Complaint Review: Western dental - Lake Elsinore California

I HAVE READ MANY REPORTS ON THIS SITE THAT ARE EXACTLY LIKE MY COMPLAINTS. This company uses Gestapo tactics to high pressure unknowing trusting patients , usually in pain to agree to ridiculous contracts for amounts that are inexcusable.

First of all I am speaking about patients with good dental insurance who WD is an "in-network"provider. Their game is to try to upcode proceedures that are not necessary. In anticipation of the insurance deny claims for these services they simply tell patients its a non covered treatment.. Well imagine my surprise after speaking with my insurance compant and finding out they were absolutely covered treatments however the WD did not bother to send sufficient proof these treatments and chemo treatments ( their word not mine) were necessary.

Even worse they were asked specifically and lied to my face about the in network allowed charges to the patient. Meaning they told me for example the crown they decided upon required an upgrade and the total cost would be a couple of thousand dollars. and they would only get less than half and the rest i had to pay. That payment took a year and was 1/5 of my total income a month.

I found out the insurance covered all of it abd at a rate that was 1/4 of what they claimed I had to pay. Overall my responsibility for the work done last year , per their provider agreement with METLIFE Dental , was under $600. They charged me $1400. They added in stupid items like a crappy toothbrush that did not work and they would not take back, $45 mouthwash!

even worse they failed to alert my insurance of a secondary insurance which in this case is Denti-Cal. I was to have zero out of pocket, they agree to perform dental services for extremely low negotiated rates.

After reading the other complaints , I too have to add in the special deep root and scaling and gum treatments they said werent covered, were also not needed. This year they started a root canal. When I told them i could not commit to $1600 worth of cleanings they claimed they couldnt risk finishing my root canal because the gus might get more infected. They are red, but not infected. They also informed me a rather new bridge which is way better that the work they did on one crown, would have to be replaced immediately. THIS WAS A BLATANT LIE. A second opinion confirmed the deep root plaing at this point might very well cause an infection as the tooth needs to heal rather than deal with the gums.

I was also informed that it should take no less that 45 mins a side for this deep root cleaning and scaling, last year I was finished in 10 minutes I know because I asked why it was so fast and they actually made up a lie. The entire staff are usually in on the required vebage when a patient has any monetary concerns, this leads me to believe they are offered incentive to upcode the work done. Aslso not on top of the special deep cleaning they charged y insurance for a normal cleaning and a 45 min consultation which literally never took place. Basically when my insurance requested additional proof of necessity, they simply sent in a covered code. They also never billed Denti-Cal and that is insurance fraud

My complaint can be veriified at the Insurance Commissioners office as I am making a formal complaint . It just so happens an ex of mine works in that office ..as .. you guessed it... an INVESTIGATOR. So I urge anyone who has had high pressure to agree to a money contract for an IN NETWORK dentist like Western Dental is in almost every insurance plan. Double check the invoices and make sure the address is correct, as I found out my address had an error and that was why it took me a year before i realized how badly these people were ripping me off.

Also if WESTERN DENTAL TRIES TO CLAIM YOU CANNOT CANCEL ANY MONEYTARY AGREEMENT WHERE THEY ARRANGE CREDIT FOR YOU WITH THEIR FAVORITE CREDIT PROVIDER ( WHICH IS ALSO WESTERN DENTAL) THIS IS A LIE. IT IS UNAWFUL FOR A DENTAL PROVIDER TO CHARGE FOR WIRK NOT YET DONE. SO IF YOU GET HOME AFTER BEING IN PAIN AND REALIZE YOU SHOULDNT HAVE AGREED TO A BUNCH OF EXTRA WORK OVER THE EMERGENCY TOOTH WORK, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CANCEL IN CALIFORNIA. Your dental plan whether Denti-cal or private all have clauses that the patient is allowed to pay as they go for treatments and a dentist may only charge for actual work done.

Sorry for the long post , I hope it will help people to challenge what this scam corp. tell innocent trusting patients. I hope they are fined and investigated. I urge all people in the greater Losangeles area to try contacting the ABC news investigative team.