I needed a crown on a rear tooth that my dentist was going to charge over $1000, even with my insurance. I had seen commercials and received a mail-out for Simply Crowns and started to do some Yelp research. I'd been burned before by going to a budget dentist that did a botched up implant, so I was really hesitant on going with someone that only charged $599. All the Yelp review in Austin were 5 stars, however I live in South Austin and the San Marcos location is only 20 minutes from my house. I gave them a call and talked with the staff and they were very knowledgeable. So I made an appointment a couple of days later.
The location is right off of IH-35 in a small retail center. The lobby was clean and the staff was very friendly. Just like another reviewer had mentioned, there was very little paperwork to fill out, since they do not bill insurance. Once I turned in the paperwork I was taken into one of the exam rooms and then realized that the front staff was actually the dentist and dental assistant.
José, the dental assistant was great. He took x-rays and got me all ready for Dr. Poest. Dr. Poest, or Benjamin was really informative and explained everything. He explained that the crown was the exact same that 80% of other dentist charge much more. He had to do a lot of build-up to prepare my heavily damaged tooth for the new crown. There was no added fee for this, which my dentist was glad to charge. They took digital impressions with a camera that is much better than the old mold that needed to set. When done, I set an appointment 2 weeks later to get my new crown put in.
I got a phone call just 5 days later and had my new crown put on in less than a week. The digital method was really precise because the new crown was a near perfect fit with the dentist only removing it once to make it a little less snug between the other teeth. After my new crown was firmly in place I asked Dr. Poest to have a look at a different tooth that I was told needed a root canal. He had José take an X-ray and said he could put a crown on without a root canal, thus saving me $1,100. I almost said lets do it, but I need to wait a little bit to keep my finances in check.
Anyway, Dr. Poest and José were awesome and I'm so glad that I went to see him. He also has offices in Austin and San Antonio so you can do your Yelp research. And most of all, my new crown looks and fits perfect without adding another huge bill on my credit card. read more