Dentists
 

:#1:

Can anyone recommend a good dentist?

Re: Dentists
 

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.

Re: Dentists
 

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

Re: Dentists
 

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.

Re: Dentists
 

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

Re: Dentists
 

:)

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

Re: Dentists
 

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!!

Experience With Village Dental
 

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.

Re: Dentists
 

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.

Re: Dentists
 

Re: Dentists
 

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......

Re: Dentists
 

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.

Re: Dentists
 

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.

Re: Dentists
 

;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.

Re: Dentists
 

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

Re: Dentists
 

I sure would hope that Village Dental would reply to some of these posts. Do they even know about them? I would hope somebody would tell them.

Re: Dentists
 

Any dentist with a "Drive through"?? That way I can just drop the teeth off and pick up the clean teeth at the next window! :joke: :joke:

Re: Dentists
 

:joke:Don't leave them with Village Dental..it will cost you $15,000. to get them back...every teeth will have a crown and they will be SPARKLING white.....and when you pay the bill, you will get a rose with it.
:arrow: :a20:

Re: Dentists
 

Kahuna, After all that i hate to ask what the cleaning did cost. I've got a dentist here in Birmingham that just because I have insurance want to push deep cleaning on me. Thanks for the info

Re: Dentists
 

Re: Dentists
 

Avista, you were not emphatic enough LOL. Dr. McNight was excellent and MARION DENTAL did not try to set me up with unneeded procedures. Prices were "reasonable" $650 for a crown. There can be a long wait for an cleaning but an emergency was "squeezed" right in.

Re: Dentists
 

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

I have been going to Dr Whitt for several years and after a VERY unpleasant experience I changed dentists. He did a small filling on the side of one of my molars and it fell out in a few days. I went back and he acted mad at me because the filling fell out. He proceded to grind on the tooth and I wanted to jump out of the chair and choke him it hurt so much. He did not use any anesthetic, but said just calm down I'm all done. He stuck the filling in and left the room. That tooth hurt for two weeks. My new dentist discovered a long standing area of decay under one of my caps. She said it had been developing a long time and now was not repairable.
She sent me to an endodontist in Ocala for evaluation and she said it had to be extracted. Her office specializes in root canals and tooth rebuilding. I had previously mentioned the problem of food catching between this molar and the next to Whitt and he said there was nothing he could do about it. If he saw this giant problem in any of the many x-rays he took he didn't do anything about it. Probably beyond his capability. Lots of luck with Dr Whitt. Next Tuesday I see Dr. Blanton, in Leesburg, an oral surgeon, to have a molar w/crown extracted. >:(

Re: Dentists
 

:agree: Same experience at THE VILLAGES DENTAL... one visit i need a crown because of a small crack in one of my front teeth, next visit.. never saw a thing.. The other thing.. is that they DO NOT GIVE GOOD INJECTIONS,,

We go to Dr. Bartling at Southern Trace... Very Good. BUT like all the rest EDXSPENSIVE $1100 for a crown.
All take your money up front and file insurance, when it comes back, they do not write of the difference, they just send you the check. AH... the good old days are gone.

Re: Dentists
 

Bump

Re: Dentists
 

My wife is a Dental Hygienist working in the SF Bay Area (which should be at least twice as expensive as FLA) and she said that Crowns here start at $900. She has already looked into working in her profession in TV but found that she would be paid about 25% of what she makes here.

Re: Dentists
 

When first moving to TV, my wife and I both went to Villages Dental. We both had the same experience as Villages Kahuna. Unbelievable experience. During our "come back appointment" they pushed for the movie star look. I actually lost my temper and asked them to confirm that there was an actual NEED for the work they suggested. When they would not confirm that there was a NEED, we got up and walked out. Never did return. They look upon each patient as a money pit. We were lucky to find a GOOD dentist who is not out to drain our bank account. This is not an easy task here in TV.

Re: Dentists
 

Became a patient of Marion Dental after moving to the Villages. 3 weeks after my appointment I had a very bad toothache. I called on 10/8 for an appointment. I was told I had to wait a week. If the pain was bad they'd send me pain killers. there are several dentists in the office but I would not be permitted to see any but the one I originally saw and he had no availability for a week. What a disgrace. what good is a dentist or doctor if they WON'T see you in an emergency!!!! Village Dental took me in immediately.

Re: Dentists
 

Dentists are not my favorite people so I needed to find someone who was caring and compassionate. We moved here in 1998 and went to Dr. Tawill out by the Lake Square mall until he started trying to sell us unneeded dental work at ridiculous prices. I switched to Marion Dental and us Dr. Hope....he is absolutely wonderful and actually remembers you even I usually only see him every months for a check-up. He told me at the first visit that he was here to make me happy, he wouldn't suggest anything like implants, etc. unless I asked him for it. I pay around $600 for crowns which I don't think is too high.

