Dental chain accused of hurting kids, bilking taxpayers

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http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/...ccused-of-hurting-kids-bilking-taxpayers?lite

Visits to the dentist can be upsetting for little children, but when Autum Archuleta took her son Nathan to a Small Smiles dental clinic in February
2011, it was beyond anything she could have imagined. The dentist gave Nathan, then almost 3, three crowns, two baby root canals and six silver fillings in 25 minutes.

While in the waiting room, Archuleta says she heard her son screaming and burst into the treatment room. She says Nathan was crying and struggling to move while being held down by three clinic employees and wrapped from his head to his feet in a stabilization device called a papoose board. She thinks he wasn't properly numbed.

"He wasn't the same for a long time after we brought him home," Archuleta said. "He cried a lot...He wasn't my little boy. He didn't smile...The night terrors were the worst. I mean it was a lot of sleepless nights.".............

But three years later [1/10], records show the company has not cleaned up its act.

"This company sees dollar signs in the eyes of every child they bring in," Senator Chuck Grassley told NBC News. Grassley has been investigating dental organizations whose primary source of revenue is Medicaid. He says Small Smiles practices assembly-line treatment, focused more on quantity than quality.

"This whole investigation kind of leads us to two things. To a conclusion that the tax payers are being fleeced, and children are being abused." Grassley said.

More at link.....
 
I do not like dentists one bit. And not for the usual reason that most people don't like them.
 
They are baby teeth! Why on earth would a 2 year old need that much dental work anyway? It makes no sense to put the child through that or to spend that kind of money on baby teeth! I can understand a filling but root canals on baby teeth?
 
They are baby teeth! Why on earth would a 2 year old need that much dental work anyway? It makes no sense to put the child through that or to spend that kind of money on baby teeth! I can understand a filling but root canals on baby teeth?

I don't get it either. Why does a baby need a crown? And I think it would be impossible to do all the procedures described in 25 minutes.
 
When I was around 9 or 10, I had to have a number of adult teeth extracted to prepare for braces (I had a very small mouth, too many teeth) and we had to go to an oral surgeon I had never been to before. As was customary at that time, I went to the back by myself to have this done. I was pretty scared and I truly didn't understand the mechanics of getting all those teeth out of my mouth--I think I was under the impression teeth were removed like they were in cartoons still.

Anyway, I was having these 6 adult teeth taken out and had ONE TEAR that came from my eye, I was not moving, I was not trying to say anything. This guy leaned in really close and called me a big baby and I needed to grow up! When it was over, I got out of the chair with my mouth full of gauze and he said "bye big baby" and I got out of that room as fast as I could.

My mom looked at me and said I looked very pale, rushed me into the car, I didn't say what happened. Years later I told her and she said she wished I would have been able to tell her then because she would have knocked him out.

I think if I took a kid to a dentist today I'd be right in there with the child, there are a lot of crazy dentists.
 
They are baby teeth! Why on earth would a 2 year old need that much dental work anyway? It makes no sense to put the child through that or to spend that kind of money on baby teeth! I can understand a filling but root canals on baby teeth?

If the child is fairly young and the tooth is very decayed, a crown will be put on because if the tooth is just removed, the adult teeth will probably have spacing issues as they come in. The crowned baby tooth maintains a space for that particular tooth underneath to be guided into.
 
DD#1 has two crowns in her lower teeth, because as the dentist explained, her adult teeth would not be in until she was around 10, and they were trying to preserve the "space" so there would be no shifting before the new tooth came in.
 
I do not like dentists one bit. And not for the usual reason that most people don't like them.

neither do I not i bit ! In fact im 52 and now facing dentures for years and years of messed up work from dentists. some of it I guess is just an accidnet some was intentional.

I lost 4 teeth for braces wore them 9 friggin years.

then the dentist that pulled my widom teeth injured the root fo the tooth next to them and there goes my upper molars.

next I had a dentist drill a hole in a tooth next to the one getting a filling, I saw it but didnt dare go back for fear im a chicken to the shots. One day 22 yers later I was sitting at a nail shop and the tech said " dentist are crooks they will drill a hole in the tooth next to the one they are working on so you get a new cavity. Ofcourse I got a cavity and wished I had gone back, there goes another tooth.

Now my hubby come home after he went and they told him to get deep root cleaning. I didnt know he had not got it done but he was so hyped saying I should. BIG MISTAKE . I came home and and spit portions of my teeth out, the part around the fillings now the edges are sharp and decayed.

