Anyway, Jacob really, really enjoyed the waiting room!
Can you guess what he didn't enjoy? That's right: everything else. The nice lady tried to brush his teeth...nope, not havin' it. Not even with yummy-tasting toothpaste. She then handed the brush off to me. Nope, no good. Good 'ol mom was useless. I guess they weren't too used to a kid pitching a fit in their kool (that's how they spell it) dental office because we had many employees pop in to see who was making such a fuss.
The dentist, himself, was very friendly and taught me how "embrace" a screaming 1-yr.-old so as to have his pearlies examined. "Embrace" is such a sweet word and not one that I'd use to describe the steel grip I had on my child. You would have thought that the Steve Martin character from Little Shop of Horrors was trying to expel a tooth from Jacob sans Novocaine.
Fast forward to today. I receive in the mail my Estimate of Benefits from the insurance company. You can imagine my surprise when I noticed that they charged me for brushing Jacob's teeth and and a Fluoride treatment. Ok, so here's the deal:
#1. No one, I repeat, no one got a single bristle of that toothbrush into this kid's mouth. Not the nice hygienist, not me. So, funny that I should be charged $54.00 for that.
#2. Think back to the days when kids had Fluoride treatments in school. Remember how those went down? They would spray some stuff in a little plastic cup, tell you to swish around for, oh, say, 30 seconds, and then, the fun part: spitting out that stuff into the sink! Do you think a 1yr. old could follow these instructions? Even my child, who is skilled, crafty, brave and a wiz at following directions, would have had a difficult time with this. So, why was I charged $27.00 for something that A. didn't take place and B. could not have taken place, developmentally speaking? I was baffled, too!
A small war has been waged on Kool Smiles Dentistry (the small war being because of the ridiculous charges, not that they don't know how to properly spell cool. Although, that may warrant some kind of under-the-breath comment when I talk to their office manager tomorrow. I mean, this is a place pandering to kids. Why are you going to teach and encourage children to misspell words? Dentists should be role models, not come across like they make Harpy Bipthday banners for Dollar Tree). We'll see how it turns out. In the meantime, we're going to leave the teeth-brushing to dad!
Oh, they had a poor-excuse-for-a-treasure-box, too. What did Jacob choose? A sad-looking plastic slinky. Good to know some things never change.
6 comments:
Before you take your sweet child back to Kool Smiles you might want to google them and see all the complaints. Kool Smiles along with Small Smiles are infamous for strapping children down, abusing them in various ways and billing for work not done. Notify your insurance of the billing fraud. There is a website dedicated to these two clinics at debbiehagan.blogspot.com Be sure to watch all the investigative videos. Good luck to you.
LOL! The part about your war-waging and dentists that can't spell, I mean. Do they really think they will get away with ripping people off like that? Sickening. Alex is due for his first appointment too, although now we know not to go to Kool Smiles. Thanks for the heads-up.
While your experience there may have been poor, be careful with Debbie who has posted nonsense about Kool Smiles in the past. She said parents can't go back with there kids, but clearly you went back!
I had a problem waiting for a long time once in their office, about 30 minutes for my first kid to be seen. As frustrating as it was, I didn't complain while I was there. I did get a call the next day from a quality officer or something at the company aplogizing for my wait. Still not sure if I'm going to go back if they can't get their schedule done right. But I did my own research and they are great from letting parents go back, and have recently started taking peachstate back because they were *not* guilty of any billing fraud at all. Debbie's confused...Kool Smiles may not be great, but there not hurting anyone.
Beware of KS!!
Ok...so I took my 2 daughters yesterday to the Portsmouth VA location. Not only were we seen 30+ minutes after our appt time, it took them TWO HOURS to do 2 exams and 2 prophys. I too had the "Oh I recommend a crown for this cavity". I quickly said..."Hmm really? Isn't that a little overkill for a simple D.O.(Distal Occlusal) filling that could be placed in there?" She quickly changed her demeanor..and said "Well, it would last longer crowned." Last time I checked this was a decidous tooth that would be falling out within 5 years. If their fillings aren't guaranteed for 5 years, there is a horrible issue there. Additionally, they re-took several PAX's of my daughter...she isn't 2 so they should've had no problem getting the correct angles. Both of my girls have been to the dentist several times for routine cleanings and exams without a single issue...this is the first time my youngest nearly left in tears, never ever wanting to go back. Beware - this is not much different than a puppy mill.
I took my 3 yr old son for the first time last week to the virginia Beach office. They are such a joke!!! I waited for 45 minutes just for him to be seen, left alone for several minutes at a time in the chair, to never talk to the Dr.(only the nurse) to tell me he has 3 cavities and they need to be filled. They quoted me prices and I came back today. They were really pushing for the nitrous oxcide($50 more) to be used and wanted me to pay up front. UH NO!!! I told them I would pay after to see if the gas was needed. I then was seen by a nurse and continues to tell me that they most likely will use the popoose board. She then went to tell me after I asked her coldly "so the you are going to restrain my child" she said she would call it that. Well then what would you call it? I eventually talk to the Dr before treatment started thank god!!! He flat out said that they restrain the child, I could not go back, and that they might not even be able to do anything if he need to be sedated,since they don't sedate. I told him I will be going elsewhere and that I need my records. They gave them to me. Hopefully they are indeed my sons. I will find out next week when I take him to my dentist. I am so pissed off at this point. I can not believe they claim to be a pediatric dentist. What a crock of SHIT!!!! I will be notifying my insurance carrier of their practices also.
Charging you $54 for nothing can be very disappointing. Why did they charge you that amount? Were you able to resolve your concern with them? Dentists are some of the friendliest people I know. You just have to choose the one that is right for you. Good luck on your next visit to the hygienist. =)
Post a Comment