Eastern Dental
Reviews and Complaints

My mother, V, is a patient of Eastern Dental of Hamilton. She went there approximately 4 months ago to have dentures made. (She’s73 years old and on a fixed income). She paid for the dentures, received them, wore them for less than 30 days and the teeth began falling out. She returned to the office to ask for them to be repaired, they told her they would repair them, if she paid for them again. This is outrageous. My mother now cannot eat solid food without pain or at all, because she cannot afford to have this procedure done again. Shoddy work and poor treatment of elderly patients is unacceptable. I would appreciate if you could have this issue resolved or I’ll have my PBA President and Attorney Stewart Alterman and my Jag Attorney handle things moving forward.

Thank you

[protected]@yahoo.com

i have been on the phone three different times today with Billing Eastern Dental of Ewing Orthodontics. i scheduled a call back TWICE and NO call back! you guys make sure we are reminded to pay for the services received but no one can answer the phone to even payment. then be so quick to send out a letter saying how the balance not paid or whatever! DO BETTER ! you have all orthondontic patients calling on the ONLY day which is the 15th of every damn month! this is bad- you cant even go in the facility to pay NOT ONLY THAT the place is only open ONE day out the week !. You need a better system if i could upload a image of how long i have been on hold and hearing" your position in queue is 2 thank you for holding we appreciate your patience. press 1 for voicemail 2 call back or hold the line for the next representitive" this is horrible and then they close at a certain hour so the phone disconnects after holding all day and not reaching anyone because office hours are over !

On December 18, 2021 I had some work done on three of my teeth, top canine and two bottom molars. After the work was done on my teeth, it only made the pain worse. After seeking professional advice from other oral surgeons, I brought proof back to eastern dental that the work that they did made my teeth worse and now I have to go in for surgery for two of the three teeth that were worked on. After being granted a refund, it took six months to receive when I received the refund it was not the total amount that was paid to Eastern dental. At first they gave me excuses, saying my math was off, and I only made one payment towards Eastern dental when I had two payments towards Eastern dental, and I have the bank statements to prove it. My refund is short $63.90. After speaking with an associate over the phone that works at Eastern dental on September 22nd, I let them know that I’m short $63.90 on my refund. The woman working the desk asked me to call back in two weeks. On October 13th roughly around 130, I called Eastern dental to see whether they sent me a check for the remaining $63.90. Immediately after asking a female associate who claims that she’s the manager instantly gave me attitude and said “you’re not getting anything it is what it is.” I responded. “What do you mean It is what it is! you guys owe me my money, and you’re not gonna sit here and yell, and be disrespectful to me when I haven’t done the same to you. The female associate, then raise her voice, yelling saying “I’m not going over this with you again. This is ridiculous.” I could barely understand what she was saying due due to her speaking fast and aggressive. I then hung up. The phone went to my bank, pulled my statements and went to the office to speak to the woman in person that was yelling at me over the phone. I recorded the entire conversation I have over eight minutes of her, starting to raise her voice and getting an attitude with me When I’m just trying to get refunded my money and figure things out professionally. The individual that I dealt with should not be working at a facility where there are customers she has poor human skills, and no respect for anyone due to her position.

John Riggle is very unprofessional. There was an incident on Wednesday Sept 7, 2022. He asked Karen to relay to me that l had a copay of $225 due. I had no idea. There was no treatment plan presented to me. I've been in that ofc longer than he is employed, 25 yrs! It was once Ora-Care. Instead of inviting me into his cubicle, he chose to come to the counter an air my financial situation. Unacceptable. He asked if me if l expected to been seen for free? I was not advised otherwise in advance of this visit. No treatment plan. He was very inappropriate in front of other patients, which should have been done privately. Later the same day Doctor Elan Swartz confirmed the same. John Riggle berated me, a 63 yr old woman for not bringing $225 to the 9:00am appt with Doctor Podoshik. I was not seen after yet a 45 minute ride to the ofc. I was upset. I complained to Cigna. Should l leave the practice based on the nasty rude behavior of John Riggle? He has absolutely no customer service skills whatsoever. I just wanted you to know why patients leave. Patricia Epps

