Although I went to this dentist for a consultation, I chose to have my treatment done elsewhere. Dr. Swanson seemed nice, knowledgeable, and I trusted that she would have done a good, painless job on my root canal. However, her staff and less-than-truthful billing practices left me feeling unsettled. I had already found a great endodontist, who did previous root canals for me, and who I really like and trust (see Yelp review). But who doesn't want to try and save a bit of money by going to one that is in your insurance's network instead? I think what I've learned is that you can't put a price tag on peace of mind.
Things I liked:
- Nice and calming office. Easy to get appointments. Plenty of parking. Dr. Swanson was easy to talk to and was very knowledgeable.
Things I didn't like:
- There is only one front desk person there that I felt was professional, nice, and helpful, and that was Amber. I talked to others that seemed lazy, unknowledgeable, unprofessional, and maybe even a bit harassing (I'll get to that later).
- The dentist's assistant. She came in abruptly, didn't introduce herself, and started giving me orders regarding the X-rays she needed me to help her take. She got the tooth number wrong, and I had to correct her. The times she spoke to me were in broken English. I didn't want this person near me during any kind of procedure.
-My appointment was at 9am, but I wasn't seen by the dentist until 9:30am. I was the only one in the office. Also, the dentist's assistant accidentally put up the day's schedule and list of patients on the little TV monitor so I could see I was the only one scheduled at that time (also, HIPAA violation right there).
-As others have mentioned before, there is a sneaky little added fee to your root canal, that "no insurance covers". It's for $149, and comes out of your pocket. It's for a few drops of antibiotic that is dripped onto your tooth. As this sounded fishy to me (I've had root canals before), I called my insurance and, sure enough, they advised me to question this fee with the dentist as they hadn't heard of any extra fees like that. Usually the insurance gets billed one amount, for everything done during the root canal. None of this itemizing, nickel-and-diming stuff. Of course, when they first explain this fee to you as part of your estimate, they don't in any way tell you it's optional. But when I later called back and spoke to the office manager about it and about what my insurance had said, after some harassing about how I really need to have it and should have it, and she's been doing this for a long time so she knows, she did admit that I could opt out of it. Thanks for being honest, but only when I pushed the subject and involved my insurance. I'm sure they bank on people not even questioning this charge.
If you just need to get the root canal done and don't care about any of this (like maybe it's an emergency situation) then I would say this place wouldn't be bad. Get it done, and never see them again. However, I like that there are many choices out there for medical and dental care, and this care needs to be trustworthy on all levels for me. read more