The staff at Smiles for Colorado is great. I never had an appointment snafu, and they always…read moretreated me in a pleasant and professional manner. So, I had really hoped that I would be writing a favorable review at the end my treatment program; however, I'm not able to as I've terminated my relationship with Dr. Terry and Smiles for Colorado after nineteen months and $5345 into a prescribed fifteen month treatment regimen (insurance=$2000, me=$3345).
Why did I terminate? I wasn't satisfied with the visual appearance of my front teeth (top and bottom). In calling this to Dr. Terry's attention, I was told that my expectation of left right symmetry (in this case, tooth/teeth elevation) was something she was very reluctant to do - she indicated she didn't see what I saw, and therefore my request conflicted with her ideas of orthodontic best practices. Specifically, while my lower incisors were relatively even with one another across the top, they weren't level. Meaning as a group, they sloped down to the right (level with the left canine, but lower than the right canine). And, I had a similar sloping in the opposite direction with my upper teeth as well. Put another way, I had a lopsided smile.
In mid January, we had a meeting (no treatment) to review photos and discuss my concerns. At the end of the meeting, I thought Dr. Terry and I had come to an understanding/agreement and had a go forward plan to address the issue. Albeit, the agreement was tenuous because of the reason Dr. Terry had indicated. But, the following two office visits for treatment proved the agreement was unworkable (late Jan and late Feb).
During the late January visit, Dr. Terry installed a modified wire to level out the slope of the bottom teeth; unfortunately, the wire moved the tooth it targeted in the wrong direction further exacerbating the slope. So, I called to reschedule my February appointment for a longer time slot - a time slot long enough to sort that out in addition to the scheduled treatment for that visit.
During the February visit, I tried to revisit my concern with Dr. Terry. However, rather than acknowledge what had happened with the tooth moving in the wrong direction, she was largely dismissive and suggested I see another Orthodontist for a second opinion. So even though I was there for an hour, I was largely ignored by her except for that short conversation.
For me, that was the "straw that broke the camel's back." I had, through feedback and dialog, tried to amicably resolve my treatment concerns and arrive at an acceptable outcome. To my way of thinking if I had to get a second opinion by going to another Orthodontist, I was doing so with the intent of completing treatment elsewhere.
I'm also troubled by Dr. Terry's generally dismissive demeanor. It was noticeable during the January consultation as most of that visit was interacting with one of her staff rather than her, and her demeanor was worse during my February visit. I came to the January meeting prepared with photos marked up with a horizontal grid lines to make it easy to see the right/left symmetry issue.
At the end of the day, I am the customer, and I believe I have a reasonable expectation that my concerns are heard and addressed by her - and addressed in a manner that is not argumentative. So, immediately following the February visit, I scheduled an appointment with Rangewood Orthodontics. That meeting turned out, day and night, differently for me. It convinced me that I had been receiving treatment from the wrong provider.
Rangewood took numerous photographs and x-rays - all of which were placed on a large screen display in a consultation office. Two minutes into the consultation, and before I could dive into the details of why I was there or show my photos, Dr. Watts pointed out the exact issue I struggled to have Dr. Terry correct. Imagine my relief when Dr. Watts said there was nothing unusual about my concerns, that indeed there was a visible slope, nor would there be any difficulty correcting it.
I'm not happy that $5345 didn't straighten my teeth especially when I was led to believe it would. Although my teeth are straighter now than they were before going to Smiles for Colorado, I'm also not happy I will have to pay another $1615 to another office to properly complete the work. Nevertheless, I'm delighted that my concern is such an easy issue to rectify, and that Rangewood Orthodontics can/will complete the treatment.
In summary, if you have a vanilla correction need where a "one size fits all" solution will work, then your outcome with Smiles for Colorado will most likely be favorable. Mine wasn't a one size fits all problem, and my outcome wasn't favorable...