My original orthodontist brighter dental of Warren where I received my Invisalign treatment shut down due to Covid and transferred me account to Eastern Dental of Union. The orthodontist has been great. The billing staff has been awful. Even upon proof that I paid for everything in full refuse to let me finish my treatment without giving more money. First state that if I have proof they can get rid of charge then after proof state that I must pay more money and go back and get money from Brighter Dental. When I ask for any supervisor info I can’t get that info. When I ask for the brighter dental Info I can’t get that info either. So how do you suppose I get the money back? They have over the course of 4-5 months failed to call me back and then keep stating I haven’t called. I’m sure I’ll have to give my phone records over also to prove that and be blamed again for them not remembering. Terrible customer service at billing department. When I ask what bill is for they say Invisalign. When I give proof then it’s well you still owe us money. When I state that they said I owe Brighter Dental money it turned into me now owing to me money for completion of my Invisalign treatment. Don’t go here. Invisalign buyer beware. Invisalign should not be affiliated with this place.

The ladies at the front desk proceeded to let patients go before me. I had an 11 o clock appointment & was NEVER seen! Unorganized, raggedy office staff. I asked when I will be seen after waiting an hour as I observed multiple people come in after me & be seen BEFORE ME and the lady told me in 5 minutes. 5 minutes pass & they call someone else again BEFORE ME. Never seen them put my file in the bin for the assistants to call me back. NEVER COMING BACK!

Told I needed a root canal on the only tooth with a single cap even though it didn't hurt. (Had bridges) troublesome procedure and when I got home the tooth broke off with Mac & cheese. The cap & under tooth broke off. After many attempts to put it back they counciled me to get dentures for a much cheaper price than the $8, 500 for an implant. Shoving the denture in my mouth while I was spewing blood (Kool aide they called it) I was choking.
A new dentist and implants ($33, 000) for me after eastern dental pulled all my teeth and broke my bridges.

I have been going to Eastern Dental of Union for over 8 years. Although it takes months to get an appointment and you're usually not seen until a minimum of 45 minutes after your appointment time, I've continued to go to this location because Dr. Grober is amazing. Back in 2014, I had to get two of my wisdom teeth on the left side extracted because they were impacted. Therefore, I was not shocked when the same pain started on the right side in April of 2021. After repeated calling and leaving voicemails, I was able to get an appointment with Dr. Grober on 5/18/2021. He recommended they be removed since it would likely be an ongoing issue. I was elated when I finally got the call on 6/21/2021 that my insurance had authorized the procedure and there was an appointment available the following day, 6/22/2021.
I arrived for my appointment alone just as I had for the last procedure. Since my first extraction went so smoothly, I felt I knew what to expect. I whole heartedly regret that decision. This was by far the most traumatic dental experience of my life. Dr. Ferretti came in to numb my mouth and it felt like he just stabbed me with the needle. Every other oral procedure that I've ever had that required anesthetic never hurt like this one did. The dentist would shake my cheek or manipulate my lip while administering the needle. In my research, I learned when the dentist is shaking your cheek, he or she is trying to overload the "highway", thereby blocking the pain of the injection from reaching your central nervous system. I did not get this treatment from Dr. Ferretti.
He started with the top tooth and told me I would feel a lot of pressure. There was pressure, but we got through that tooth just fine. When he started to pull the bottom tooth, I could feel pain not pressure and I told him that. He gave me another shot of anesthesia, asked if I could feel the needle. I told him that I could not. He then tried to extract the tooth again, but I was still in pain. I moaned and tapped his hand, but he continued to pull. Once I was about to get out of his grasp I said "Sir, you have to stop if you hear me moaning." His response was "No I don't have to stop. I don't know what your moaning means." He asked if I was ready to try again, I told him I needed a minute. He slammed his tools on the table and said "let me know when you're ready, you don't have to do this if you don't want to".
While he was out of the room, I asked his assistant if there was another oral surgeon on duty; she said there was not. I immediately felt defeated and began to cry because I knew what was in store for me. Thinking there was nothing I could do, I just decided to take the pain because I needed the tooth out. I felt so vulnerable and started crying. When the assistant saw me crying, she handed me some Kleenex and started talking to me. When Dr. Ferretti returned to the room, I began to shake uncontrollably. He said I was only making it worse on myself by getting upset. I had to bare down and take the pain and it was worse than I could ever put into words.
Once the tooth was removed, he asked if it was just pressure or pain. I told him he showed me zero compassion while he was ripping my tooth out so do not pretend to be concerned now. We passed words and began to argue, I grabbed my purse and walked towards the exit. He followed me and told a staff member to make sure I can never come back to that office and asked the receptionist to call the police on me. The office manager, Carolyn Pocaro saw the argument and said the doctor had every right to call the police on me because of my behavior. Meanwhile, she never addressed his behavior towards me or even offered me an apology.
There were two other female patients who saw me in distress and came to my aid. When I shared my experience, they both decided to leave and said they were not going to get his chair. I left that office in tears without so much as an apology for the way I was treated. I had to sit in my car for another 20 minutes just to compose myself.
The next day even sharing this experience brought me to tears. While writing this letter and reliving this experience, I am traumatized. I have never in my life been man handled and treated the way this person treated me. He treated me like I was less than a human being with feelings. I am writing this so no other person has to experience the treatment I received. It is unfair how I was treated and I am shocked and appalled. It is my intention to find a new dentist and I will never return to that office. I'm hopeful that something can be done about this situation because I wouldn't want anyone else to go through this experience.
Sincerely,

