Racism in Orange County in the Dental Practices?

I’d visit a dental office located in Laguna Niguel www.aestheticdentaldesigns.net called the office and explained to the office personal that I was just released from the Mission Hospital ER and I was suffering from servere tooth pain and was told that I needed a root canal from the ER Physician. I asked the receptionist over the phone if the dentist specialized in root canals and the office gal put me on hold, came back to the phone and stated yes that they specialized treating patients with root canals, she went on to say, if this is an emergency that I can be seen the same day.


When I arrived to the Dental office, the appearance of the office looked very exotic with a fancy construction build out something that reminded of a Star Trek movie. I’d notice the Dentist running around in the hall way making copies of documents while I was being entertained by his staff. I was called into a room 20 minutes from waiting in the lobby for X-rays. The technician asked where was I experiencing the most pain and she took X-rays of just three teeth and not the full mouth.


Within 35 minutes, the second gal who was the receptionist walked into the room. Before any treatments or X-ray explanations she begins a sentence with “She did not know what I could afford?” Apprehensively , she begin explaining the findings of the X-ray taken of the three teeth, however I could not understand what she was trying to convey because of her lack of experience reading X-rays. After not understanding the receptionist I’d demanded to speak to the dentist. The dentist finally walked into the room 25 minutes later with a nasty deposition and handed me a flyer of an African American boy who died of rotten teeth. I begin asking questions about the findings of the X-rays, and the dentist responded with a nasty smirk; his actions gave an impression as if he didn’t want to treat, or touch an African American.


He went on to explain the X-rays, and suggested that I should seek another dentist for general treatments and recommended that I should see a dentist that specialized in root canals. I’d asked the dentist for a prescription for pain the dentist in return begins to ask allot of unusual questions as if I was a street person who was a drug user. He hesitated to write the prescriptions and stated that he doesn’t get involved with giving patient prescriptions to medications. He continued to push the flyer in my face of the African American boy who died of rotten teeth because his mother could not afford dental insurance. The dentist went on to say that I would need a crown after the root canal and can be seen by any dentist! I begin asking the dentist about his fees concerning crowns, the dentist assumed because I was African American that I could not afford his dental services and printed an extra nominal fee of $2,200 per crown. His office charged me a consulting fee, close to $200 bucks for No treatment and phony Xrays.

Racism in Orange County in the Dental Practices?
well they sound very unprofessional and would be wise to not go back to them fools, but why would you goto an ER for tooth pain in the first place. hmm
Reply:Oh I am so sorry this happened to you. Remember you live in OC and as you know we are known for being "sue-happy" but this is a definite case for a law suit. I cannot believe this dentist would act in such an unprofessional manner %26amp; to top that, I don't understand why you paid him the $200--I would have walked out. You should definitely demand your money back and take this to the medical board he can get in some serious trouble by being discriminatory. He was completely out of line %26amp; you did not deserve this treatment at all.





I really hope that you pursue this and take action, remember if this happened to you then it is going to happen to others as well. You can be the first to put a stop to it. Age, race, color discrimination is illegal in any field, and that most definitely includes dentistry.





On a lighter note I hope your tooth is feeling better...get well soon!