Abe Bruce DDS

I had this procedure before with a different periodontist and it was awful. Dr Abe did such a good job. It was a gum graft on my front tooth and it’s not even noticeable now. He was very kind and patient with me. I would definitely refer him to friends. He does good work and he’s personable. I did have to pay a bit out of pocket but it was because it was a cosmetic procedure.

I had a very bad experience in Dr. Abe’s Office. His office gave me misinformation, causing me to acquire an unnecessary $ 282 bill, and then they didn’t accept responsibility for the misinformation that I was given. Here is my story:
I was referred to Dr. Abe, by my dentist, and I had some periodontal work done at the beginning of 2013. Dr Abe wanted to do my cleaning in January of 2014, so we could determine which teeth we were going to work on next. Even though Dr. Abe explained that it didn’t matter where I got my cleanings done at, I still requested a pre-​authorization for this cleaning, since it wasn’t at my regular dentist’s office, and I didn’t want to receive unexpected bill, that I couldn’t pay for.
Dr. Abe’s office called me back and told me they had received the pre-​authorization. They told me 4 cleaning had been approved since I was doing periodontal work. They said that 3 of the cleaning would be completely covered and the 4^th cleaning would cost a certain amount of money. Unfortunately for me, this was NOT true. The correct thing to have told me, should have been, that these cleaning were covered ‘assuming that I hadn’t reached my maximum allowance with my insurance.’ Those are 2 very different pieces of information.
My insurance covers 2 cleaning per year. I never requested additional cleaning, and I only requested that the cleaning being done at Dr. Abe’s office in 2014 be pre-​approved, but following what Dr. Abe’s office had told me, I had 1 cleaning done at Dr Abe’s office and 2 done at my dentist’s office. The 2^nd cleaning at my dentist’s office was not cover, and my dentist called me to pay them $ 282.
I figured that this had to be a problem with the insurance. I called them asking why they were not paying for a procedure they had pre-​approved. They said the procedure was not approved, gave me a long lecture about my benefits, and referred me back to Dr. Abe’s office.
I went down to Dr. Abe’s Office for an explanation of why they told me that these procedures were covered, when in fact they were not. I spoke with Christina, who in my opinion, expressed neither concern nor empathy for my situation. She refused to acknowledge the point that I was trying to make, about what they told me. She just deflected my statement with an explanation of my benefits, and then deflected again by telling me she didn’t know what I was doing at my dentist office. Every time she deflected my point, I became angrier and angrier. It became painfully clear that she was not going to address the point I was making. At the point of utter disgust, I through up my hands, shrugged my shoulders and said I was going to find a new doctor. Christina mimicked my response, by raising her hands and shrugging her shoulders right back at me. I personally interpreted that as if she was she didn’t care that Dr. Abe was losing a patient.
In the end, this boils down to my word against Dr. Abe’s office. His office can simply deflect any of this by saying that none of this is true. The only recourse I have is to share my story. Dr. Abe’s office may not be legally responsible fore this situation, but I do believe he is ethically responsible fore what happened to me in his office.