I highly recommend both the office - very friendly, helpful and Dr. Hope who is the greatest!

Re: Dentists
 

Phillis K: My Husband first went to the dentist at the Mulberry clinic, because that is who I could get into first and after checking with several others about the price for the
first visit and check up and clean, they were the cheapest.

My first appointment was lengthy but very thorough with exam, cleaning and x-rays which
most dentists do yearly. The dental hygenist there gave me and my husband the most
thorough cleaning that I have ever had.

The dentists in Leesburg quoted me over 265.00 for the first visit and Mulberry quoted
me l65.00 and that is what I was charged. The first visit was about 2 ours each and
thereafter has been about 35 to 40 minutes.

I have been very happy with them so far.

Re: Dentists
 

Even with the price of an airline ticket to go up north added to the cost of the dental work I still save a "bundle" by not going to any of the fools here. Boy, do they think we are all senile, or what?
When I was given one of those $22 K's quotes. I asked him if he thought I was the next Mrs Trump.

Re: Dentists
 

Same thing with The Village Dental. I had a quote from them of $20000 and had a beautiful job done elsewhere for less then half that price. Their prices are WAY out of line with others. I guess the rich people go there or maybe some just do not know they overcharge.
Donna

Re: Dentists
 

I use Heritage Dental on 441 across from Water Oak. Very caring people, the office staff and the hygenists are great. Both of the dentists are very well qualified and very good. I never got a bill because my dental insurance paid the costs. I highly recommend Heritage Dental.

Re: Dentists
 

As a recently retired D.D.S., who moved to TV a month ago, I would like to give some advice. If you have been routinely been going to a dentist over the years, and suddenly get a consultation that involves a quote for a lot of treatment, and a large $ figure, get a second opinion!! Stories such as those posted, are one of the major reasons I wanted out of my profession( I have wanted to be a dentist since 9th grade). Good look on getting a reasonable exam.

Re: Dentists, et al
 

Hmm... sounds like they're all going to the same "Improve Your Bottom Line" seminars. We have had a similar experience here in NH with the ridiculous charges and lame attempts at unnecessary work. VERY unprofessional IMHO. My dentist took me through the "deep cleaning" routine saying I must not have had my teeth cleaned for 2 or more years, even though they have been done every 6 months for years.

Then after my gum situation "didn't improve" I was referred to a periodontist who took one look and said "what are they talking about, your gums are fine". Of course, he still charged for the exam.

I finally caught on to the scam and will be leaving the office. May return to our old dentist and work in visits when returning to visit my primary care physician. His advice when he learned I was moving to FL was this:

"If you need a heart operation in FL, no problem, they're great with hearts. Otherwise, watch out"

Health care is obviously a dilema in FL.

Re: Dentists
 

I had a rather extensive procedure done by Dr. Kelly McKnight. It was painless and fairly priced. She is a very caring and personable person to deal with. Also, they submit your insurance for you. Barbara

Re: Dentists
 

Thanks. Skip. :bigthumbsup:

Re: Dentists
 

MaryKaydiva,
I went to Dr. Brignol, he was my first dentist when I moved here. What a disaster. He did a root canal, and only did 2 of the 4 roots, and never put medication in the tooth, and filled it wrong as well. I had to go to an endodontist (Dr. Whitt) to fix it, and he told me what a terrible job he had done (without really stating it) My insurance company made him return the money to me and reprimanded him. I then went to the other Dr. Whitt, (I think that they are cousins) and had a wonderful experience.
I guess dentists are just people, some days they have good days, and some days they have bad days, but for a dentist to return his fee to you, you know he must have known that he screwed up!
Sharon

Re: Dentists
 

Does anyone know anything about the dentist that will soon be opening up "Colony Dental" out in the new Colony Plaza by 466A? It is close to our house, but after hearing so many horror stories, I guess I need to research the topic of "dentist" a little more. I just figured that it you went to get your teeth cleaned, that is what they did and charged you the "going" rate (which I thought would be similar to what we pay in Ohio). Now after reading these posts, I guess that is not necessarily the case!

Mary Lou

Re: Dentists
 

Can you be a little more specific re: Oxford Dental. I have an appt. in 2 weeks. Chose them because they participate in a dental discount plan I am in. My nephew went to them for a cleaning, filling and a cap and was quite satisfied. Thanks.

Re: Dentists
 

I've been going to Dr. Whitt on 27/441 for three years now and I think he is wonderful. He never tries to push you into anything you don't need. Takes you in right away for emergencies and I feel he does not over charge for anything.