2 years ago I agreed to have a bunch of crowns put in at Dr. Majors office, cosmetic needs only. Part of the deal was for me to sign on for a dental plan which would supposedly pay for orthodontics, of which I agreed to do as long as I could get all the work done within a year. He was going to have me straighten my teeth for better crown placement, initially suggesting a retainer, but later convincing me that my dental plan would cover half. Reluctantly, I agreed to the braces, and down the long path of frustration I go.

About 3-4 months into the orthodontic treatment, both the wife and I were getting tired of being stonewalled numerous times by accounts payable, getting only estimates of services rendered, and not the official statements. So I call up the provider to check on the status of billing processing. Not only did I find, he'd not sent any ortho treatments into them, I find out they will not cover the other half of the orthodontics unless I keep braces for longer than one year. I storm into the office and ask the workers who I should be angry with. The call down the billing mgr, who assures me the statements will be provided (we needed them for AFLAC reimbursements, meaning they were holding our reimbursement money hostage for 4-6 months!). Unfortunately, I agreed to proceed with the project after numerous conversations with the billing mgr assuring me that If Majors failed to sumbit the paperwork, THEY would have to eat the costs. After she spent extra effort to recoup all our services rendered docs, the job is finished a couple months later at which point we are all paid up, so says the billing mgr. A couple more months go by, and I get a handwritten note on top a bill by this same billing manager, asking that I pay for the part of orthodontics not covered by the provider.

A couple of ugly exchanges went by to which the dentist sent me multiple texts about him being disappointed about hearing my long typed out list of complaints and threat to trash them on social media, saying I should have complained to him sooner (which is total BS, since I DID!). All goes quiet for a year, so I thought maybe they finally gave in to writing off the cost. Nope! Just got another billing notice today.

Needless to say go to Dr. Majors at your own peril, and get everything promised in writing. I still have the estimate promising the half price ortho. Is this enough?

I don't have any legal advice but that sounds like a crappy situation to be in. I'd explore any and all opportunities.

Was the dental plan some sort of discount plan through his office, or was it through a insurance company?

Why was the time line only a year?

The dental coverage was an add-on to my existing health plan that cost in excess of 700/yr, thus I'd have to commit for another year if it ran into January. The plan add-on is part of a well known nationwide plan. He apparently didn't know of the 1-year ortho requirement, but it was his recommendation to choose that dental option since I was on the medical part of that plan. His handling of the payments and several months delay of processing leaves me only to suspect he screwed up and wanted to pass on the oversight to the customer by confusing us of the piecemeal ledgers and unofficial estimates. If he was just upfront and honest about the mistake, I might have offered to cover a part of this cost. However, his office withholding our ability to get our AFLAC funds reimburse already had us ticked off before we even arrived on the discussion of the ortho processing.

I now hate dentists.

They have morphed from medical providers to entrepreneurs. Numerous "seminars" are held/given/attended on how to make a dental practice more profitable, and it essentially boils down (in the long run) to upselling services and pushing unneeded procedures.

I have no qualms with catering to the vain and whitening teeth, selling crowns, etc.

What I DO have serious heartburn with is Dr Fang doing her initial consult with me and going over my x-rays and pointing out all the "problems" with past dental work (crown, filling, etc.) and telling me it was done wrong and needs to be replaced, even though I had no problems or complaints. I passed on the crown replacement (still hasn't failed after 5+ years, despite her telling me it would fail soon). I did cave and let her replace a filling that had given me no problems since I got it in the 80s. She offered me the option of white or silver amalgam and I chose white for cosmetic reasons (despite it being way back in a molar). I was assured my insurance would cover most of the cost (minus a $50 copay or some such). Turns out they would have covered the full cost of silver amalgam, but ZERO dollars toward a white filling. Every dentist I've been to in the last decade has been this way, and every visit was worse than the last. I actually haven't been to a dentist in 3 years or so, because I won't go back to Dr. Fang (not her real name, sorry) and I just can't bring myself to pick another new one... (Initially we went to another doctor who was recommended to us, who we both liked. After a few years, that doctor brought Dr. Fang in as a partner. Then a year or so later, he retired and she kept the practice... which is when I had my first appointment with her.)

I have used Dr. Majors (quite a long time ago) and I can't remember any specific complaints, other than he seemed to fit into the general trend I described above. My wife had used him for some time prior to me seeing him, and soon after we both sought a new dentist. That's when we found the decent doctor that sold out to Dr. Fang.

Sorry no suggestions or help, but good wishes to OP for what they're worth.

nvm.

Dr. Covert at Tezel and Mainland/Dover Ridge.

I've been going there 10 years. I've had four different dentists from there look at my teeth (including Dr. Covert). The only one that ever tried that kind of "you need work re-done" BS was no longer there the next time I went.