Dental frustrations

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband, a truck driver, broke a tooth that had been previously filled. He was on the road and found an Aspen dental in another state and they did a temporary repair. Less than 24 hours later whatever they put in his tooth came loose. This was approximately $200 down the drain. They told him if he was going to be in the area that they could complete the work for a new crown in two visits.

Well, he came back home and went to our Aspen dental and they’re insisting that it’s going to take three visits. That’s not such a big deal, but he just had the second visit today and has paid something like $1000 of the originally quoted $1400 and now they’re saying they won’t put the new crown on until he has a ‘deep cleaning.’ And it just so happens that this will be another $550.

Somebody help me here before I show up on their doorstep fuming. Does this make sense? Or is this a dental hostage situation? If I need to clarify, let me know. I’m very frustrated at this point.

2

If they learned that he’s from out of town they took him for a ride.

3

I’ll buy that, but it’s our local dentist that is refusing to do the crown without the deep cleaning first.

4

Oh I get it now. I think it’s because of the botched up job and that’s what it takes to do it right.

5

Dentist here. While each Aspen office is different their general reputation in the dental community is not great. If they believe that a “deep cleaning” is needed prior to a crown being placed they should have let him know that ahead of time. Dentists vary but for an emergency situation such as this I’ll do a crown but would want the cleaning and comprehensive exam done prior to any other work. I think your assessment of dental hostage may be accurate.