Desert Crossing Dental Group

Well, I had a little discomfort coming from what I thought was my wisdom teeth so I decided to schedule an appointment. From that point, it was explained to me that removing all four teeth would be my best bet. So believing what was explained to me, I did it or they did it. They removed my wisdom teeth and the assistant said we had to cut more then we thought. Once I was told this, I felt a little unsure of what took place. I'm not a professional in the field of dentistry and if I was I wouldn't be here! So after all that cavity popped up that wasn't discovered in my initial inspection but it's here now so I asked could the discomfort I was feeling have just been that cavity since the cavity is in the area where the pain was and still coming from. They said that they went on what I said about my wisdom teeth giving me pain. No, I'm not a doctor nor do I play one in real life but that statement going by what I said is the wrong answer.

I continued to have issues and now, I was up for a root canal with a crown and before this was completed, cleaning was recommended as soon as possible. To me this seems like a dollar hungry office with a very confused staff upfront. To top it off, the staff is very unprofessional with one another. Now, for clarification once I received my crown, I'm done here and don't recommend this office or its unprofessional staff to anyone. One more thing to add, they told a different story to someone than what was told to me basically they covered their asses and had no idea that when I was in the back room, my husband was in front and heard everything. A staff member flat out lied to someone who questioned what happen to me and other concerns with charging double for medicine/medication needed for recovery. The list can go on and on. I am still having pain and discomfort, rescheduling appointments due to miscommunication amongst staff, crown coming off and missing work.

This dental group had an introductory offer of $39 for new patients. It was supposed to include x-rays, complete examination by a dentist and a general cleaning. At my first appointment, I was handed a price list of all their individual services. These prices they said were contingent upon paying a fee of $150. If I chose not to use their plan, the costs would be close to double what was printed in the brochure. The x-ray went fine and then I was examined by the dentist, Delia **. She seemed very nice and professional.

An assistant took notes as she viewed each tooth and called out numbers which represented the condition of each tooth and surrounding gum. Most of the numbers were 5 and 6, which is a bad indication. Three is considered fine. She noted a cavity and the need to put in a crown. Also, she said I had to have each quadrant of my teeth deep cleaned due to poor condition and replace fillings.

According to the price list, the total cost amounted to close to $2,700. She wanted to do the deep cleaning right then, but I said I wanted to wait and just have the general cleaning done now according to the original offer. She could not consent to a general cleaning because they could be liable if that caused an infection, and besides no hygienist was there. I paid the $39 and made an appointment with my old dentist ten days later.

The first thing they did was to clean my teeth. That hygienist said my teeth looked great. The dentist then examined me the same way Dr. Delia ** did with an assistant recording each tooth. No teeth were above a three. There was no cavity. The fillings were fine. I did not need any crown. He said I looked great. How do you explain the vast difference between the two dentists?

How can a dentist with years of experience not detect a "cavity"? Desert Crossing is a scam operation in my opinion. The only economic damage is that I paid $39 and did not receive a general cleaning; however, had I followed their advice, I would have been scammed for close to $3,000.

Seems that this dental office sends additional billing even after the bill is paid in full. After paying for my first visit I received additional billing for $27.50. The office could not explain it but did nothing about it. I've received another bill for an additional $8.12 for a total of $35.62. Once again reported to their office with no satisfaction. I believe this practice may be some type of billing scam to get extra funds for services that have not been rendered. This is a very large clinic with several offices in Southern California. Some type of investigation should be made. I believe that if they are doing it to individual patients then there is a possibility that all of their insurance billings may also be 'padded'.