My husband and I went to see Dr. Costa as new patients needing routine cleanings since we had just moved to the area. We both received suggested treatment plans that were completely excessive and inappropriate. Personally, I was told I needed six fillings, a crown, and a deep cleaning (not a regular cleaning). Oh, and I should consider getting my wisdom teeth pulled (what??? I'm in my 40's and haven't had anyone recommend I have them pulled before). I pointed out to Dr. Costa that I was quite shocked with his assessment as I go to the dentist twice a year and up until this visit, thought I had relatively healthy teeth. He stated that dentistry is subjective and some dentists take a more cautious approach and others are more aggressive. I asked him to work up the pricing for his treatment plan and that I would consider his recommendations to be done in the future, but that for today, I just wanted a regular teeth cleaning. He said "okay" and left the room.
Fast forward another 30 minutes and I'm still sitting in the chair waiting for someone to begin cleaning my teeth. I ask the guy who did my x-rays when we were going to begin and he said someone needed to come in and go over the treatment plan. I told him I wasn't having any of that done today and can he please just begin cleaning my teeth? He left and brought someone else back and I asked the same question. She left and came back and said someone else would be right with me. Tired of waiting and wondering what in the heck is going on, I finally got up and walked out to the front desk and the office manager, Megan, informed me that unless I would do the deep cleaning, they were not going to perform any work on me "due to malpractice concerns."
I told her I had concerns about the treatment plan and wanted to simply have a regular cleaning. I told her I had already discussed this with Dr. Costa, so she said she would go talk to him, but when she came back her answer was the same. They would not treat me unless I did a deep cleaning. I asked her why Dr. Costa wouldn't have had this conversation with me doctor to patient and she didn't have an answer. I informed her I was not doing the deep cleaning and inquired as to what she was going to do about processing a claim since I was now going to have to find another dentist and start the process over, and she told me "WE WON'T BE SUBMITTING A CLAIM FOR YOU."
Fast forward a few weeks to today when I saw another dentist (who was wonderful, by the way and who didn't recommend anything other than I come back in 6 months for my next cleaning. Incredible, huh? You would have thought my teeth were falling out after what Dr. Costa came up with.) The new dentist informed me I was going to have out of pocket expenses since there was a claim filed for x-rays and an exam within the last 6 months by Smile Spot. Hmmm, what happened to "we won't be submitting a claim for you?"
I called Smile Spot and spoke with Megan. I reminded her what she told me about not filing a claim, and she stated I had been asking about the charges for the cleaning (Umm, no. There wouldn't have been any charges for a cleaning SINCE YOU DIDN'T PERFORM ONE. Why would I have asked about that???). She apologized that she gave me misinformation but said Dr. Costa decided to process the claim.
Here is the biggest Red Flag ever. I asked to speak with someone in charge of the practice who could get involved to reverse that decision under the circumstances and reimburse my insurance company. Megan tells me there are four owners and they all have to be in agreement. She also tells me I can't speak to any of them about this because they don't get involved in financial conversations with patients. I told her this wasn't just a financial conversation, it was a customer service conversation since I was given misinformation, and the practice did not do what I was told they were going to do. She said she would pass my request along about speaking to someone, and MAYBE Dr. Costa would decide to call me back.
Folks, if a business owner won't engage his/her customers and actually talk to them when they raise concerns, this shows you they don't care about you and just want your money. If Dr. Costa really cared about me as a patient, he would have had a discussion with me about my concerns face-to-face. He had two opportunities when I was in his office to do just that and he shuffled me off to the office manager who couldn't medically speak to my concerns. And now that we've determined they lied (or at the very least, misled me) about the claim processing, I get screened out and can't even talk to anyone. Bad, bad form Smile Spot... read more