J
Racine,#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Mon, December 20, 2010
The Treatment Fee is always agreed upon with the patient at the new patient exam and never changes after the contract is signed. There is no way to change a signed contract. There are also no "new sets of braces" there are only new wires. Patients are always given accurate explanation regarding any delays in wire production. Whether or not wires are changed, movement is still occurring. It is also very important not to miss appointments as adjustments are made at these appointments as well.
Any delay in changing the patients new ordered wire, is an insufficient reason to believe treatment will be delayed. In the case that a wire ordered was not received in time, we still see our patients make any necessary adjustments and keep treatment moving. This will not change the expected date to remove the braces at the end of treatment. A patients treatment can be delayed although if they do not honor their appointments. We gladly give any patient the number to SureSmile, and they can find it online on our website, where there is a link to SureSmile. In Accordance with the Hippa Law, SureSmile will not disclose any informationto any caller regarding a patient, that is not the Orthodontic office. This wouldve been explained to the patient when he called asking for this information. One year of retention visits are includedwith the original treatmentafter that time there is a modest fee charged for a patients visit after that time. We will always see patients during this retention period (even if their financial account is overdue).After that yearthe only reason a patient will not be rescheduled is if that patients account is grossly delinquent in fulfilling their contracted payments.We have always welcomed any patient back to our office if they have brought their overdue account up to date. If the patient has been wearing their retainer as instructed, we have found the teeth to be very stable. Since we cannot speculate on who this patient is for sure, it appears from his story that he never did live up to the financial commitment that he made and he also did not wear his retainer as instructed. He is now looking for someone to blame for his own actions.Because we do everything in our power to make sure patients are seen and do not miss visits.Even after the year of retention visits, we will always help a patient with a retainer problem.Like stated before there would be a minimal fee for that visit, and if a patients account is not paid to date, then it would need to be handled before we see them.