Pioneer Dental, S.C.

We have been patients at Pioneer Dental since 2003. Through the years, we started questioning their procedures with billing and even wondering if there were unnecessary repairs being recommened. Every year, our insurance was utilized to the maximum and they made sure of it. Usually, we would receive a phone call about getting in to see the dentist before the insurance rolled over for the following year. To myself, it didn't matter if it rolled over and a balance was lost. Why spend it if you don't have to?

What I am about to tell you really made matters worse. On June 11, 2012, I took my children to see [redacted] and he diagnosed my son with 2 teeth that needed to have fillings put in. Therefore, according to [redacted], he had 2 cavities. There was an appointment scheduled to have the repairs completed in July. However, I was on vacation with my parents and my children at our lake home. We were only planning on staying for a week, but we had the opportunity to stay longer. This was over the time in which the appointment was scheduled for the cavity repair. As soon as I returned home, I phoned the office and apologized for the oversight and I was not treated kindly at all. They seem to have forgotten an appointment in which I was 3 minutes late for and the dentist said "too bad, reschedule."

Regardless, a few days later, I received a bill in the mail for a $30 charge for not attending the appointment. I have never agreed to something like this, nor have I ever heard of it. To my knowledge, a business can't just make up fees at it's convenience. I did not pay it and they did not dispute that I didn't pay it. Therefore, they obviously knew that it was wrong.

I then made the decision to change dentists. [redacted] was pulled out of school a half day in November to go to the new dentist office to have his cavities repaired. He was very anxious, but he knew he had to get this taken care of. I called after work to see how the appointment went and his father said, "Great!" I was shocked because I don't know of many children that enjoy having cavities filled. However, it went great because the dentist couldn't find ANY teeth with cavities. They even took an xray to be sure. [redacted] had every intention on filling two cavities in my son's mouth where there weren't any. This is unethical and I can't even imagine how many other patients he has done this to.

I then requested copies of all of our dental records. [redacted] records were picked up and we had to pay $25 for 12 copies of paper. It is obvious that there was a page put in out of place, and it is also obvious that he was charted as having 2 cavities. I am disgusted that a professional would even attempt to do this to a child and am also disgusted that we were charged $25 for [redacted] file. According to state law, a consumer cannot be charged more than $1.00/per copy up to 12 pages and after that it fluctuates. Again, more invented charges. I now have received a $75.00 bill for the other 3 files. I feel as though we have been taken advantage of and even more so, that my son was in danger of having unnecessary work done to his teeth.

I have contacted an attorney and we will be following through with that. I was advised to initially file this and two other complaints.