West Coast Dental Services

In October of 2020 I took my daughter to the West Coast Dental office in Torrance for an Ortho appt. Her ortho informed me that she needed her two upper canine teeth extracted as they were protruding out of her gums and there were no signs of her baby teeth falling out anytime soon. She handed me a written referral to see a specialist for the extraction at another office. My daughter has had multiple teeth extracted from the Torrance office before so I called her insurance to see what I could do to get the procedure done at that office. They informed me that because the referral was sent by the Ortho and medi-cal doesn't cover Orthodontics the referral would have to come from a doctor at the Torrance office. I called the office, explained that I received a referral from the Ortho but I needed a referral from the doctor to get it done there. They scheduled me an appt to see the Doctor. When I showed up at that appt we were there for almost two hours waiting to just get xrays and have the doctor confirm that she needed those teeth out. The xrays all but took 5 minutes and the doctor walked in, I handed him the written referral that the Ortho gave me, explained why I was there, he looked at her and said "yep, those teeth definitely need to get out" and that was it. The office said they were going to send the referral in. Fast forward about 3 weeks, I was there again this time for a cleaning for my daughter and for my son. We saw a different doctor. That doctor informed me my son had two cavities and they needed to be filled. She also mentioned and showed me my daughters two teeth and told me they needed to be extracted to which I replied that everything was taken care of and she already had a referral sent out and an appt made. Someone from the office approached me and told me that since my daughter had an appt on 11/25/2020 that they would send an authorization for my son and he could come in at the same time to have his cavities done.

Fast forward to two days before the appt and I call the office to confirm their appointments. I was told by Joanna that my daughters authorization was sent in for a different office and all I had to do was call the insurance and have them switch the office but everything was approved. I called Liberty Dental and was told no, everything is for the Torrance office, there is nothing that needs to be done. I confirmed with them that it was for two teeth extractions, they told me yes, its approved for teeth C and M. I also asked about my sons authorization for the cavities and they said that they don't see anything sent in for my son but they received another authorization for my daughter for SIX tooth extractions. I was never told anything about six teeth so I called the office back, spoke with Joanna and told her that nothing was ever sent in for my son and that there was a auth sent in for 6 teeth and I was never informed about that. She apologized and said she would look into the 6 teeth thing and that the only thing they could do for my son was send in an emergency auth for a consultation. At this point I'm really disappointed that my son can't get his teeth done at the same time as my daughter but there was nothing I could do.

My husband brings the kids in the day of their appointment. The specialist Dr. Magnolia tells my husband that my son needs two cavities filled, one crown and a tooth extraction with a spacer! That's a lot... I thought it was only two cavities. Meanwhile, my husband tells me that my daughter is only approved for one side. I'm so upset! what? I called and confirmed it was for two teeth. The doctor shows my husband the two teeth, she says she doesn't know why they denied one extraction and the office was calling the insurance to try to get it approved so we don't have to come back. Now, my daughter has extreme anxiety. I had been preparing her for this moment since October...unfortunately she would not let the doctor put the mask on her, they tried for 40 minutes, at that point the doctor needed to assist other patients and we had to wait. No problem. Understandable. After a talk with my husband, my daughter finally let them put the mask on her for the gas and the procedure took all but 10 minutes and she came out smiling with a mouth full of gauze. I must also mention, after my husband informed me of my sons teeth I felt a little uncomfortable about the amount of work so I called my dentist whom I trust and asked for a second opnion. Not unusual. My husband asked the office to send the xrays over to my dentist but they said he needed to fill out a release form, which he did, and that they would send him the xrays because they didn't feel comfortable sending it to another doctors office. He explained to them that my son had an appt that day (I was getting a teeth cleaning and my dentist asked to just bring my son with me so he could look at him) and if they could send the xrays before noon. They said, sure no problem. We are putting the treatment plan together and will send you the xrays soon.

Now, after all the stress we get home and after 20 minutes my daughter pulls the gauze out of her mouth and lo and behold only ONE upper canine was extracted (tooth C) and the tooth behind it was also pulled(tooth B). My daughter is DEVASTATED. We've been preparing her for her two upper canine, the office said they were taking care of it, I'm just at a loss. I called the office back and tell them that only one canine was extracted and the tooth behind it was pulled also. There was no mention of the tooth behind it needing to be pulled. I'm so upset. I'm trying to explain this to them and I'm met with attitude and nothing but excuses. DJ was incredibly rude to me and never once did I receive an apology. I call Liberty insurance to find out what teeth exactly were approved. They tell me that it was for tooth C and M. I'm not a dentist, I don't know what teeth those are so I look it up. Turns out that C is one upper canine and M is the LOWER canine. So the referral was sent in wrong. And that doesn't explain why the tooth behind C was pulled. Meanwhile, its getting closer to my dentist appt and we still haven't received the email of my sons xrays. My husband calls again, and they say Oh were sending it right now. Hour later. Nothing. So he calls again. They say same thing. FINALLY, right before the appt they send the email only to find out its the xrays of my daughters teeth! My husband has to call AGAIN.

