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Prism Dental
Rating Details »
- Nearest Transit:
-
Lexington-3rd Aves-51st St (6, E, V)
- By Appointment Only:
- Yes
Sponsored Result
Nearby Dentists
Simon Rosenberg, DMD
- Neighborhood:
- Upper East Side
I specialize in Prosthodontics & Cosmetic Dentistry with over 30 years experience. I use High Technology in Dentistry to improve... more »
5 reviews for Prism Dental
It's a rare occurence that I have a sobering experience, but reading the reviews for Dr Ta has been just that.
My family has a history of bad teeth and I might have expected mine to eventually go the same way. But then I hadn't had any cavities since H.S., when I drank liters of soda every day like any other teenage boy. You'd think if I needed more fillings along the way, any dentist would be happy to oblige. Why would they pass up legitimate income, or their hippocratic duty. But no, for well over a decade, I never had been told I had another cavity.
My first visit to Dr Ta was a few years ago and it was a while since I'd been to a dentist. My last dentist was no longer convenient and truthfully didn't appear as competent Dr Ta has seemed to be.
Dr Ta showed me how my old metal fillings appeared to be rusting with her videocamera. I'd heard via other sources those aren't so great to keep in your mouth, so I had no objections to her changing them for a more modern variety (of course someday we'll probably learn whatever substance dentists use today is equally toxic).
I was a bit surprised to learn how many new cavities had formed in a relatively short timeframe, and more so to learn I needed inlays. Inlays aren't covered by dental insurance, and rightfully so, since they are avoided by preventitive maintenance. I put some money in a flexible spending account, so my after-tax cost wasn't too exorbitant, but the idea inlays may not have been necessary at all is not at all pleasing.
Fortunately every other procedure Dr Ta has prescribed was covered by my insurance. But in recent visits, it's been demanded I pay up front even for services where I wasn't asked to in the past. I have been reimbursed, but it was an annoyance to see the sudden switch in policy.
I certainly expected the first major treatment plan to suffice for a while. I do brush my teeth frequently, no less so than I have all my life, when I haven't been getting fillings all along.
But not two years later I was prescribed fillings for most of the teeth that hadn't received treatment before. Again, I might have attributed that to family history catching up with me, but now that doesn't seem so likely.
That $600 bleaching others have mentioned showed up on my plan as well, the clerk was kind enough to remove it as soon as I declined.
To top it off, after Dr Ta prescribed that new round of fillings, for the actual treatment, it was not Dr Ta who was there to perform it, but a woman who introduced herself as Dr Ta's niece. She's the youngest looking dentist I've had by far, not that it makes her incompetent by any means, but the way everything went down left me half-wondering whether she'd actually gone to dental school or if her aunt just dragged her off to the side at some family gathering to go over the fundamentals of drilling and filling.
And the staff is in a constant state of flux; Dr Ta had the same hygenist for a couple of years, now it seems like a different one every time. At my last appontment it was as if she was training her latest assistant on the job in a way I'd expect more at a supermarket cash register than at one of my dental appointments.
The bookeepers at the front desk are constantly changing too. Ordinarily I'd think dental assistants and especially clerical workers would exhibit some turnover, but the extent is surprising in the recent economy.
Looking at that dr-oogle site, it's only purpose seems to be to shill. It's worse than citysearch, at least there the shills are countered by the anti-shills. I'm not surprised to hear that earlier reviewer claim his review was yanked. Seventeen reviews for Dr Ta and not one has the slightest criticism. I certainly wouldn't trust it for anything.
That's the good thing about yelp, there's some crap on here for sure, and you can't just look at a star rating and expect it to mean much, but then you read the reviews and see an overall balance in many. There are some good writers here and you can figure out who to trust by their aggregate of reviews.
To be fair to Dr Ta, she has induced me to floss more, and my gum disease appears to have subsided where two previous dentists have failed me.
Anyway, time for me to find a new dentist, maybe one with 4.5 stars and a bunch of objective reviews from long time yelpers. I don't need any fillings inside of my fillings.
Due to a job/insurance change last year, I was in the position of replacing the STELLAR dentist I had been seeing (Dr. Juan Jaramillo). I was willing to settle for just a mediocre dentist, as Dr. Jaramillo left big shoes to fill. Found Dr. Ta on my new plan & saw the positive reviews on Doctoroogle (plus was impressed she did charity work w/ Operation Smile) so I made an appointment for a routine cleaning & checkup. Office was a little small & dingy but I didn't want to make any judgment based on that. Dr. Ta & staff were friendly on a personal level. The cleaning w/ Dr. Ta was mostly nice. She even praised the porcelain inlays Dr. Jaramillo had given me, saying she appreciated "other's good work." But then... at the end, she quickly pointed out a few teeth that "needed" inlays, & a few more that "needed" fillings... I was like "wait that's a lot, how many teeth need work?" She counted aloud... "7, only 7, not that much..." It happened so quickly. Having had a perfect checkup 6 months prior, I was still digesting this info when I was whisked to the front desk. The next thing I know, the woman at the desk was explaining the treatment plan to me, which included a $500-600 bleaching option, & total of over $3,500! (Ok I get why they suggest bleaching, it's an upsell strategy that's utterly optional but it probably gets people to spring for it purely by the power of suggestion, like offering fries w/ a burger, but like a $500-600 order of fries...). Then the woman started explaining that there's a payment plan available, similar to a layaway/credit deal, then she offered to make the appointment to do half my work (one side of my mouth per appt). I was flabbergasted...while I could imagine MAYBE needing work on a tooth or two, I couldn't imagine having damaged 7 teeth in the 6 months prior to that visit. But Dr. Ta was so nice, & got such good reviews, that I was torn...maybe I DID need all that work...
