General Practitioner - Jersey City, NJ

"She is costing me $2,600 out of pocket expense to pay another dentist to fix a botched root canal she performed. She fractured my back molar when she placed the post. This should have just been a filling replacement. I went in to replace a filling that came out. She tricked me into doing root canal that I don't believe she is qualified to do. I asked how much out of pocket I would have to pay for the whole procedure (meaning root canal/post/crown). She stated that it was covered 100%. No out of pocket expense except for my $50 deductible. I was surprised and said, are you sure, everything? She said yes, and that I had very good insurance. This conversation happened while I was sitting in the chair waiting to get the work done. I believed her explanation as to why I needed the root canal, so I let her do the root canal even though my tooth didn’t hurt at all. When I came back for the post and crown, she then told me that it was a separate charge. I told her, "I specifically asked you for the total of the whole job telling you I did not have the extra funds to pay for this." She then started talking to me to explain the separate costs. I told her, this is why I double checked with you before I let you do the work. I know the steps that need to be taken for a complete root canal. You said everything was covered. She just said sorry, misunderstanding. I then asked how much the remainder cost would be to finish the work. She quoted me $91. I said fine, just do it then. As she was doing the post, she told me that they now had to check the fee schedule for the crown. Again, I said, I just asked you for the remaining total. What is going on??? She again said sorry and asked her receptionist to check the fee schedule. The receptionist gave her the number is Spanish, which I understand to a certain extent. (I am not Hispanic) The number she gave her was the same number I told her I couldn’t afford in the beginning. As soon as the receptionist told her the number, Dr. Reyes told me that my bite was so low that I only needed the post and not the crown. (very sloppy work) At this point, I just wanted to get out of the office. As I was paying for the post, I asked the receptionist for the cost of the crown again just to make sure I heard it right. As she was looking for the paper where she wrote it down, Dr. Reyes was on the side telling her in Spanish not to tell me. That I didn’t need to know. She repeated herself 3-4 times, but the receptionist gave me amount anyway. It was the same number I heard. I obviously decided to go to another dentist to get the work completed. I asked for my X-rays from Dr. Reyes and she gave me a very hard time obtaining them. She would not release them to me until I made another appointment with her so she could check her work again. I made the appointment just so I could get my X-Rays, but I will NEVER go back to her. "