I would not recommend Brite Dental Spa. While the staff and dentist I saw (Dr. France) were all very kind and patient with my dental anxiety, I felt that the staff was disorganized/inexperienced and that the dentist was unable to give me a confident/thorough diagnosis. Most importantly, after getting a second and third opinion, I feel like they recommended care that was unnecessary for their financial benefit.
I was told to see a dentist after going to Urgent Care for facial swelling and jaw pain. I was able to make an appointment with Brite Dental Spa on Zocdoc for 10:30am the next day, and then later changed my appointment through the app to 12:40 after realizing I would have a conflict with work. I also called the office in the morning to confirm the time change. Still, at 10:35am, they called me to ask why I wasn't at my appointment. During this call, they asked if I could come in at noon instead of 12:40, which I agreed to.
While I was in the waiting room for my appointment, they called again to ask where I was, even though I was sitting in the waiting room and had just checked in for my appointment. And when they escorted me back for my appointment, I realized I wasn't going to see the doctor I was scheduled to see on Zocodc. They had assigned me a different dentist.
In the chair, multiple assistants struggled to get accurate x-rays of my teeth. To be fair, I have bad dental anxiety and sometimes I involuntarily push on the x-rays with my tongue, but I have never had so much difficulty with x-rays. After finally getting the X-rays, Dr. France said my left second molar had a "big cavity" and possible infection. She said she needed a better view of my back molar and asked to take a 3D panoramic of my teeth that would cost over $400. I agreed to this, and they took the scan. Dr. France pointed to a place on my scans that could be indicative of an infection, but she could not give clear answers to my questions and could not offer an explanation about the cause of the infection. She just told me I needed a root canal consultation with their specialty endodontist (another $200) who would only be there July 11th out of the entire month of July. In the meantime, she recommended 13 teeth for fillings.
This raised an eyebrow for me, so I asked for a copy of my scans to get a second opinion from my hometown dentist who had seen me a year ago and only recommended 2 fillings. Brite informed me that they could email my x-rays, but that the 3D scan was too large a file to email and could only be uploaded to a physical disk that I could take with me at the end of my appointment. It wasn't ready at the end of my appointment, so they said I could come back at 3. It wasn't ready at 3 either. Finally (after going back and forth to the office 3 times), I was able to get a copy of my scans on a CD. My treatment plan was also never uploaded to my patient portal, so I could not access a summary of my treatment plan for my own use or for another doctor's. On top of all this, Brite's payment software prompts you to tip when you pay at the end of your appointment. I have NEVER been prompted to tip for dental services before until my appointment with Brite.
I was able to get a next-day appointment with a different endodontist this morning and brought my x-rays and the CD scan with me. The endodonist was confused because my physical presentation and x-rays did not match the 3D scans. Turns out they uploaded THE WRONG PATIENT'S scans to the CD, somebody who had wisdom teeth, a previous root canal, and needed 2 tooth extractions. (I have never had a root canal, and my wisdom teeth were removed years ago) Brite charged me $400 for a scan only to give me someone else's scan. The endodontist redid my x-rays (which his assistant was able to get 1st try without issue), and confirmed that, despite a small amount of decalcification on my molars, they are perfectly healthy teeth that don't even need a filling, let alone root canal/extraction. He also performed tap, gum, and cold sensitivity tests and confirmed there was no evidence of infection at all on these teeth.
After reviewing my new x-rays from the endodontist, my hometown dentist confirmed that I only needed 4 fillings (including the 2 I still needed to get done from last year), not 13. He also confirmed that, in his opinion, there was no evidence of infection or the kind of decay that would warrant a root canal consultation.
TLDR: Mixed up $400 scan with another patient's, unnecessary treatment plan, disorganized staff (except Michaela who was helpful) read more