How to select a Dentist or why patients are being driven overseas!
Word of Mouth & of course check Trustpilot for horror stories!
I know I need between £20,000 to £40,000 worth of work done on my mouth. This is a not inconsiderable amount of money to spend so it is important to research where and how it is spent.
Despite its rather faded veneer of respectability, tatty paintwork outside, scrappy MDF work inside, I started by shopping local and entered the Emsworth Dental Surgery full of curiosity. The friendly receptionist arrange an appointment with a Dr Hari Kalsi to discuss my requirements. She almost apologetically asked for a refundable consultation fee of £50 explaining that it would be deducted from my bill should I chose to use their services. My first reaction was that it was a bit of a cheek. I know some restaurants now take a deposit for a reservation to try to reduce "no shows" but it is hard to understand why one should have to pay for a preliminary meeting to discuss the job and its cost. You can imagine the outrage if plumbers or electricians started charging for pricing a job!
A week after the meeting I received an email with a “Treatment Estimate”. Including a £50 charge for an “implant assessment” which I presumed referred to the cursory bucal inspection (no xrays or scans or measurement) carried out during the aforementioned discussion. When I returned to the surgery to question the charge with the receptionist I was surprised by what ensued! I had entered with every intention of going ahead with the treatment once the overcharging had been addressed, but the rather flustered receptionist disappeared to talk to Dr Kalsi and then returned to invite me to visit him in his room up the corridor.
Dr Kalsi assumed a defensive, disrespectful and patronising attitude from the outset. He was verbally aggressive: “listen to me!”. I stood my ground and explained that what was being offered was not what I had been given to understand would happen. “This is not the greatest way to start a business relationship” I suggested. He petulantly snapped, finally “ I’ll tell you what. I will arrange for a refund and we’ll call it a day!”
So I’m back to square one. I need to start the course of treatment as soon as possible but am now seriously considering having the work done in Spain. A friend sang the praises of an implantologist he had used in southern Spain and I am hearing good things about the quality of work coming out of Galicia. Not ideal but I am not prepared to go through the disquieting, unsettling experience of Emsworth Dental Surgery again.