Dental Malpractice : Dental Groups
Dental Group Scams, Dentist Fraud, Rip Offs, False
Advertising, Bait and Switch and Dental Malpractice in California - How A Few
Bad Apples Are Tarnishing the Dental Profession With the Same Toothbrush
According to the Coalition Against
Insurance Fraud, most dentists are honest and ethical dental practitioners who
provide their patients with professional and caring treatment. We agree wholeheartedly. Most dentists would never consider being part
of a scam, rip off or any type of fraud..
However, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, which has many insurance
companies among its charter members states that “a small but disturbing number
of dentists, however, are dishonest.”
While it can be difficult to determine who is at fault in a specific
dental office, the complaints made by certain dental patients in California
paint a disturbing picture in some situations of fraudulent, negligent and
unethical treatment.
Being primarily a plaintiff’s law
firm (although one that has on occasion represented Canadian insurance
companies - you shouldn’t really hold that against us since, after all, they
were Canadian), we rarely take sides with insurance companies. However, when it comes to dentists involved
in scams, rip-offs, over-charging and performing negligent dental treatment, we
agree that something can and should be done to prevent these few bad apples
from tarnishing the dental profession as a whole with the same toothbrush.
Scams by disreputable dentists
include providing worthless or unnecessary treatment, over-charging for routine
services such as teeth cleaning, inflating estimates for dental work in order
to push dental plans that may or may not even be valid insurance plans,
operating dental clinics without the proper precautions for safety and hygiene,
and operating without sufficient or properly trained and suddenly rude
inconsiderate staff as soon as their billing practices are questioned or
advertised services are asked to be performed.
And then there are the dentists who simply provide negligent dental
treatment. We know that anyone can make
a mistake. Our concern is with those
dentists either participating in scams and defrauding their patients or those
who on a regular basis commit malpractice.
If you’ve been the victim of a scam,
rip off, fraud or a bait and switch by a California dentist or dental group,
received negligent dental services, been the victim of dental malpractice,
overcharging, false advertising, or have been threatened or harassed or
defrauded in any way by a dentist, dental treatment coordinator, hygienist, or
the dental equivalent of a high pressure used car or financing department
salesman, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at (800) 589-3202 or
e-mail us by visiting our website www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com
Unfortunately, a few bad groups of
dentists participating in scams instead of good dentistry, who put the pain in
peoples’ wallets instead of putting smiles on the faces of their patients, lead
to complaints and word of mouth to avoid these dentists at all cost. At a time when economic conditions are nearly
as bad as they were in 1929 or ‘39, dentists offering low cost teeth cleaning,
X-rays and other routine services should be the norm. Instead, some dentists have chosen to inflate
their prices, and prey on the unwary by using tactics such as the old bait and
switch. Patients come into their offices
for advertised services for an advertised dollar amount and are instead talked
into much higher $ services when they are told they have a need for braces,
extractions, deep cleaning, gum treatment, mouthwashes, expensive night guards,
fillings, root canals, crowns, dental posts and retainers.
These rip off artists go on to
provide worthless treatment to those who can least afford it. Their offices inflate their bills, and
sometimes may even provide (or in the case of phantom treatment, fail to
provide) treatment by unlicensed or improperly trained or licensed staff, who
like Jekyll and Hyde suddenly turn into con artists and high pressure salesmen
if not rude and pushy bullies when their estimates or bills are questioned and
who go on to either refuse to provide the advertised services or who tell
patients in pain and in tears to leave and never come back.
Patients expecting the usual good
service offered by honest dentists instead find themselves the victims of
fraud. They are sold fake dental plans,
or told they need painful, dangerous and sometimes disfiguring surgery not
covered by insurance plans. They are
told by office staff members that they have gum disease if not poor gum health,
that they need expensive mouth rinses and antibiotics, that they need cavities
filled, fillings replaced by expensive dental posts, teeth extractions, deep
cleaning and possibly gum treatment as well, and in order just to get the
simple low cost service they came in for, they will need to wait hours if not
return another day, at a cost of more time and money because the dental
hygienist who should have been there for the appointment it took three weeks to
schedule is not there after all.
Most dentists are honest and caring
individuals who genuinely have the best interests of their patients at
heart. They become friends with their
patients and often treat them and their family members for life. It is therefore disappointing that those few
dental groups who would put profits ahead of ethics would risk tarnishing the
reputations of these honest dentists. If
you’ve been the victim of a dental scam, rip off or fraud anywhere in
California, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at (800) 589-3202 or
e-mail us at our website, http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com
Nothing in this article is meant to
refer to any one particular dentist or dental group and any interpretation of
this article as referring to any one dentist or dental corporation is an
incorrect interpretation. If, however,
you’ve had an unpleasant incident or a bad experience at the office of a dentist
or dental group in California, or if you worked with or trained at a dental
group which was designed to take advantage of its clients, we’d like to hear
about what you experienced. If you have
any documents that evidence what you went through, we’d be interested in seeing
them. Please e-mail us and let us know
what happened to you and which dentist or dental office attempted to con you or
others into paying too much.
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