Coast Dental Services

Re: Dr George Van Etta-Coast Dental St Augustine FL

My first appointment with Dr. Van Etta was on 3/3/2021. I had a full set of x-rays, a cleaning, four lower teeth were prepped for crowns, and temporary crowns were put on my four lower teeth. During the visit, Dr. Van Etta said I may need a root canal on tooth 25. Later in the visit, Dr. Van Etta said I did not need a root canal on tooth 25 and commented on my large tori. In addition to my Delta Dental HMO coverage, I paid in full $2,131.99 for the services described above.

I returned to the office about a week later to have permanent crowns put on my teeth. During this visit, Dr. Van Etta put two of the four permanent crowns on my teeth. He stated tooth 25 would need a root canal so he couldn't put the permanent crown on that tooth or the tooth next to it. I shared I would be having surgery on 4/16/21 and would need to have the root canal at least two weeks before of two weeks after surgery.

The temporary crown on tooth 25 came off the next day. I went back to the dentist the following day and they put the temporary crown back on my tooth. The temporary crown fell of again the following day. I spoke with Dr. Van Etta's office requesting an appointment and letting them know my concern about any possible infection and my upcoming surgery. They said they would need to speak with the doctor before scheduling. There was no response by mid morning, so I called the call center and shared my concerns. They scheduled an appointment for 11 am that day. Dr. Van Etta's office then called and said the doctor would be doing a root canal at my 11 am appointment.

Dr. Van Etta began the root canal. He hit a nerve twice and I shared it was very painful. His response was, "That's good. It means I found the nerve." I was not given anything to relieve my pain. Then, Dr. Van Etta said, "I can't get this, you need to see an Endodontist. He then told me not to come back there until I saw the Endodontists. This was a very painful experience. I was left wondering why he didn't know the complexity of this situation before he started a procedure he couldn't finish when he had xrays and was aware of my tori prior to the procedure.

I believe Dr. Van Etta did not provide me with adequate dental services and was not prudent in his practices.