Tiarra S. Felder

I can not believe the way I was treat by the billing department at Eastern Dental. I can't even begin to express the way I feel at this current moment. The unprofessionalism and disrespect I just encountered is truly disturbing! I called the billing department to follow up on a call from June 2nd regarding my daughter insurance. I was laid off from a job due to COVID but started another job the same month. Because of this my insurance was changed. I had no idea all this time atena did not pay the payment they were suppose to pay. My out of was $1000 in which I paid minus a $100. When she first called it throw me off because like I said I thought everything was paid. I told her I was at work and had to go and would call back. She then called my phone right back and left a nasty voice mail! When I called today I can admit I was on high energy because of that voice mail. I knew this person was rude and I was ready! She denied being the same person who left the message but I clearly recognized the voice. On the call she gave me all the information regarding what happen with the insurance and I asked if I can speak to someone to inquire about going on a payment arrangement. She said no because "they" will say the same thing. So I asked if I can speak to whoever they was and she said no only she can. I ask to speak to a supervisor or manger and she informed me she didn't have one (which I knew was a lie). After she threatened to end tge phone call, I said it's ok I'm coming up there. She laughed and said come on! I said oh that's right your not in the same office but I will talk to someone over you when I get there. She hung up the phone on me and when I called back she had me on speaker with a co worker saying things (I could clearly hear) in the background. She then mentioned she was calling the mail office and cooperate to have my daughter removed from the office because I threatened her! Not only did she send this threat she actually called the office in which my daughter is a client and proceeded with what she said. I know this because I had a appointment at 4pm and when I got there the receptionist told me she called! When I mentioned I'm coming up there was because I was literally on my way there for my appointment but she lied on me and said I threatened her! That never happen and she told the office this! This is defamation of character and I will be involving my lawyer in this whole matter. She attempted to get my daughter removed as a client with these lies! She made me aware calls are recorded so I will be sure to have my lawyer request this audio. Another thing the two ladies who work in this office is would pick up the phone and laugh in the background while I was trying to handle this situation regarding my daughter Dental care. At one point I think the other lady even said just pay your daughter bill and your speaking that way in front of your child! My child was never around while I was speaking to them only as I was dropping him off but the nerve of her to speak on my child! This whole interaction was totally unprofessional and degrading. The way I felt after this call we'll follow me a life time! I have never been treated this way by an organization! I'm totally disheartening by this as I've been an client of eastern dental since before my children were born! Please if someone can get back to me in this matter. I can be reached at [protected]. You will hear from me again!

On three separate occasions Mr Schwartz was rude and arrogant and not acting like any dentist in my 65 years has ever been to me.
After the first incident I requested a different dentist. The office refused.
On my second apt for a dental deep cleaning he berated me for:
A. "If it hurts it's your fault for spitting out the numbing sticks. I gagged and did nothing on purpose.
B. He walked in and on the third shot which was not correctly placed, made a snide comment about my pain.
C. When he left the room he was angry and mumbling.
I will never ever return to that office.
He should not work with women or children.
Thank you.

I was scheduled to have 2 small fillings filled and the dentist prior to drilling the wrong tooth put on a tan hajib with 1 slit straight across for eyes and then told me NOT to look at her! First, she stuck a cylindrical cotton gause with red fluid on it under my upper lip. Next, she proceeded to drill my back right molar and drilled down to the nerve which caused me excruciating pain. I got up and left. I was in shock. I didn't say a word.
I will be doing all I can on my end to have these people investigated. I feel sorry for any other senior citizens on fixed incomes who are being taken advantage of by this group of people who are preying on the elderly.