Lets see is that it? well that was enough and now I have about 12 teeth left and they want to yank them :-(

Dentists have the highest suicide rate and now I see why! LOL I should have gone back and made that dentist fix that but I was young scared and broke, the mistakes were just that and I did take as good as care as I could, I went for cleanings etc

that deep root cleaning is a rip off and I would run like Hell if they try to get you to submit.

thanks for listening to me rant, I wish I had known this 35 years ago.
 
DD#1 has two crowns in her lower teeth, because as the dentist explained, her adult teeth would not be in until she was around 10, and they were trying to preserve the "space" so there would be no shifting before the new tooth came in.
Is that a recommended practice?
I had nothing done on my teeth as a child and the new one came in perfectly even.
 
Is that a recommended practice?
I had nothing done on my teeth as a child and the new one came in perfectly even.

When the baby teeth are decayed, yes it is recommended.
 
The "Kool Smiles" dentistry chain also has many charges of unscrupulous and fraudulent practices such as overdiagnosing problems and then recommending treatment that is extensive and costs much more than a simple procedure and proper and appropriate treatment would.

Chains like these make big bucks off of medicaid and other gov't systems and take advantage of parents who don't know better or don;t care because they aren't paying for it or never gave their kids proper dental care in the first place.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/front...omplaints-about-kids-care-follow-kool-smiles/

It's all about the money and it sickens me.
 
DD#1 has two crowns in her lower teeth, because as the dentist explained, her adult teeth would not be in until she was around 10, and they were trying to preserve the "space" so there would be no shifting before the new tooth came in.

Wouldn't a space maintainer do the same thing? That's what my daughter had....
 
What an awful story... That poor baby !!!i would never imply Mom was wrong... But I have never left my child in the dentist office room alone, they started going at 2 years old now 18 and 14, my 18 year old goes alone but not my 14 year old... I still sit in that little room with her.

Man o man, little guy is going to be traumatized for many years regarding dental care and that's a shame...
 
Some of these money-hungry dentists can intimidate parents. I took my toddler to one when he was about 2. She had a "cadillac" practice - expensive office building, furniture, fancy sports car in the parking lot, etc. These dentists can be very aggressive w/ parents who have good dental insurance, just to make extra money.

This dentist kept wanting to xray my son's teeth every month. He still had his baby teeth and they were in good condition, it wasn't necessary. Because ionizing radiation accumulates over a person's lifetime, its not recommended to expose small children to lots of xrays unless they really need them. I told her no when she wanted to x ray them for a second time in 2 months. She also wanted to give him a filling, even though there was no evidence of decay. When I said "no", she began lecturing and pressuring me, accusing me of harming my child. She even hinted that she might turn me in to children's services. I said "see you later" and never took my kid back there. We went to another dentist who was much more professional. My son's teeth were fine, he never had a cavity until he was in his early 20's.

I have no doubt these dentists are intimidating these parents, possibly even threatening to turn them in to DFS for child abuse. Had I not experienced it myself, I never would have believed it. Believe me, it happens.
 
What an awful story... That poor baby !!!i would never imply Mom was wrong... But I have never left my child in the dentist office room alone, they started going at 2 years old now 18 and 14, my 18 year old goes alone but not my 14 year old... I still sit in that little room with her.

Man o man, little guy is going to be traumatized for many years regarding dental care and that's a shame...

Unfortunately, many dentists are adding policies stating no parents in the exam room. Personally, I think that's just asking for abuse allegations, and I would NEVER allow that to happen with my child. However, it happens.

My sister actually stopped going to a dentist because of their treatment of a child in the next booth during one of her appointments. She sent a letter explaining her reasons, as well as making a DHS report.

My husband was traumatized by a non-gentle dentist as a child, and it took me years of hand-holding, anxiety-meds, etc. before he was able to go back. *sigh*
 
Some of these money-hungry dentists can intimidate parents. I took my toddler to one when he was about 2. She had a "cadillac" practice - expensive office building, furniture, fancy sports car in the parking lot, etc. These dentists can be very aggressive w/ parents who have good dental insurance, just to make extra money.

This dentist kept wanting to xray my son's teeth every month. He still had his baby teeth and they were in good condition, it wasn't necessary. Because ionizing radiation accumulates over a person's lifetime, its not recommended to expose small children to lots of xrays unless they really need them. I told her no when she wanted to x ray them for a second time in 2 months. She also wanted to give him a filling, even though there was no evidence of decay. When I said "no", she began lecturing and pressuring me, accusing me of harming my child. She even hinted that she might turn me in to children's services. I said "see you later" and never took my kid back there. We went to another dentist who was much more professional. My son's teeth were fine, he never had a cavity until he was in his early 20's.

