Highlands Ranch Smiles

Hello *** and ***, Thank you for informing me of this complaint. I have just received the email link today (it was sent to our executive assistant who is out on maternity leave). I will review this patient's case with my partner that was the treating doctor and we can respond
monday. I have left messages with *** but it sounds like I can just submit a response here electronically. Thank you for your patience and we will try to find a resolution quickly.Michelle H***

First of all, it saddens us to hear that Ms. [redacted] feels this way about her dental treatment with our office.  We enjoyed getting to know [redacted] and her family over the past few years and want the best for her.Our doctors and our team take great pride in providing great dental care to our patients.  Ms. [redacted]’s case was uniquely difficult because of her health problems.  Although our office typically has a fee associated with a cancellation within 48 hours, we always waived this fee for Ms. [redacted] in order to try to accommodate her special health circumstances.  She cancelled appointments on several occasions. Ms. [redacted] presented on May 22, 2014 with a chief complaint that she could no longer wear her dentures because a part to her implant had fallen out.  We ordered the part and replaced it for her.  Her existing denture did not attach to her implants and she wanted new dentures that would fit better. On May 29, 2014 we took the initial impressions for the custom fitting implant denture.   Due to the patient’s inability to return to our office because of her health problems, she wasn’t fitted for the denture until March 31, 2016, almost 2 years later.  We normally fit the dentures within 6 weeks.  The amount of bone loss that occurred during the time frame was extensive, so much that Ms. [redacted]’s implants fell out of the bone.  The shape of the patient’s mouth was completely different from when the impressions were made.  It would have been impossible for us to predict that Ms. [redacted]’s health would keep her from returning for 2 years or that her health concerns would result in the extensive bone loss.  We feel that we, nor the dental lab, are at fault regarding the fit of the denture. Despite this, we still wanted to give Ms. [redacted] a denture that would serve her well, so we did a free complimentary reline of the denture to allow it to fit well to her new bone structure. Dr. M[redacted] spent many hours helping Ms. [redacted] fit this denture, despite repeated last-minute cancellations from the patient.  We purchased and used specialized implant parts and we had our lab make a custom denture.  We never charged Ms. [redacted] any additional costs for the extra visits with our doctors and team or lab costs.  During these visits, Ms. [redacted] gave no indication that she felt the denture never fit or that she was unhappy; in fact she seemed very happy with the new dentures and always left smiling.  Over the last year and a half Ms. [redacted] has had additional bone loss and her dentures are again loose.  During her most recent visit with us, this was the chief complaint, and our recommendation was to reline the denture to refit it to the new shape of her mouth.  Our team reviewed the associated fee and proposed a 50% discount, essentially to cover our lab fees and materials.  Once presented with the adjusted fee, Ms. [redacted]’s daughter became angry and stated she thought it should be free, and that her mom was never happy with the denture.  Her daughter threatened a negative review if we did not do it for free.  Ms. [redacted] never personally voiced her displeasure; her daughter spoke completely on her behalf.  This was relayed to Dr. M[redacted].  This was the first time Dr. M[redacted] heard that Ms. [redacted] was unhappy and upon reflection of the unique circumstances of this case, she decided that she would like to do the reline at no charge to help Ms. [redacted].  She called that evening and left a message to call us back to come to a resolution.  We never heard from either Ms. [redacted] or her daughter.  Dr. M[redacted] made another call a few days later.  A few months later, a negative review was posted.  Dr. M[redacted] again called to try and resolve this issue but we still have not heard from the family. It saddens us to hear the recount of the patient’s experiences at our office through this complaint.  It is upsetting to us that she chose not to account for the important factors of time, illness, and significant bone loss that played a part in the outcome of this case.  We had no control over any of these factors, yet attempted to overcome them for the benefit of Ms. [redacted].  Despite feeling that we did nothing wrong in this case, that we in fact went above and beyond for [redacted], we care more about Ms. [redacted]’s happiness and would rather refund her payment than argue over these details.  Please see attached patient ledger - a total of $5,671.80 was paid by Ms. [redacted] for this service due to a discount that was given.  We are willing to offer a full refund.  This means that Dr. M[redacted] will have donated several hours of time with the patient and the practice will have lost money on the materials, expensive implant parts and a large lab bill.  We hope this will be seen as a goodwill gesture to Ms. [redacted] so that she can move forward and pursue dental comfort and health as she sees fit.