Know an honest Dentist? (Phoenix, Scottsdale: sales, lease, home)

[twiggy]

Originally Posted by cxray

What is Southwest dental? Is it a franchise or a group of local Ahwautukee dentists that formed a corporation? They don't order un-necessary X-rays or find 10 cavities after having none just a year ago.

When I went in each time there was not even a sell for a full set of x-rays . They just dealt with the tooth I went in for. I don't think they are a franchise.

[CheyDee]

I absolutely love my dentist, Dr. Bryce Justesen, on E. Brown Road in Mesa. He is honest, kind, painless and very reasonably priced. (He has a solo practice with a modest outer office and no fish tanks to pay off.) He has always made time to see me when I "needed" him, even when I have called rather last minute. He is so good, I would even drive interstate if I had to in order to see him.

[Magnum Mike]

I know about as many honest detists as I know honest lawyers..

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Do any of you know a dentist who is honest and isn't one of those who demands that you have work done or whitening. I'm sick of the salesy and dishonest dentists here.[/quote]


Can't tell you of any honest dentist. I take what most people tell me with a grain of salt. You are right about some Dentist. I changed Dentist a few years back. With me I have never had a cavity in 42 years. My wisdom teeth grew in strait. My last Dentist told me that I have a full compliment of teath and they are all in strait. Never had a problem.

Ended up needing a new Dentist. This one wanted to take out my wisdom teeth. I asked why. He told me they could give me problems down the road. I told him that I have had them for over 20 years and they have been fine so far. He then said that they are hard to clean. I told him that if he couldn't handle the job maybe I needed to see another Dentist.

We realy need to question our healthcare providors or get a second oppinion about things. Trust your instincs. Sorry that I can't help you find a Dentist.

[GT350]

Originally Posted by cxray

Is Dr. Judd aggressive? Does he try to sell you bleaching trays or Zoom?

No..never been asked...

[GT350]

Stay away from Gilbert Family Practice. They offered a free whitening with a cleaning. They cleaned my teeth and wanted to do another $3500 of work that I just had done 6 months prior and until that work was done, no free whitening.. When I walked out I told everyone in the waiting room...this place is a scam shop....

[AZHawkeye]

Hello, I am a dental hygienist and I work for Warren Family Dentistry on 32nd St. and Tatum in N. Phoenix( I recommend Dr. Warren or Dr. Kurt Rowe). We have a nice, clean up to date office that is not super fancy and I do not think any of the dentists I work for recommend unnecessary treatment. As far as whitening goes, we do have Zoom in our office, but we do not push it on people. Most often people ask me about it if they are interested. We usually take a full set of xrays every 3-5 years and the cavity detection xrays once a year on patients. I wouldn't go to an office that didn't do this. It is all about standard of care. However, some people are willing to receive low quality care in order to save a few bucks. We base our treatment plans on reading the xrays and baseline assessments, not on how much money we can get from the patient.

If you needed a "deep cleaning" that would be based on bone loss shown on xrays and pocket depths during probing. Do your gums bleed when you brush or floss? 3 out of 4 people have periodontal disease and do not realize it is related to heart disease. There is also no pain associated with periodontal disease. The mouth is connected to the rest of the body.

To the poster re: the wisdom teeth. As far as wisdom teeth go....most often, these days, they are recommended to be pulled. I agree with the dentist...they cause nothing but problems. I have never seen a wisdom tooth without a cavity, filling in it or some perio disease. They are difficult to clean for the dentist/hygienist and patient. In most cases they are useless teeth.

Anyway, I will get off my soapbox (can you tell I feel passionate about my career?) I wish you luck in finding a quality, dental office.

[joninaz]

Southwest Dental has 9 centers in AZ, so it seems a chain, though I'm not really sure if it's technically a franchise or exactly how the ownership is set up.

I've not been the biggest fan. First, they said I needed 2 implants and was told that my insurance covered it. So I had surgery to have 2 teeth removed and cartilage injected into the jaw, whereby you wait 6 months and then go in for a second surgery to have the implants put in. We were at this point when they told me insurance wouldn't cover that particular step and it would cost $2K+, which was a bit of a shock. Ultimately it's my fault for not double checking with my insurer, but it's a pretty generous plan overall and I thought Southwest had pre authorized the procdure as they have a billing specialist on site dealing with major plans all day. So now I have 2 missing teeth until I save up to pay for the rest of the procedure. They are both in the back, so it's not as bad as having a gaping smile, but still I was irritated.

The staff doesn't push stuff, but they have video screens on every chair that do. I HATE going to the dentist so initially I thought it was a cool feature - like we'd get to watch movies or music to take our minds of the dentistry work. Instead, the screen plays a continual loop of videos touting the latest procedures for every malady. So instead of being calmed and serene, I'm 100% focused on pictures of rotting teeth, diseased gums, foul mouths, etc. After a couple of visits I would actually turn the screen away or have them turn it off. I suppose it's a captive audience, but jeez - it's not like most of us aren't angst ridden enough!

[jco]

West Coast Dental is very good for that. We went to a dentist who diagnosed us with diseases and said they couldn't even do a cleaning and then said we needed two and three root canals. We went to West Coast Dental, and they cleaned our teeth and gave me one filling and gave my husband a special mouthwash for free and that was it!

[azkylady2]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

I know about as many honest detists as I know honest lawyers..

I have had a terrible time finding one good Dentist to stick with as well since moving here. I wore braces in my younger day and still have a retainer on my front teeth to keep them from ever having the gap I wore the braces for. So one Dentist here suggested To get rid of this retainer I should let him grind all my healthy teeth down and place on some vaneers for a movie star smile! at the tune of Thousands. This same Dentist actually refused to treat me unless I allowed them to do a full set of xrays every 6 months. well no thank you I moved on. Now I only go to a Dentist one time and I only go every 3 years because of Xray pressures, I don't know how else to beat the hard sell and keep fromm paying off the fish tanks, xray machines or the tooth whitner equipment.