I have no doubt these dentists are intimidating these parents, possibly even threatening to turn them in to DFS for child abuse. Had I not experienced it myself, I never would have believed it. Believe me, it happens.

I have had the same experience!! We had dental insurance through my hubby's job and took my 6 year old daughter to what we thought was the best pediatric dentist office in our area. Not only was I not allowed back there with her - even for the initial exam - the "specialist" came out into the waiting room with a concerned expression, telling me that my daughter had one of the most advanced cases of tooth decay he'd ever seen at that age. I was dumbfounded because her teeth looked perfect to me, we had always taken care of them, and she was only at the appointment for a cleaning! He told me that she was probably in a lot of pain, and that the decay was hidden between her teeth and that's why I couldn't see any problems. He said that it was basically a situation that was urgent and said I needed to understand how serious it was. I completely freaked. I felt like the worst parent in the world, and since he said she was in pain, I wanted to do anything I could to get it fixed. I now realize how completely naive I was to believe this dentist had any concern at all about my daughter, and that I just believed what he was saying about the awful condition of her teeth.
I put my faith in him that he was the expert, not me. We scheduled her emergency oral surgery for the following morning, where she was actually sedated (which scared me the most). He said she needed 12 crowns, some of which would be after the 'baby root canals' that were necessary to stop the pain. He said it would be better to get it all done at once to avoid further traumatizing her. Feeling like I had completely failed her as a parent for missing this huge problem with her teeth, I certainly did not want to be responsible for causing her any more trauma than I already had! Ugh.

The next morning my husband and I sat nervously in the waiting area while our precious baby was having this major oral surgery. When about an hour passed, I could hear her crying. Then she started screaming at the top of her lungs. Wailing. It was probably the scariest moment of my life. My husband demanded to be let into her room, and we were told that she was freakjng out because she didn't understand why her mouth was numb. They brought her out of the room and she was hysterical. She literally wailed at the top of her lungs for HOURS after we got home. I just bawled hysterically because I couldn't do anything besides hold her and pray it would stop hurting. My husband wanted to hunt down the dentist and kill him.

Then a few weeks later, one if her new crowns came off. To say that she had a panic attack would be an understatement. We found another dentist in the area, told him what the situation was, and brought her in that day. He could not believe the list of things that had been done to a six year olds teeth! He basically was horrified and told us that NONE of it was necessary for a child that age, and that we were essentially conned. He said that if i visibly couldn't see her teeth rotting, couldn't see cavities, and she didn't say her teeth hurt, then her teeth were NOT in the condition that this guy had made us believe. Although we had dental insurance, our out if pocket ended up being $4000. We paid this "specialist" to truly traumatize my child, basically.

It's seriously the worst thing that's ever happened to us and our kids. I feel completely taken advantage of, and now our daughter will forever have issues with the dentist.

So yes - this kind if thing absolutely happens. Sorry for the novel.
 
Even adults have to be careful when going to the dentist. I went to the dentist and he replaced a lot of my old fillings, which I don't think was necessary at all.
And I ended up paying bunch of money out of pocket since he went over my insurance limit for a year.
I was very angry!
 
People go to the dentist and believe that dentist wouldn't do un-necessary procedures, and if dentist says something needs to be done then it needs to be done. Blaming the patient/parent is way out of line. Patient didn't go to dental school for however many years to know if something isn't necessary.
 
They are baby teeth! Why on earth would a 2 year old need that much dental work anyway? It makes no sense to put the child through that or to spend that kind of money on baby teeth! I can understand a filling but root canals on baby teeth?

I had to have my 2 year old teeth fixed and it was awful. I luckily had a friend who was a dentist and he explained to me why their teeth should be fixed before they fall out and their new ones come in, as far as I could remember he said it had something to do with their gums and roots. I took him to one dentist who I felt was torturing him, so we use to drive 3 hours to my friends office in Coco Beach where he gave him a little something to knock him out. He use to give me a lot of something to knock me out, and I really loved going to see him. Unfortunately he passed away, so I had to go back to my fear of dentist and only go to the ones who give me something before the shots start. My son has beautiful teeth today thanks to Dr. Mike.
 

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