Where did you go? I also do no want to go back to Colony.

Ohiobuckeye
 

I hear what your saying. When we lived in Ohio, then TV & last Texas. The first thing they said I needed was a deep cleaning which my Ins. did pay. They have to numb you up first & they only do half your teeth then in a week the other half of your mouth. Then after about a month they do a reg. cleaning, why? Next time they tell me I have get a deep cleaning I think I’m going to tell them, NO just a reg. cleaning. Even if my Ins. does pay for it I’m not going to make Lexus payment for the dentist & if he refuses which I don’t think he will refuse to but do a reg. cleaning, we have hundreds of other dentist in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area. PS: Oh yea they wanted me to come back every 3 months for a reg. cleaning but my Ins. only pays for cleanings every 6 months. But they agreed! I’m almost 73 yrs. old. My teeth are perfect except for the normal wear that old age gets!

We tried a local dentist and the up-sell efforts were constant and intense. After growing tired of this routine we sought out a traditional dentist and found exactly that with Dr Herb Bennett in Leesburg. No pressure, gentle advice, and proceeds with your choices. Friendly office staff (very rare these days) and ultra sonic cleaning tools. We highly recommend his practice.

Find a dentist outside the the bubble.

352-748-7645 dentist in Oxford just 200 yards on right north of 466 on 301. Old office, reasonable pricing. I’ve had two implants and bridges at different times and both around 5 k each. They back their work up also.

Had my teeth deep cleaned after five years! $93. Took a good hour.

Deep cleaning?
 

My dentist never ever recommended a deep cleaning for me. I don’t know what it entails.
I use DDS Edwards and Dental assistant Dondra for cleaning at Marion Dentists on 441, and get fair price and outstanding care. I use Sensodyne toothpaste and I brush at least twice a day and use floss to remove tartar or debris. No new cavities since i moved here 2018 PLEASE AVOID THOSE OTHER HIGH PRICE FOOLS.

Deep Cleaning?
 

My daughter is a dentist and she warned me when we moved here that because of the aging demographic in The Villages we'd be offered unnecessary expensive procedures. She did warn me that counties in the Villages don't use Fluoride in the water and that might be the only "extra" I'd need, but that Fluoride tooth paste is quite effective. Luckily I'm a snowbird so I go back to New York to have dental work. I think we're sitting ducks for all sorts of scams - ops "extras" - if we're not careful.

I’d be willing to bet that your experience was at Villages Dental. Those guys are well-known for their “free” initial exam, and then multiple recommendations for dental work. In my case they recommended all that stuff they thought you should have, plus five crowns. Total initial estimate of costs? $18,000.

Needless to say I found another dentist here. When I checked back with my dentist up north, he just shook his head. He told me that his policy was to fix only what was broken or about to break. Villages Dental wanted to put my teeth back to looking like a 25-year old TV star.

Keep looking. There are lots of dentists who follow a different business model than Villages Dental.

I hope you will find this helpful - my recently retired husband was a dentist for 38 years. I worked in the front office for many of those years. His practice philosophy was keeping his patients healthy. He constantly kept up with continuing education and updated equipment that would be the most beneficial for his patients. Our new patient exam was 2 hours long and incredibly thorough. He would absolutely NEVER recommend any treatment that wasn’t necessary. That would be unethical. What is so difficult when you become a new patient is developing a level of trust with your new dentist. We would sometimes have new patients come in believing that they were in great shape when in fact they had serious periodontal disease or a host of other issues. And really how would the average person know? You have a level of trust with your previous dentist and you believe you are receiving the best care when in fact, you may not. I’m just saying that you may not want to just assume that the new office is being unethical. Periodontal issues can occur at any time, particularly as it had been a while since you had your last cleaning and exam. There is a very big difference between a “regular” cleaning and scaling & root planing. And after the scaling & root planing, usually you will need a 3 month interval for regular cleanings. The goal is to keep your natural teeth. (It is also much more expensive to replace teeth than to have appropriate care for your natural teeth.) Also, cleanings are not usually done at the new patient exam because not everyone needs the same kind of cleaning and they take different amounts of time. And one last thing - your insurance will not require you to have scaling and root planing because it was recommended. I hope this has been a little bit helpful! Good luck!