After some stressing & deliberating, I made the decision to trust my instincts, pick up my x-rays & find another dentist that my insurance would cover (or partially cover anyway). Got a nice letter from Dr. Ta after that, where she pledged her professionalism & concern for patients, which was a positive thing but $3,500 is $3,500...
I recently visited my new post-Prism dentist (Dr. Kim at Dr. Stephen Lim & Assocs)... WOW what a difference. Dr. Kim explained everything s-l-o-w-ly, visually pointing out things to me on my xrays/photos, & recommended ONE filling, saying we should watch two other teeth but that no other procedures were necessary at the time.
If you're the kind of person who likes to (& has enough money to) attend to EVERY tooth development that other dentists merely recommend "keeping an eye on," then I think Dr. Ta is for you. I don't think Dr. Ta is a bad person necessarily. Don't get me wrong, she's DEFINITELY trying to rake in the bucks, but after reading all those good reviews, I also think she's just the type of dentist that will recommend the slightest action for any teeny tiny little thing that comes up regardless of patient cost. I can only conclude that there's a market for that. But most people, who like to attend to their teeth while keeping dental costs reasonable, should stay far far away from Dr. Ta & Prism Dental.
I had a similar experience as the previous two reviewers. I went in for a cleaning after a normal check-up 6 months previous at my last dentist, and came out with a "treatment plan" from Prism Dental of almost $2500! And yes I was surprised to see that included "bleaching" which was never discussed and which I would not want anyway. I was shocked and ran everything including the x-rays past my previous dentist who saw me just 6 months earlier; in his opinion none of the work was necessary now if ever; in fact they recommended periodontal surgery even though they didn't even do a periodontal probe reading. Wow.
It's a shame I only saw the glowing reviews on another site (Doctoroogle) before I went to Prism Dental. Online, it seemed like a good option. But now I'm seeing another dentist who seems trustworthy and not looking to empty my wallet and even worse, doing unnecessary work. Needless to say I'm never going back to Prism Dental.
I went to Dr. Ta for one specific procedure after reading reviews at Doctoroogle (Somehow my account and a review got deleted afterwards). I specifically told Dr. Ta and her staff that I dont want full exam, just need one procedure done. Initially they agreed but then when I got there I was told that she 'has to perform a full exam'. I didnt like this because I have a very limited amount in my insurance plan and would rather save that money for the procedure itself. I didnt say NO as didnt want to be rude and was already on the examination table Anyhow, during the full exam Dr. Ta explained I have MANY MANY cavities and I would need filing in almost every teeth, using her camera she told me to look for 'anything that is dark or brown' needs filling (others dentist said they are stains! no procedure required) She said she needs to perform certain procedures again because they were not done correctly by the other specialistS (she is not a specialist). When I showed the plan to the other dentist, he pointed how in my plan its written that I need 4-layer filling - this procedures leaves 1/4th of tooth behind and is only needed when the teeth has been decayed. My front teeth dont even need a filling according to the second/third opinion. I was given over $12,000 of 'treatment plan' from Dr. Ta which included Root Canal of the wisdom tooth - no body recommends that as its very difficult to reach, many (good) dentist would rather suggest extraction. They also added $600 bleaching in my treatment plan which I never asked for and was not removed upon request (they hoped I'd forget). Since, I got 2 opinions from other dentists and was told nothing was wrong with most of my teeth, and had only 2 cavities, instead of 18. I almost fell in the trap but thankfully, I wanted to think about the debt I was going to get in. Came home and did Google search and found a review on http://local.botw.org - very consistent with my experience. This is VERY SCARY!!! Save your teeth dont goto her.
I hadn't been to the dentist in about 9 months when I went to Prism Dental after switching insurance companies. I had a great dentist before, but they did not take my new insurance. And Prism Dental was well-reviewed on other sites, so I decided to give them a try. My first sign that something was off was the repair guy fixing the overhead light while the hygienist was cleaning my teeth. That and the static of the radio blasting in the corner. I might as well have been in a bodega getting my teeth checked. Before going to Prism Dental, I had regular teeth cleaning and check-ups with Dr. Berman & Associates, and I never had a problem: no cavities, no gum work needed, nothing. I had a bunch of cavities filled when I was a kid, but Dr. Berman, and every other dentist I've been to told me that those fillings are good for life, unless of course they somehow get damaged. But not according to Prism Dental. They told me I had to replace all my fillings, that I also had about 6 or 7 more cavities, that I needed deep gum cleaning that would be painful and require heavy-duty antibiotics, and that I should get my teeth bleached. All for roughly $5000 or so, unless I decided to pay cash then and there so that they would give me around 10% off and a lollipop.
These people, although friendly, were basically used car salesmen. Or better yet, untrustworthy mechanics for your teeth. I've since found a new dentist, who is awesome (see http://parkslopedental...), who once again told me I have no cavities, and that I need no work other than to floss more and keep up my regular cleanings. He even told me that the x-rays I obtained from Prism Dental were made using outdated x-ray technology.
So, long story short: don't ever ever ever go to Prism Dental. They are trying to sell you expensive, painful, and unnecessary medical work that you do not need. Flat-out, they are practicing dentistry unethically. They are the worst symbols of a medical care industry bent on profits before patient care. These people should not be in business. You're better off going to a bodega to take care of your teeth.
