Do Your Research and Ask Specific Questions

I saw Dr Chen specifically for an Invisalign consultation. No other treatment or “in house” products were ever mentioned. Every bit of email correspondence only spoke of Invisalign, from my words and theirs. The price was Invisalign price. The product was NOT Invisalign. Almost every tray I had broke, their answer was to move on to the next one, no matter the time frame. I had blisters under my tongue from the poor fit of these trays. When I started treatment with her, I had a few crooked bottom teeth, but a perfect bite. Midway through treatment I had told her my back teeth were no longer touching, too to bottom. I couldn’t chew. She told me I had long canines and she could file them down. I knew this wasn’t the case because I’d already had braces as a teen. My bite was fine before. I declined and said we could wait and see how things are down the road. My trays continued to break, it got to where I didn’t want to speak because it hurt with the blisters from where the trays were rubbing my mouth raw, and my bite was getting worse. 

I started researching and realized I didn’t even have Invisalign. I then compared with a friend who did have Invisalign. Mine were so cheap and awful in appearance even. After the fact learned that the Invisalign trays have their logo physically on the tray. I contacted the office by email and told them my bite was worse and asked when I was informed I was getting an inferior product and not what I paid for and agreed to. She would not answer by email and told me that Dr. Chen would like to see me the next day. 

The next day she looked at my bite, agreed it was bad, looked at my scans again and this time came to the conclusion that the scan had messed up and we would need to do a revision asap. I then asked her what happened with me not getting what I paid for. Her answer: This is cheaper!!!! My reaction:For who??? Certainly not me. I informed her this was not her decision to make. She agreed. She also told me that they use the term Invisalign as a generic term, because if they didn’t use that term no one would know what they are talking about. She said that she talked to her staff earlier in the day to change their wording. 

I asked her what my options are now. She told me she could do a revision and TRY to fix what she had done or if I wanted Invisalign she would have to remove everything and start all over, including charging me like I’d done nothing. She had already exhausted the $2000 from my insurance at this point also. She acted very ugly to me at this point, like it was all my fault. I had been nothing but forgiving to her, UP UNTIL THIS POINT. I was more shocked and upset that this was her response, I just wanted to cry. She had wasted 7 months at this point, along with over $3,000. I would have never gone to a regular dentist if I was not using Invisalign. She was mad at me??? 

Either way I went at this point, the hardware had to be removed. When she removed the buttons from my teeth she left gouges in a few of them. I left there, cried, and never went back. I contacted them and informed them to cancel any remaining appointments. I now have a very bad open bite and cannot chew my food. I went and got estimates from other ORTHODONTISTS to see what it would take to fix my teeth. It estimates were $3,100-$5000. Now an extensive treatment instead of the “lite” that I started with. Another 9 month to a year. 

I had a lawyer write up a demand letter to get my money back that I paid out of pocket, my insurance money-because it was all a waste and now exhausted, And then what would be left over for another dentist to fix why she did-while using the product she told me I was getting to begin with. She did not comply. She sent me a check for what I paid out of pocket along with a letter telling me that I needed to find another provider, they would no longer treat me. Again, like I was the problem. I would run from this place. They are not trustable and she is not a nice person. The good reviews on google are most likely due to the fact that they text you a link to review them as soon as you walk out from your first appointment. If I would have reviewed then, I would have had nothing but great things to say about her.

Fun fact, it’s impossible to find a lawyer who does dental malpractice.