Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
Today I was made aware of a dental scam against an elderly (approximately 70 years old) family member of a friend of mine.
They asked for my opinion, and I felt I'd share the situation with the forum, because I've seen similar scams in the past.
This woman went to a new dentist, who informed her that a lot of prior work from a previous dentist to be redone. Supposedly decay had taken place under the crowns, bridges, fillings, etc.
She was told that the work was "urgent" and had to be started ASAP. (This is already a bad sign, as it is rare that dental work is "urgent" if it isn't causing pain.)
She authorized the work and paid a lot of money for it. Some was covered by insurance, but she still had to pay a lot of money anyway, through a combination of patient responsibility percentage and things that weren't covered.
She was also told she needs a "deep periodontal cleaning", which ended up involving in a periodontist visiting the office (who wasn't otherwise part of the practice). He worked about 20-30 minutes, did what more resembled a standard dental cleaning, and billed for a quad-scaling (an expensive deep periodontal cleaning).
When my friend found out, there was even more work scheduled, but my friend convinced the relative to stop, and go get another opinion from a different dentist, plus to not get the work done at this place regardless.
Yelp reviews of this place note similar scams, and in fact one complains they won't provide records/X-rays when asked.
Here's how you can avoid getting scammed by a dentist:
- Check Yelp reviews before going to a new dentist. If there are multiple accusations of scamming, do not go to that one.
- If a new dentist claims that a bunch of work by a previous dentist needs to be redone, it's likely a scam. At that point, go to another dentist with good reviews and get their opinion.
- If told that work is "urgent", yet you are feeling no discomfort, then there's a good chance it's a scam. Usually it is only super-urgent to do dental work if you are in pain. Otherwise, there's typically no harm in waiting a month or so (or even longer). I've had a lot of dental work done in my life, and I've never had any "urgent" work done which wasn't pain-related.
- Periodontal cleanings are often used to scam people. This is because there is a code for a "quad scaling" which allows dentists to get more than $1000 for what is little more than a more detailed cleaning of your teeth and gums, which is many times what a normal cleaning costs. Always resist "periodontal deep cleanings", and tell them you want it billed as a standard perio cleaning, where is basically the same thing. Furthermore, most people don't need periodontal cleanings. If you do, go to a periodontist you research on your own. Do not have it done at the same office (unless you already know from the past that you need regular periodontal cleanings.)
- Any office that makes it difficult or impossible to get your records is a scam.
- When told you need a root canal, tell them you'd like to go to an endodontist, even if the dentist can do it. An endodontist is better at it, and is less likely to scam you.