A true “deep cleaning”…root plane and curettage…requires local anesthesia.

I also use Heritage Dental. They have a unique plan. $24 per month which includes two cleanings a year, one set of x rays and 15% off any dental work. They did try to upsell me to a periodontal plan when I informed them I had gum disease and surgery back in the 80's. They pushed to the point I was annoyed, but I said no, and that was pretty much the end of that. Unless you have bleeding gums, 5mm depth is not that bad. On the advice of my periodontist back in Massachusetts, I use an additional electric brush with a pointed end to massage the gums in between my teeth, and that made a huge difference in closing the deep gum depths.

Deep Cleaning!!!
 

My regular dentist retired, and the guy who replaced him quoted me $4300 for a bridge. I have AARP Medical insurance & received a note from them that I had Dentegra dental insurance. After searching online for a dentist (not Aspen), I found one in TV who did my Bridge at a much lower price. I told them I needed my teeth cleaned, and the hygienist did the panorama, cancer check, & pocket checks. I had told them from day 1 that I did not believe in "deep cleanings" & I would get my teeth cleaned 3 times a year instead of twice. When I arrived for my cleaning, I was told that they would only deep clean my teeth and not just do a "regular cleaning". I didn't even stay long enough to find out the cost and left the office. Made an appointment at my old dentist office for a cleaning, told the hygienist my tale of my experience at the other office. She informed me that I was also due for bitewing x-rays, and after looking at them, she & the new dentist told me that I needed a deep cleaning, and they wanted to x-ray each individual tooth at a cost of $500 before they would do a deep cleaning. Talked to my sister in Ohio this morning who goes to a Periodontis for her deep cleanings, and she only pays $150 once a year for a deep cleaning of her entire mouth.

I tried several dentists in the Villages. Each and every one of them did the probing.

Interestingly enough, I have never had another dentist, except around the Villages, ever do that. It is painful and they really do not need to do it to determine if your gums are receding. I still use a dentist up north. I told them about the universal use of that very painful probing tool by the hygienist (not the dentist). When I used a dentist in Fort Lauderdale, I told them about the probing. They also said it was unnecessary. I am beginning to wonder if the dentists around the Villages are just quacks!

I’ve just returned from my 11:30 dentist appointment at Dental Care on Fennell, near Miller’s Ale House and Mission Barbecue just off 466. The $79 cleaning, x-rays, and exam in the ad so many of us received in our mailboxes is just a come-on to get people in the door. If you insist on that deal without using insurance, you will get a very limited number of x-rays and perhaps a less thorough cleaning. I was told, “Let us bill your insurer and you’ll get a lot more and you’ll pay less.”They ended up charging about $300, of which I paid $50.

On the other hand, I liked my hygienist—a pleasant young African-American woman in a head-covering, and I thought she did a thorough and painless cleaning. The x-rays were more elaborate than I’d ever seen (a panoramic view, a 360° view, and 18 individual x-rays), and she also took closeup photos of the crown of each tooth—new to me.

I also liked the young Ecuadorean-American dentist, though he kept saying “awesome” and “perfect” about, say, a missing filling in a broken tooth—neither awesome nor perfect (why do young people keep saying that?).

Replacing the missing big filling in a molar next week will cost $1200, of which I have to pay $622, with my insurance paying the rest. I have no idea whether that is reasonable.

Everything at Fennell Dentistry seems to be state of the art, and I suppose that accounts for the cost. I was pleased with the people and the standard of care, and I’ve already scheduled my next cleaning. No one suggested that I get a “deep cleaning” or “Invisalign” braces. I was also there for 90 minutes, all told. As I said, they were thorough. It’s quite possible that the owners have read a book about how to increase profits in a dental practice, but I didn’t think I was being pressured, and when I refused a fluoride spray after my cleaning, it was cheerfully removed from the bill I saw in advance. (I’d never seen an itemized bill in advance that tells me exactly what the insurer will pay ant what I will pay and what it would cost without insurance. I wish that were provided in doctors offices). This approach isn’t new. (When you go to a chiropractor and are urged to purchase unneeded vitamins or herb tea, that’s because the chiropractor read articles an how to maximize profits.)