Palena Dental Arts

As a dentist I know excellent dental care when I experience it. That in a nut shell is why I drive sixty minutes, passing at least 50 dental offices to Palena Dental Arts for my dental care. As I read the previous «one star review,» I had to wonder when the last time that reviewer had visited a dental office. Taking blood pressures is the current standard of care. Medications frequently do cause dry mouth which does increase tooth decay and periodontal disease. Dentists are indeed not physicians and as such do not alter medications but many medications as well as medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, do compromise a patient’s ability to safely tolerate dental procedures. And loose teeth are only one of the several symptoms of periodontal disease. Over the past several years that I have been a patient of Dr. Palena I have found her dentistry to be top notch, delivered in a gentle professional manner. In contrast to the previous reviewer, I have found her prices very reasonable and her recommendations spot on. I highly recommend Palena Dental Arts.

I absolutely cannot recommend this dentist. I last saw my dentist who’s now moved six months before seeing Palena and what a shock it was to experience how this dental professional runs her practice. This dentist must have been schooled at the Walking Wallet School of Dentistry. She is obviously using revenue enhancement techniques taught via seminars designed to make a country dentist into a millionaire but adds zero value to the dental care you receive. She uses the 2 hour scheduling technique to make patients think they are getting more care, but it is a scam to extract more money. My first visit was for 2 hours and cost $ 250. Total time examining my mouth plus x-​rays was ½ hour including the ten minutes I spent with the dentist who rattled off a list of procedures as long as my arm, the rest of the time was spent chatting with the hygienist; a total waste of my time and money and after 2 hours I still did not get a cleaning. The patient rooms look clean but the face of the exam light is so loaded with spray from procedures that the light was dimmed. Made me feel unsafe wondering what other dirt was being ignored. The hygienist took my blood pressure which was a waste of time and accounted for nothing. Taking a patient’s blood pressure may be the new «standard of care» but it is not done to enhance or tailor a dental procedure accordingly; it is done to fool the patient into thinking the enhanced cost is justified, and it is not. The only thing being enhanced here is the dentist’s wallet. Palena’s primary care information is faulty. She stated that ALL meds cause dry mouth and because of that I needed root scaling. Root scaling is for severe gum disease where the root and gum no longer adhere to each other, a condition that I clearly do not have. Not all meds cause dry mouth and shouldn’t treatment decisions be based on the exam and not on a list of meds? If the patient has dry mouth with concomitant problems the dentist should refer the patient back to their MD for a medication consultation. If there is gum disease and tooth decay the treatment is the same regardless of the underlying health or med-​related cause. Assessing whether or not a patient can tolerate any procedure, dental or otherwise, is within the purview of a medical doctor, not a dentist. If dentists have become so extraordinarily concerned about a patient’s ability to tolerate treatment then maybe they should start asking for a note from the patient’s doctor stating whether or not they can tolerate a filling, the placement of a crown, the injection of an anesthetic, a cleaning, x-​rays, or sitting in a chair immobile for 2 hours which can cause blood clots in some people. Palena was also insulting. She stated my teeth were so horribly demineralized that I must have had a life long soda habit, sugar addiction or reflux disease to cause such extreme erosion of my teeth. I am a vegan and don’t drink soda, nor do I have reflux disease or a sugar «addiction» and my teeth are not demineralized or eroded. The bill for all the work she proposed was enormous. The quote for a 2 hour initial visit where I saw the doctor for 10 minutes, plus two, 2 hour visits for unnecessary root scaling was nearly $ 900.00 and this did not include the braces, replacement of a bridge that did not need replacing, removal of a tooth causing no problems, and antibiotic irrigation/​implants and fluoride sealants for periodontal disease THAT I DON“T HAVE. She gave me a five year treatment plan when all I needed was a cleaning. Wow. I will say that the staff are nice, they better be at those prices, but even that is a schmooze. Having a staff member talk to you for 2 hours while you just sit there is a form of cajoling and has no place in a professional dental practice; it is a sales tactic like when you buy a car and the salesman makes you wait for hours at a time to break down your resistance. Same thing. I don’t think she offers anything so amazingly different as to justify how she runs her practice and what she charges. Her chair-​side manner also stinks. I challenged her assessment and conclusions highlighting my lifestyle and the obvious condition of my teeth and gums to rebut her statements and she had no response, she just sat there, glaring at me. She seemed stunned to encounter a self-​advocating patient. She has refused to send my x-​rays to my new dentist which is childish and illegal. My teeth and gums are healthy. I do not need the long list of incredibly expensive and entirely unnecessary treatments specified by this dentist who should know better. No wonder people are going to Thailand, Costa Rica and Mexico for dental treatment. Too many American dentists have become rip off artists.
Check out the answer to why American dentistry is now so expensive:
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Google «Revenue Enhancing Dental Seminars.» Good luc