After some more phone calls I finally am not getting any answers from the office and are just dealing with a bunch of excuses and rude attitude, I ask for an appt with the Ortho who gave the original referral so I can sort things out. A week later I see the Ortho, who I LOVE by the way, explain everything to her, she confirms that it should have been tooth C and H. I told her they sent in for C and M. She looks at the referral form in my daughters chart and asks Joanna if she thought the H looked like an M. Joanna said yes and then the Ortho asked her to send in an emergency auth for tooth H. So there you have it. I was right all along, it should have been her two top canines, it was confirmed by the Ortho, by the dentist Dr. Abraham and the other dentist who cleaned my kids teeth. I feel some relief that I wasn't being crazy or difficult and that it was indeed a mistake on the part of the office. And by the way, again, no apology. They had made an appt for my son for 12/23/2020 for his procedures and I asked to make one for my daughter for the same day so we could get this all done once and for all.

I wait a week to see if the auth was sent in for tooth H and nothing was sent in. I'm upset again because this needs to be taken care of and the Ortho told Joanna to send in an emergency and she never did. I called Liberty and explained everything, they actually called on my behalf and I was told that they are submitting the auth and everything was taken care of. Finally! Nope, just kidding. I got a call several days later saying it was denied. Called Liberty again and was told that they submitted the wrong code. I called the office, told them what Liberty said and asked if they could fix. I was told they would do it right away. I waited several days and called Liberty again to see if the auth went through and was approved. Again, nothing was sent in. Such negligence. I had Liberty call them again and explain exactly what needed to be done. They said they spoke with Joanna in the office and she was going to take care of it. At this point I don't believe that, rightfully so, so I call and ask Joanna to take care of it. I'm sure she was incredibly annoyed and I can hear it in her voice but can she blame me? She never does anything she says she is. Finally, get a call from Liberty saying everything is approved. Thank the Lord! I feel so relieved and glad we are getting this all taken care of right before Christmas.

Now for my son, I received an approval from Liberty for two fillings, TWO crowns and TWO molar extractions. He is six. I was only told two fillings, one crown and one extraction. I talked to my dentist and he said I can take a conservative approach and only get 4 fillings, no crowns and only needed one molar extracted as the other one would fall out. Day of apppointment for my daughter and son I ask if I could talk to doctor first. I explained to her that I was just a little uncomfortable with all the work needing to be done on my son as it all seemed to change so much after every visit and I had gotten a second opinion. She explained why my son needed the work, I told her I understand and as I was trying to explain where I was coming from she cut me off and told me she thinks I should just go to the other doctor. I said well no, they don't take their insurance and I was just wanting to have a conversation with her so I would feel more comfortable. I asked if I could talk to my husband real quick and this is when she seemed upset and told me last time my husband came in there was all this miscommunication and it was a mess. I had told her well there was no miscommunication on our parts, we were told by 3 doctors before that her two top teeth needed to go and it turns out that the office sent in the wrong referral and that's what happened that day, but everything was worked out as my daughters tooth was approved. She walked away while I talked to my husband and we decided to just go ahead and have all the work done that she suggested. I was on the phone for not even a minute. I waited for the doctor to come back only to have a girl from the office come back and tell me the doctor felt uncomfortable doing the procedure because of all the miscommunication from before and because it took such a long time for my daughter to get her work done last time. I was appalled. I told the lady that there was no communication issues, my husband and I agreed to have all the work done on my son and that my daughter has anxiety, what did she want me to do? Dr. Magnolia is a pediatric specialist and works with children, and now she doesn't want to deal with my daughter? I asked her if she could please ask the doctor if she can at least do my daughters one tooth as we've been trying to get this done since October. She refused. Worst of all is that the doctor couldn't even tell me this to my face. She seemed upset and offended that I had gotten a second opinion, which is totally not unusual. After everything we had went through and all the stress and phone calls I put in to get everything approved and she just says no. So unprofessional. I cannot tell you how upset I am. I did nothing wrong in this situation, I was confirmed by 3 different dentists about her teeth, the office sent in wrong referral and were the ones that caused all the miscommunication, Joanna and DJ behind the desk were rude and unhelpful, and I'm being punished for it. Actually, my poor daughter is. I wish I could say that I'm not affected by this but this has been so stressful to get worked out and then it doesn't happen, and 2 days before Christmas. My daughter had been having nightmares about her teeth and now everything has been pushed back again and I have to find another doctor and go through the same process. This office is terrible at getting things done, they are completely negligent, their error has caused my daughter mental harm and no one has apologized or admitted to any wrong doing. Every visit resulted in a different "issue" progressively getting worse and my daughter had a tooth pulled that was never talked about and wasn't approved on the day of the procedure.

This Dental Group has made me liable for payments which belongs to my fiance. I referred my fiance to this West Coast Dental Group in Torrance Ca., Group tried to open an account for him but wasn't approved. So they opened another Care Credit Card under my name without my authorization. Group claims they had my signature which isn't true. The only signature was my fiance. Why would I need another Care Credit card. Group has credit $735.00 but has a balance over 1600.00 with late charges accumalating under my name. My credit is now being ruin by West Coast Dental and now it's going to collections. I have sent greivance letter to GE Money Billing Dispute Dept. and nothing has been resolved. I will never send any referrals to this Dental office. I didn't realize if you refer someone to receive work for any dental or even medical, that you will become liable for their bills. This is really taking a toll on my health, too. I hope there is something that can be done to these companies that are taking advantage of people. Especially now that the economy is hurting everyone.