Cater Galante Orthodontic Specialists

Review: My son, [redacted] started seeing Dr. [redacted] and Dr. [redacted] when he was 7 yrs. old. They started the process of expanding his palate so there would be more room for his permanent teeth to come in. This was the first phase. The second phase started when he was almost 11 yrs. old. The Drs. gave us a choice of procedures, braces or visalign. They really pushed the visalign, trying to make me make this choice, because of the benefit of being able to remove the device and clean the surfaces of his teeth. My son was too young to be given this choice, and chose not to wear the device as advised. I went in with my son many times and told the Drs. of my problem, that I could not be around him 24 hrs a day to make him wear them. The visaligns had to be worn 23 hrs. a day to be successful. I started asking for braces instead of the visaligns, from the first visit, and they told me that he wouldn't be any better off because he would break wires and brackets. I paid over 5000.$ for the first process and over 5000.$ for the visaligns. Each time I would go in they would tell me they would not switch procedures. They also told me if I paid an extra 250.$ they could switch, but still they were never serious with me. [redacted] father died March 2012. My son now is 13. Dr. [redacted] told me when this happened to his father that he would replace braces at no charge, but still would not make any moves for this to happen. I walked out of the office many times very disappointed. Since [redacted] father died, I could not afford to live in California any longer, so we moved to Phoenix, AZ. I had to pay another Orthodontist 4000.$ to have braces put on. This orthodontist told me that Dr. [redacted] and Dr. [redacted] should never have put visaligns on a child at such a young age and that he was not even a candidate for them. I tried talking to the Drs. after the move and Dr. [redacted] said he never told me that he would put braces on [redacted] and that it was just my problem to deal with.

Product_Or_Service: Visalign braces

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

I took the whole set of visaligns to the office and told them that he was wearing braces now, at an extra expense to me, and that he was wearing them very well. We are successfully moving his teeth, thanks the the orthodontist in Phoenix. We went through a very long period of time working with [redacted] and [redacted], which could have been resolved while we were still living there, if they had only worked with me. I paid in total over 10,000.$ to the Drs. and would like some refund money.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

We understand your frustration with your son's non-compliance with his Invisalign aligners. We have successfully treated over 1000 patients with Invisalign and the vast majority of our patients are very compliant and wear their aligners as prescribed, 22 hours per day. During your initial consultation, you chose the Invisalign over the braces as you were very aware of the benefits for your son.. ie, less pain, better oral hygiene and no restrictions on food. Our patients are always given options with information that allows them to decide what is best for them and their family. We never force anyone into a particular appliance choice. The patient or parent has the ultimate decision. You chose Invisalign and signed all the required documentation to begin his treatment. Once we got started with treatment, there were appointments where he was doing well with the aligners and others where he needed to wear them more hours per day. We had several consultations with you, your son and even his uncle and the conclusion was that he was going to start wearing them full-time as prescribed. The question of placing braces came up right before you had informed us that you were moving to Phoenix. While we would have looked into placing braces, you were leaving town in less than 2 weeks and had agreed to continue with Invisalign at that time (in fact your brother was present at this consultation and he agreed to help see that your son wore his aligners). In fact, we actually made another entire set of new Invisalign aligners that were expedited so that your son could get them before you left for Phoenix.(Getting Invisalign Aligners this quickly required us to pull some strings as this is not customary for patients to receive them this quickly.) We had agreed that he would wear the Invisalign and we would continue to see him for follow up visits when you were back in town visiting family and friends. Our understanding was that you were continuing with the Invisalign and we were going to continue his treatment or we would refer you to another Invisalign Elite Provider (like us) to continue his treatment in Phoenix. (There are a number of Elite Invisalign Providers that we would have referred you to who would have taken his case over.) However, if you chose to continue with us, it is not out of the ordinary with our Invisalign patients. We have patients currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, away at college, on extended business trips etc... and we are able to continue to move their teeth effectively and efficiently with Invisalign. That is one of the many advantages of this appliance. We had no idea that you were going to take him to another orthodontist and place braces on him. That was entirely your decision. Regarding the current orthodontist who said he was too young. We disagree and find that our young patients are even more cooperative with their aligners than some of our adult patients. Unless the orthodontist specializes in Invisalign, they often do not know how to treat children, teens or even adults with this specialized appliance. Regarding a refund for the aligners. Unfortunately, since the aligners are custom made, we cannot re-use the aligners and do not offer refunds for un-worn Invisalign. Furthermore, you are inaccurate regarding the amount you have spent for your son's first and second phase of treatment. Despite the inaccuracy of your claim, we were more than willing to continue your son's treatment with Invisalign, but you choose to seek out the services of another Orthodontist without consulting us or even requesting previous orthodontic records. Most offices would have requested previous orthodontic records and we would have had an opportunity to discuss your son's case with your new orthodontist. We do wish you and your son all the best with his current orthodontic treatment.