Complaint Review: Dental Implant Institute

During last few months I saw a big billboard around town of Las Vegas with Dr. Cha and her husband Dr. Chen saying that they are The Most Reliable Dental Implant Team in Las Vegas (pic1)! I decided to let people know what happened to me after I received a treatment from Dr. Cha/Chen. In 2003 I decided to get rid of the partial covering the gap of my lost upper front teeth. I asked my dentist about who is the doctor to refer my problem to. He had told me that I have had big ridge defect, or bone loss, and recommended Dr. Cha mentioning that she even better that her husband Dr. Chen. I called Dr. Cha office on West Flamingo road. They promised not to charge me for the appointment. I came to her small office with the camera in the lobby and found small smiley woman Dr. Cha who had told me that I needed to extract one tooth first which was loose and do the bone restoration to achieve desirable result. I liked her and gave up myself in her hands completely. I even permitted her to cut the part of the bone from my low jaw to cover the ridge defect. The operation was very painful. She failed to cut enough bone to cover the gap and decided to compensate it by putting the bone powder on the ridge to eliminate the ridge defect which was absolutely necessary in order to have the implanted crowns the same height as the rest of the teeth. After that surgery I had to stay home for one week because my face was as big as watermelon and I had to take antibiotics to prevent developing any contagious disease. Not to mention I was making about one thousand per week. After one surgery she had told me I needed another one. I agreed to undertake one more surgery and put more powder. After that one she still could not achieve the result we needed to proceed to the next step: implanting the abutments. But, she decided to put the abutments without telling me that the ridge defect was still there. I trusted her completely thinking that she knew what she was doing. Big mistake!! The way she used to put the implants in was not to call it professional. Instead making a model to put implants under right angles and with correct distances, she took my old partial, drilled randomly three holes in it instead making a model of my upper jaw. Then she put the partial into my mouth and through those holes drilled holes in the bone to put abutments. As a result the holes came out under wrong angle and with incorrect distances. When I found out the right way to do the implants by doing research through appointments with other doctors. The right way in complicated case like mine was much longer of course. When I found out that I was mistreated or another words treated unprofessionally by Dr. Cha or Dental Institute I decided to demand my money back. What Dr. Cha did: she rushed to the next stage- implanting without completing the first one bone regeneration and eliminating a ridge defect. Why would you do implanting if bone regeneration is not done yet? Good question! When I told her about it, she decided to perform another surgery putting more bone powder after she placed three abutments without telling me that the bone could not be restored when the implants already in. That surgery was very painful and absolutely unnecessary! Because she could not put powder on top of the implants to eliminate the ridge defect, she had to cut not only the gum but upper lip to put powder to make my bone thicker. The question was and still is why did she do that? The implants came out not good see pic2. The angle for each of them and the distance from each other was incorrect (too close). I faced to have another partial (which I still have by now not to mention) into my mouth but not separate teeth with the same height as I was promised. When she ordered the crowns, they came out too long (pic2). I said no and requested my money back. By this time I was told by my dentist who started business in Nevada about Dr. Polyakov from Los Angeles. I called Dr. Polyakov to set up an appointment and went to LA to get his opinion on my case. The trip coasted me$ 550 including air tickets car rental, doctors fee and the money I lost missing one day from work. Dr. Vladimir Polyakov confirmed there was a ridge defect, but refused to release any statements in writing having said that he did not want to testify in court. Instead, Dr. Polyakov gave me his treatment plan (pic7) without telling me that the old implants had to be removed. As, I found out it could be very distractive to my nose bone area. I returned back to Las Vegas and sent complain in writhing to N.S.B.D.E.(pic2) including Dr. Polyakovs Treatment Plan ( pic7). They sent me a letter and a form to complete to file the complaint. I never did. The reason was the call from Dr. Cha to negotiate the problem. But, before that happened I have met three more doctors to get the honest and fair opinion on my case in writing. Among them where: Dr. Daniel L. Orr ll D.D.S. Ph. D. and Nelson D. Lasiter, D.M.D., F.A.C.P., LTD. Each time I paid them $100 or about (pic5). And, only Dr. Nelson D. Lasiter gave out his statement in writing(pic4). After I sent Dr. Cha the copy of his statement then only she called me to see her. We set up an appointment after business hours at Nevada Dental Implant Institute 6170 Desert Rd., Las Vegas, NV- her new office. I came over and talked to Dr. Cha in presence of her assistant from Henderson branch. Dr. Cha had told me that the only way to reimburse was to extract all three implants. At that time I had some minor procedure to be done. That minor procedure was required a few analgesic shots. After Dr. Cha gave me a few shots she left me lying on a dental char in horizontal position to get my mouth num. During this time her assistant came over and handed over a paper to me to sign. I could not think clearly and signed without even reading! That happened to be a statement saying that she did not guarantee me a good result. When I realized, it was too late! She have already had her job done and then made me to sign a statement using that tricky way. I came over again and brought a tape recorder with me. I asked her why she gave shots first and then made me to sign the paper. She answered that it was only light shots and did not make me dizzy. How did I know? I replied that the signature should be collected before the treatment done to my body not after and not after I received shots from her. She was the one to be interested in that paper with my signature! At least it would be honest and fair business. I got our conversation on the tape and left her office with mixed feelings. So, as a result of her treatment I still had the abutments into my mouth placed wrongly along with my partial and discovered that my upper lip was cut down too much! When I was eating, talking or smiling I felt discomfort and tension around my nose area. I notified Dr. Cha and asked them to fix it. It took for almost one year to have her cut my lip from inside to release it back to normal position. But, as a result of last unnecessary surgery all food gets stuck in between my upper lip and gum. When I came for check up after realizing my lip I have encountered with Dr. Chen. He never showed up during our battle with Dr. Cha. But, this time he brought a camera man to film a video clip to promote his business. So, he filmed me asking some question. Very well done I thought: They screwed me first and then used me for promotion of their business. I sent her a letter last year asking to reimburse at least partially for the first stage- bone grafting. In response I received a letter from Artermus W. Ham Law Firm(pic10) offering me to pay $2100 in exchange for my signature not release any information to media any kind. Well I sent Dr. Cha a response: I would sign maybe, but for the full refund(pic8_1, pic8, pic9); the second stage-implanting should never been performed since she failed on the first stage of the procedure. I never got a response from them. Now, the people must know that Dr. Cha/Chen is NOT The Most Reliable Dental Implant Team in Las Vegas!