[jjdees]

:#1:

Can anyone recommend a good dentist?

[Talk Host]

There are lots of good dentists around. I know the quandary in picking one. We use Dr. Kelly Leaird in the professional office building just to the north of Home Depot behind the Bank of America. He is a very pleasant, thorough young man. His office staff is very efficient and caring as well.

[family]

Marion Dental Clinic - Dr. Walters
Been going to him for 4 years. Great!

[PJ]

I like Dr. Don Burbank at 307 LaGrande Blvd. 753-5789. He and his staff are very professional, and seem careful, which is very important to me.

[pmurph1]

Try Mark Ross He is a Villages resident and my wife and I and local family use him. Painlessly so far.

[jstwatchng]

We use J. Michael Whitt on 441 in Lady Lake, he is really good also!

[dcknancy]

All dentists in The Villages area are overcharging...if they had Medicare putting a limit on their charges as they do with doctors and hospitals, some of these dentists would either quit or start charging reasonable prices. Last week an elderly gentlemen friend of mine was charged $265, yes $265 for one filling. Isn't that ridiculous!!

[Villages Kahuna]

Here's a straightforward description of my experience with Village Dental (offices on 466 and 441). Readers can draw their own conclusions.

I researched the dentists practicing in TV thoroughly. I concluded the dentists at Village Dental were extremely well qualified and best fit my needs. I made an appointment. When asked why I had made an appointment, I explained that I needed a six-month check-up, cleaning and that I had a chip on a lower front tooth that I thought might require some modest bonding.

When I arrived for my appointment, there were three ladies behind the marble-topped reception desk with fresh roses in a vase. I checked in and sat down in the comfortable leather sofas to watch CNN on the big screen plasma TV. I was ushered in for my appointment promptly.

My first stop was with a dental technician who gave me an examination unlike any I had ever experienced. Digital x-rays were taken from every angle including a panoramic view, digital photographs were taken of every tooth as well as my "smile". It was thorough and exceedingly complete. I was impressed.

Next I was ushered into the dental hygenist's office. The hygenist, with an assistant, first performed a periodontal exam, where three measurements were taken of every tooth prior to cleaning. Following that exam, the hygenist told me that I probably should have a "deep cleaning". When I asked what that was, she explained that it was a series of three visits where under anesthesia, some deep scraping was done of the teeth below the gum line. She said the cost would be $900. She then performed a complete cleaning of my teeth.

I was then ushered into the dentist's office. After his two assistants got me into the chair and ready for his arrival, he came in. He quickly looked at my x-rays and photographs and began to explain that my teeth had "100,000 miles on them" and needed maintenance to assure their continued health and avoidance of unexpected cracks or breaks which almost certainly would be painful and would require dental surgery. He then did a very quick inspection of my teeth and told me that I could discuss my further treatment plan with another person, I think she had a title like "Patient's Advocate", or something like that.

I spent about a half hour with her where she went over all my x-rays and photographs--they're all digital, so they were right there on her computer monitor--and explained in detail what they recommended as a treatment plan for me. The bottom line on that is that, following the $900 deep cleaning, they would make appointments for the installation of $17,000 worth of crowns on my teeth. At no point in our conversation did any one ever mention the repair of the chipped front tooth that caused me to make an appointment in the first place.

I left the office without making any future appointments. I have since had an appointment with my long-time dentist "up north". He saw a need for only one crown, and even then he thought it was optional for awhile. I chose to have it installed. He saw no need for a periodontal deep-cleaning.

So at this point I still have my dentist up north, but have decided to continue my research on dentists in TV. You draw your own conclusions.

[villages07]

Kahuna..... deja vu. Your experience exactly mimics what I found at Village Dental and what I've heard several other people say since then. I heard someone call them the "Star Wars" dentists because of all their high tech equipment. Granted, they've got the technology and the advanced skills, but they seem to routinely find $10,000+ worth of preventive work on every 50+ year old patient. Unfortunately, I fell for the deep cleaning ($1,200) pitch, and went for 4 sessions (total of maybe 4 hrs) almost exclusively with the hygienist. Hard to make that hourly rate compute. I have some dental insurance coverage, but, it barely made a dent in the fee. They found two microscopic cavities and wanted $360 to fill both. Needless to say, I'm now looking for another dentist. I've also heard that Dr Burbank is good.

[F16 1UB]

Holy :edit: I gotta show this to my wife. She works for a dentist. No not in TV. We're still "Up North".

Steve

[JohnZ]

I agree that dental fees should be reigned-in. How should this be accomplished and at what levels should fees be set? Medicaid currently sets fees and we can see clearly how well that works and how practitioners manage within that system. Two good riends of mine, one a physician and one a podiatric surgeon closed their practices when their malpractices premiums topped $100,000 per year. Walk out of med school with $200,000 in student loans, do a 4-5 year residency with a paltry income and start your real job at age 30 or so. That's a lot to recoup just to break even. When looking for parachutes and brain surgeons, beware of bargains. Now let's talk about lawyers......

[villager99]

i've gone to dr. don burbank for 8 years. golf cart accessible office, friendly professional staff,
prices comparable to what i paid up north.
options openly discussed for any treatment i needed.
i highly recommend him.

[zcaveman]

My Village Dental experience was similar to Kahuna. My wife went to Village Dental for the $79 Xray and checkup (all she wanted was a cleaning) and was told $25,000 to make her smile perfect. The cleaning was quoted at $1000.

She eventually went there for some crowns and fillings and it was $3100. My insurance company got me back $1800 of it.

I go to Lady Lake Dental (my dental plan). They keep you in the chair for a long time (3-4 hours) but they do the job.

[jtdraig]

;DVILLAGE DENTAL...LOL, my experience was EXACTLY as detailed above. My wife and I went through these supercalifragilisticexpialadocious XRAYS and then, to make the same long story short, had our interview with SuperTech who told me "what a good job I had done maintaining my dental hygiene" BUT I need a crown on almost every tooth and, by the way, the estimate was $12,000. My wife had the same deal and same speech and same cost. THEN came "THE CLOSER"...Dr. Farrell came in with a very serious face and re"capped" the same story except this time he leaned in close and said "Do you have money?". I was appalled. We decided that we would get a second opinion. We remained there through one other cleaning during which they tried to sell me teeth whiteners and reminded me that we needed many crowns. We left and never went back. We are still in search of a dentist that isn't selling crowns like a car dealer sells cars. They may be the highest dental tech practice in the world with dentists with more degrees than a compass but at the end of the day they are high pressure sales guys selling you crowns, teeth whiteners, and, when you leave, you get a rose with that bill. Me, I would stay clear of them.

[Avista]

Well, I am with Kelly McNight at Marian Dental in Laurel Manor. I don't believe she believes in fixing anything that doesn't need to be fixed. I'm new with her, but I experienced nothing like the above posts. Barb