Post Falls Family Dental Center, PA

In response to the complaint from Ms. [redacted]: When Ms. [redacted] telephoned our company she specifically asked how much it would cost to have her three year old son's teeth cleaned.  Our response was that our fee for a child prophylaxis was $79.00, and that the Doctor may decide that...

radiographs be taken at an additional fee and that the child would also need to have an exam done by the Doctor.  She was also informed that if the child allowed us to do any treatment that we would also recommend a flouride treatment at an additional fee.  We would never see a patient under the premise that we would only be doing a cleaning and that's it.  It is the standard of care to not only do a prophylaxis, but to also do recommended radiographs and an exam when seeing a new patient.  She stated to my receptionist that her child had an exam previously and I can't imagine any Doctor performing a cleaning without doing an exam.  I'm not sure where the confusion came from when the dental hygienist informed the mother that Dr. [redacted] would be coming in to do the exam and that he recommends a flouride treatment in addition to the cleaning.  Dr. [redacted] did not recommend any radiographs due to the age of the patient.  If I were taking my child to the Doctor or Dentist I would surely know that the $79.00 I was quoted for the cleaning was just for that and any additional treatment performed would incur an additional fee.  Standard informed consent allows the Doctor to perform services that are in line with the current standard of care.   We even offered to write off 30% off of the price of the cleaning in an effort of good faith.  I understand that there are people that are very cost conscious living in this area, I have been a member of this community for 24 years.  I also understand that in my 24 years of dental practice that neither myself or my staff have ever deliberately misquoted or deceived a patient about the cost of services we provide.  We take pride in the fact that our business is a community leader and has been actively involved in our community for 24 years.  We are more that happy to write off the remainder of the $64.30 that Ms. [redacted] owes us, not because we did anything wrong, but because it is not worth our time to have an upset patient or, certainly, a public complaint against our sterling reputation.  I have attached a copy of Ms. [redacted]'s account.Sincerely,[redacted] D.D.S.