Possible to change orthodontic dr/facility without dental insurance?

[Riboflavin]

(Cliffs at the bottom)

So, I got braces put on last November. The full $5k balance of the treatment is being financed through Care Credit, and I'm paying Care Credit back in interest-free installments, so they're already paid for.

In January, i got laid off, so I lost my dental coverage, but because the braces are already paid in full, I don't have any co-pay or anything for my monthly adjustments.

Last month, the orthodontist i'd been seeing for about 8 months suddenly quit. He worked between multiple offices, and had planned on phasing out visits to my office but quit about a month earlier than they'd planned. They quickly found a replacement ortho, and I had my first appointment with her 3 weeks ago.

She gives me a few new pieces of hardware, but because they didn't have the correct tool to open my braces with (they're self litigating, meaning each bracket has a metal door on it rather than being held on with rubber bands), she broke one of these doors. Either she forgot to close it and it bent in my mouth, or she bent it trying to close it, but either way I had to go back a few hours after my appointment so she could mend it with a rubber band and replace the bracket a few weeks later.

Yesterday, (3 weeks later), I go in and she replaces the broken bracket. Yet rather than giving me the exact same setup that I had before, she leaves off one of the pieces, which causes my teeth to instantly move back into the opposite direction from where they've been moving for the past 3 weeks. She also forgot to close two of the doors this time (which could have broken them too), and I had to close them my damn self in the mirror. It takes her way longer than expected to put everything back on, and she's already running late and people are backing up, so as soon as she pops the new archwire into place, she sends me on my way to come back in 5 weeks.

I get home, and become curious as to why she'd move my teeth one way for 3 weeks, then completely change her mind and have them move back in the other direction for the next 5 weeks, so I call them up earlier to check up on it and make sure that she didn't just make a mistake because she was rushing.

The receptionist transfers me to the ortho's assistant (ortho isn't in today), and rather than actually checking my chart or finding out anything about me, all she does is tell me that anything the Dr. did for me, she meant to do. She didn't make a mistake or leave accidentally leave anything off. When I ask her why the Dr. would move my teeth in one direction for 3 weeks and completely change her mind and have them move the other way, she said she didn't know and that I should ask the ortho when I see her 5 weeks from now. Ok, thanks. And we hung up.

10 minutes later, I get a call from the office manager. Not a nice friendly call to assure me that this new replacement ortho is a great doctor, and to assure me that any treatment she's giving me should be the correct one and that I should just trust her abilities. No, she calls me and essentially asks me "Well, are you second guessing her treatment?? Because she's perfectly capable of doing orthodontics". Basically telling me not to compare her to my old orthodontist because some drs work differently and that she's new and not familiar with my case. I'm not comparing her to how he worked. I never had a problem with him. I'm curious as to why she doesn't seem to be familiar with my self-litigating braces because shes already broken one bracket, left two of the other bracket doors open after my appointment yesterday, gives me a treatment to move my teeth right for 3 weeks, then changes her mind and moves the same teeth to the left for another 5 weeks. I'm not paying $5k as a 23 year old in braces so she can do the Hokey Pokey with my teeth.

The reason why I was curious as to whether she made a mistake or not was because yesterday was an extremely busy day. I came in for a 3pm appointment, moved into the chair at 3:30, didn't see her until 4pm, and didn't walk out until 4:45. They expected my treatment to take 15 mins, so shes now even more backed up than before, asking her assistant to go check for faxes for her, and saying that she needs to hurry up and call someone before 5pm. If she just rushed me out and made a simple mistake, no biggie, shit happens. That's why i'm calling.

My problem is that when I called, I wasn't rude at all. Just explaining my story, asking a couple of questions, and expecting some assurance from the staff to make me feel better. What I got was a rude assistant who didn't even bother to look up my chart, AND a call back from an even ruder manager who seemed offended that someone dare question their new orthodontist's actions.

Because of this, I'd like to get ready to find a new orthodontist. When I go back in 5 weeks, if any of them even fuckin breathe at me wrong, I want a new ortho who actually knows their ass from their elbow. I can't believe the manager called me back like "how dare you notice that the new ortho broke one of your brackets?" "how dare you notice that she left some of your bracket doors open?" "how dare you notice that your teeth have been moving to the left for 3 weeks, but now she wants them to move to the right??" If i'd gotten a nice call back to reassure me that the ortho is cool, don't worry about it, I wouldn't have a problem. But to get bitched at for having a fucking question about a long, painful treatment that I'm paying $5k for? Kiss my ass.

The problem is that my current place has already gotten paid in full for the treatment. I don't have dental insurance to go pick a new dentist, and I'm not sure how a new orthodontist would get paid for their services if my current place has already been paid for them. Is there any way to pick a new orthodontist for services that have already been paid for, and have them deal with the financing company to recieve funds for the length of treatment that they've given me?

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CLIFFS
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- I've had braces since November (orthodontist got paid $5k in full, while I finance through a company), got laid off in January (lost dental coverage), my original orthodontist quit in July
- New orthodontist doesn't seem to know her ass from her elbow because the first time i met her, she broke one of my brackets and started me on a treatment to move my teeth to the right. 3 weeks later, she completely changes the treatment, now moving my teeth to the LEFT for the next 5 weeks, and once again forgot to close two more doors on my brackets, which could have broken them as well.
- I give the office a friendly call to ask whether that's what the ortho meant to do, because it was a busy day yesterday, she may have just made a mistake, and not only do i get transferred to a rude assistant who fails to get my chart or look up anything about me and just tells me to ask the dr why she did that when i come in in 5 weeks, but the office manager calls me back 10 minutes later to rudely ask me "Well, are you second guessing her treatment, because she's perfectly capable of doing orthodontics!"
- I want a new ortho, but not sure how to even get another one since my current place has already been paid in full for my entire treatment.
- Can I find a new ortho who could deal with the finance company to get paid for their portion of the treatment, even though my current office has already been paid?

[Reboticon]

whoa dude. Thats a fucked up set of events. It sounds to me like the original ortho, who quit, should have to refund a bunch of that money to your insurance company?

I dont have dental insurance (its a southern thing i think..) and I've spent over 6,000 the last two years.

As for the bitch on the phone. Well I deal with doctors/dentists offices a lot. I used to have 20 vending machines in doctors offices. The receptionists 99% of the time, are bitches. Complete Bitches. IDK why, but they are. I used to be SUPER SUPER NICE when i called them. NOW I am polite with opening statement, and minute they give me lip, I show them whos in charge. Try it. You would be amazed at how quick their tone changes when you give em some backbone.

Finally, you are 100% right to be worried. Does that ortho know what she is doing? yes. Does she know how to finish work another DR started? Thats a different story altogether.

As far as the switching over insurance thing.. Thank God I have my mother for this, even tho im 27. She has spent HOURS on the phone trying to get BS like this corrected.

At this point, IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT, I would call a bunch of Orthos. They will usually do a free consultation. Have them check it out and see what they say. Best case scenario you find one who can finish the job for cheap AND get their receptionists to handle the paperwork. Worst case, you can at least find out if the current woman is a quack.

Hope that helps some, you are definitely stuck between a rock and a hardplace.