my last visit. He's treated one of my molar fillings twice and part of it came off during the holidays. I scheduled an appointment to look at it. I get into the office and he sets me up to do a cleaning job. I said, "Well, I was really here for the filling only". I guess he didn't like that his staff doesn't ask about the purpose of the patient visit and lets him know.
He explains to me that he recommends other options besides a regular filling: "It's going to break again because of your bite". Well... OK. He says he can prep the molar for a semi-crown, then he will get one piece "from the lab" and glue it in. That there are three options: gold, metal and zirconia. So far so good, I like where this is going. I asked: "OK, let's do that. I don't want a regular filling if it's not working. What is the difference between a gold, metal and zirconia semi-crown". He says (I'm not kidding): "One is metallic, the others are not". Well, that was insightful.
After I got the estimated costs out of him and some other more meaningful details besides "one metallic, others not", he says my insurance might not cover that treatment. He estimated somewhere between $800 and $1000 dollars. I asked if we could find out how much is covered by my insurance, just to get an idea how much I would have to pay out of pocket. He said he would ask Connie to find out and went to the front desk. The assistant went ahead and prep me up for x-rays. So I asked: "Should we wait to find out how much the procedure is before the x-rays?". She says: "Oh, the insurance takes too long to respond, maybe three weeks. We can do the x-rays now, it's quick.". So I said: "If it's quick then we can do it next time. I just don't want to do x-rays if I'm not doing the procedure. And who knows if more of the filling comes off in three weeks." Makes sense to me.
So I'm up heading to the front desk to find out how long it would take to get this info from the insurance. Dr. Pham is walking back. I quickly tell him my thoughts. He puts his hand in my back and pushes me -gently- out of the office, saying "We'll call you". I was not sure what was going on. So at the front desk I asked: "Is everything OK? I feel I'm being rushed out of the office". He says again: "We'll call you". And leaves me there hanging.
I asked Connie at the front desk: "What happened?". She says: "You didn't tell us you didn't want the cleaning". So I guess it's my fault.
So that's the end of my visits to Dr. Pham's office. Try for yourself. And be ready for some chit-chat and x-rays. read more
