Appalling dental office. I departed without agreeing to any service, now or in the future, and upon returning home I immediately logged into my insurer and changed facilities.
The good: The dentist Mohammad Anwar was kind, personable, and inspired my confidence with his diagnoses. Nothing he recommended was entirely unexpected or outlandish (financially or otherwise), and very reasonable. Dr. Anwar and his dental assistant were both a pleasure to meet.
The bad: Everything else, especially the facility, and front of house staff.
Starting with the facility, I am (was) a NEW patient, and new to the area. There is no exterior signage that I can see, and it was some time before I could find the actual office. Nothing guides to look for an unmarked hallway upstairs over a bank. This does not inspire confidence.
The facility is dated and looks almost antiquated, from the 70s or 80s. This was unsettling. My xrays were performed in a chair in the HALLWAY in full view of the waiting area. No booth, cubicle or room. This was unsettling.
In the treatment room, I laid back on a treatment bed and stared at brown water stained broken ceiling tiles and numerous dead insects and bugs inside of the dirty fluorescent light fixtures. This was unsettling.
The treatment room (painted and decorated strictly for children) had three (3) treatment beds and computer stations, as if this was a public clinic treatment area in a public health ward. No curtains or devices closed off the other beds. Fortunately they were unoccupied, but this would have been unsettling.
The exam was without a problem and Dr. Anwar and his assistant were friendly and helpful. And then they sent me out to the waiting room, and that's where things really went down hill.
The receptionist was nearly maddening in her lack of care, concern and helpfulness to a NEW patient. I was led to her to go over my appointments for the treatment plan. Fair enough, but she asked me to "wait a few minutes" for her to "set it up" -- without explaining what "it" was. I sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Twenty minutes later she called me up to the counter to stand in front of her, and she did two (2) things. Handed me a set of headphones, and pointed me to a monitor on the counter. She said "This is for your privacy" with no explanation as to what was about to happen.
Apparently, I had been waiting (unknown to me) to be connected to some kind of Digital Dental Zoom Consultation, with a woman who was also not introduced or explained. I don't even know her name. I adjusted my headset for what I had to presume was going to be some kind of digital conversation, and then when the digital woman was talking numbers / prices, the receptionist handed me a 2 page treatment plan with price modules going down both pages. The woman on the monitor started reeling off these various price options by codes, but noted at the same time various mistakes she saw because as she said she could see I was being assessed a "$98 co pay for future cleaning when it should be covered, etc., it should be $12" and she was prattling off corrections, as well as warranties for crown work and such, work I had not even had 1 minute to SEE or READ, let alone contemplate or decide. Pity I wasn't given that 2 page plan to read during my 20 minute wait for the zoom meeting, hm? I said "I really don't know what you're even talking about yet" to the woman on the monitor.
The receptionist printed another page of the dental plan work and handed it to me while the woman was talking to me, so now I'm distracted by two people talking to me at once, one in front of me and one on the screen, while I'm standing in a waiting room with patients behind me.
Am I expected to discuss my medical care, treatment options, prices and coverage and copays with an audience behind me listening to me out of boredom? Apparently yes, I am.
The only person who's voice was muted and protected was the woman on the monitor. Anything I happened to ask or say would be with an audience. How is that appropriate?
I refused to stand there at a counter and be hammered with prices for things I had not even READ yet, so the monitor woman turned me back over to the receptionist to schedule an in-person consult, instead.
The receptionist told me my various location options were Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, or Folsom. All a considerable distance from where I work and live. Even traveling to AUBURN for THIS appointment was 45 minutes! Elk Grove is 1.5 hours away from my home.
When I expressed confusion she explained none of the work planned would be done in the Auburn office, I was being referred out to a "sister facility" but she didn't explain any of this until I asked for clarification, as if this was just a "minor detail."
I folded up the treatment plan, put it my purse, and said I wasn't comfortable with any of this (gesturing at the set-up). I went home and immediately changed providers. read more
