I have been a patient at Rotherfield dental for over 5 years but for most of that time I was under Dr. Choens care, she is no longer at Rothfield Dental. When I learned Dr. Choen was no longer there I wasn't concerned I had seen Dr. Rothfield in action and I found her to be charming and knowledgable. So why are you now reading a one-star review? Because I was tortured mentally and physically.
The story begins with a broken tooth at the very back of my mouth. Like most of us, my dental insurance is sketchy at best I expected to just have the tooth pulled. I expected to pay around $100. I actually asked for the tooth to be pulled but the Dr. insisted that we check and see what it would actually cost. Her assistant presented me with a paper that had about 10 different numbers on it. including what appeared to be a charge of about $250 dollars which I pointed to and said: "if that's all it costs let's do it". The assistant never corrected me, my portion was not circled so I had no idea that I was looking at a $700+ bill.
I learned at a follow up when I was asked to pay the higher amount that there had been a misunderstanding. I advised Dr. Rothfield personally that I was sorry for the misunderstanding but I simply couldn't afford this and I would be happy to pay for the work that had already been done and that I would like to tooth pulled. She insisted that we could work something out an encouraged me to continue.
Now it's time to fit the crown... it goes well, I have no doubt that Dr. Rothefield is very good at this part of her job. I'm still worried about the bill since we haven't spoken further about the charges but I assume Dr. Rothfield will "work with me" as she said.
Now, this is where things went horribly wrong. I was overdue for my cleaning and had already suffered a round of shaming by the dental hygienist about flossing etc. She was very belittling and frankly overbearing being very abrupt and presumptuous. She then proceeded to numb my gums. I told her that in the past I had a very painful experience and I'm sure she was trying to make me comfortable. However, she overdid the numbing gel and it went down my throat. The result was me losing the ability to swallow properly. A slight sip of water was all it took to get a very bad reaction. I found myself unable to breath unable to clear the water from my windpipe, I was essentially waterboarded, I thought I might have a heart attack Dr. Rothfield tried to calm me but I suffered from this horrible drowning feeling for what seemed like an eternity, in reality, it was probably about 5 or 10 minutes.
The hygienist wanted to proceed but I was more than ready to leave and said I would reschedule. (FYI the office charged the insurance company for the waterboarding, I mean cleaning that never happened).
I felt that there was little chance of me returning for future dental work but because I do genuinely like Dr. Rothfield I opted to simply wait for the bill and then "work something out" as Dr.Rothfield said. Surly with the miss communication on the bill, the rude dental hygienist, the panic attack and torture that had occurred there would be some accommodation, a discount of some kind in the interest of good business because the experience had been frankly horrible. To me what happened seemed to be the definition of extenuating circumstances from beginning to end.
Fast forward to today when I received my first call since my ordeal from Dr, Rothfields office. One of the assistants called and asked for payment. I related that my experience had been bad and the Dr. Rothfield had indicated that we would work something out. Instead of understanding that she needed to escalate this and get Dr. Rothfield involved she got snarky and rude. When I asked to speak with the Dr. she refused, when I asked for her name she refused. She ended the call for no good reason, I was insistent but showed her more respect than she showed me. All I was asking for was her name and for the Dr. to call me.
I called back and spoke to Jacki the office manager. I told her quickly that I had been promised an accommodation by Dr. Rothfiled and that I would like her to call me. Instead of the owner taking responsibility I was told that Jacki had been told to "handle it" and Dr. Rothfield would not be calling. Moreover, I was threatened with a lawsuit if I posted my honest review online. I indicated that I should be the one suing.
So that's how you earn a one-star review. You ignore your patients request to extract his tooth, you have sloppy procedures when you give patients the pricing, you make a promise of accommodation that you don't hold to, you employ a hygienist who talks down to your patients. And even after you endanger your patient and flub every aspect of the interaction you don't even have the common courtesy to get on the phone. Well played Dr. Rothfield, I hope to hear from your attorneys soon.
Needless to say, I can't recommend Dr. Rothfield. read more
