Plaza Family Dental in Carlsbad, CA
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 13:07This is a personal experience with this particular dentist office. I can’t speak for anyone else who uses them nor do I know that this experience has been repeated in other situations. We won’t go to them again to find out.
So I go to this dentist’s office today - Plaza Family Dental in Carlsbad, CA (north of San Diego) - and was immediately turned OFF. I should not have even bothered. I should have turned around and walked out. All of the patients appeared to be very low income or non-english speakers and I heard 4 arguments over payment plans and financial arrangements with the front desk in the time I sat in the waiting room - which wasn’t the greatest looking to begin with. But I didn’t. I shoved it all down inside and did it anyways.
The girl who did my x-rays was rude, sullen and had no concern for my comfort. About halfway thorough the x-rays, someone came back and modified my chart with insurance information - and all of the sudden she needed 10 additional x-rays. Shady. I should get the same level of care insurance or not. No?
So she finished and I sat and waited for a little while and the dentist came in. He didnt say much.. introduced himself (Dr. Welch) and started poking around. He found no cavities. None. Zero. And according to him, the x-rays didn’t show any cavities either.
To give you some history, I was told 6 years ago that I had small cavities that needed to be filled. I was pregnant though so they wanted to wait until after my son was born. I never got it done. I went to a new dentist last year who found the same cavities as well as an additional one. I didn’t have the money to get them filled though… so I waited. I KNOW I SAW the cavities on my last x-rays. I felt the metal tool stick at BOTH dentists offices. I HEARRyan the tool that shot sound into my tooth, to detect tiny cavities that might not be visible yet, find the cavities. After a few years, I started having difficulty eating sweet foods because it HURT. I’m POSITIVE they are there.
Now, on new insurance, I went to a new dentist KNOWING I needed to have these filled - and will all the insurance and money I needed to have it done. Back to the present day at Plaza Family Dental, I felt the tool stick twice, myself but he didn’t pause. He poked exactly 8 times and confirmed that nope, I do not have cavities. I insisted that he look again. He pried around a little more. He didnt believe me. He was condescending and told me I wanted to have cavities awful bad. He was defensive and flat out rude. I told them I would not be making a follow up visit for cleaning. I would be going elsewhere.
So the moral of this story is dont go to Plaza Family Dentistry in Carlsbad California (north of San Diego) Never. Don’t bother. I have called my old dentist for some recommendations of people in my area that he would trust and I’m checking Doctoroogle.com for reviews of dentists in the area and I’m starting from scratch.
Update: I found a wonderful dentist who found the exact same cavities in the exact same spots as the original 2 dentists. The dentist (Dr Welch) at Plaza Family Dentistry in Carlsbad was WRONG. Had I listened to him, me teeth would have continued to rot. Yay. I had the cavities filled and I have no more pain from eating sweet food. Let the chocolate eating commence! :) As a side note, Plaza Family Dental also filed my insurance incorrectly - TWICE - so it was a pain to deal with that - and even dealing with Plaza Family Dentistry to get copies of my x-rays after the fact was a pain. They didn’t have them ready when they said they would and when they finally had them ready (and called me to tell me they were ready), two weeks later when I wanted to pick them up, they told me they werent actually ready - but she could get them done in the 15 minutes before I got there. So why the heck the two week waiting period to get them!?
Also, check out my reviews of 3 other North County Dentists and Why Medi-Cal (or medicaid or denti-cal) and Dentists are a Bad Combination. And if you’re looking for a good dentist in North County, check out Daniel Charlton DDS, Del Mar CA.
Claire says:
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:53 pm
Please let me know of any good dentists you know of in the North County area, meaning honest and compentant. Not too many. If you have an HMO insurance plan they will cheat you to make up for the low reimbursement.
Carrie says:
June 24th, 2005 at 9:10 am
I found a really good one in Del Mar. It’s worth the 20 minute drive to me. I’ll email you with his info.
Judy says:
September 13th, 2007 at 9:00 am
I am having trouble with Plaza Family Dental- Have been for 15 years now but thought I had no choice with an HMO!
I know this was 2 years ago for you- they are better than they used to be, but who are you seeing in Del Mar?
Carrie says:
September 17th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I am apparently not the only person who had trouble with Plaza Family Dental in Carlsbad. http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3710980735
Please do leave me a comment if you want the name of the dentist I go to.. he is awesome. My whole family goes there now and we get top notch care. I have never had a complaint about him or his staff at all in two years between myself, my hubby and my two kids.
Jane says:
December 17th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Hi,
Can you please tell me who the dentist in Del Mar is? I also went to Plaza Family Dental in Carlsbad and it was HORRIBLE!!!!! Thank you!
Carrie says:
December 17th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
A couple people have asked so i guess i could post it. :)
Dr Charlton
(858) 481-8848
13983 Mango Drive Suite 101
Del Mar, CA
Incredible service, knows what he’s doing, great staff, comfortable.
Bill says:
February 13th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
This is not a coincidence. They did a bait and switch with virtually everything on my insurance rate chart- meaning everything was at least double the cost. They also rushed through my complete exam in 3 minutes. The office staff ignores you even if your standing right in front of them for half an hour and has serious attitude. Do not walk- run away from Plaza Family Dental.
Karmic Konsumer - Dentist Reviews - Bad Experiences with : Richard Tannyhill, Roland Buyama and Jeffry Fabie says:
May 12th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
[...] developed six cavities in six months? Wow.. this is starting to sound eerily like my experience at Plaza Family Dental, who wanted to charge me for filling cavities that didnt exist. The poor screaming three year old [...]
Karmic Konsumer - Why Medi-Cal (or medicaid or denti-cal) and Dentists are a Bad Combination says:
May 14th, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] the past, I have written about a few really bad personal dental experiences (here and here). In all of these experiences, I noticed a differing level of service for people with and without [...]
Karmic Konsumer - Daniel Charlton DDS, Del Mar CA says:
May 14th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
[...] found Daniel Charlton at Del Mar View Dental Care after a bad experience with another dentist. I recently told them they were priceless - and I meant [...]
Carey says:
May 10th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
I would rather have a tooth pulled by a Car Salesman than go to Plaza Family Dental. The dentist seemed more interested in going to lunch. He missed a triple cracked tooth until I called it to his attention, after which he said I needed a crown. Their office refused to do a regular cleaning (I’m 54 yrs. old and never needed more), their estimate overcharged for the crown based on insurance rate; and the deep cleaning was padded with non-covered charges for irrigation, antibiotic injection, etc. The last straw was when they billed me an extra $5 for “Observation” in the routine exam.
loriw says:
May 19th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
I just got home from a cleaning with Dr. Murphy and a rude hygienist. I don’t really care the Murphy has the personality of a dish rag, but this is the roughest cleaning I’ve ever had. I’ve had the deep cleanings where they use the high pressure water instrument and some kind of sharp tool, and it has never been this rough, plus I got a shower, water spraying all over my face, wet hair and he didn’t even get all the stain off my teeth. I asked the hygienist who was there to finish the job about getting the rest of the stain, but she said my teeth were too crowded and they couldn’t get in there. Strange because every other dentist I’ve ever been to has been able to “get in there.” The first time I went to see him and I got some fillings between the gum and the root where my gums are receding. It was never smoothed out properly and has bugged me for the last four months so I asked him buff it down and he thought was rough filling was done by some other dentist. The only barely nice people in the office are the ones scheduling the appt and giving the estimates. On top of all this the estimates I got were way off and I had to pay a lot more than I expected. I will never go back.