A netizen posted a story online over a terrible experience at a dentist located in Tanjong Pagar.
Here is the story:
We had a horrible and disturbing experience at this dental clinic – Vincent Dental at Tanjong Katong yesterday. We had previously gone to the clinic on 23rd April 2021 to do two crown reattachments.
Subsequently, on the 13th of July, one of the crowns detached again and was lost. As I had just given birth the day earlier, we had to wait till yesterday 26th July to revisit the clinic to enquire about a crown replacement.
Having made an appointment, on entering the clinic, I was asked to enter the room and without asking any questions or giving me any information on what they were doing, they proceeded to do moulding(which I only realised when they were doing it). In the process, and to my horror, the clinic dislodged the existing crown next to the missing one. The clinic then proceeded to make me sit there while they prepared to reattach the crown they dislodged, all the while complaining that the tooth was too short and other comments. This crown was also previously reattached by the same dentist.
During the wait, we then asked the clinic how they caused the crown to be dislodged and they insisted that it was loose and not of their doing. We asked about the price of the new crown and they rudely said that it would be $850 where previously mentioned was $600. When queried, they insisted that they told us $850 previously and showed us a patient card that we only saw for the first time with the amount written there. This felt extremely ridiculous as they neither asked nor advised anything before taking it upon themselves to decide that we were doing the replacement crown with them.
Afterwhich the dentist came and did the reattachment. After reattaching, it felt extremely uncomfortable and misaligned, but despite my feedback, they insisted that that was all they could do. Given the bad experience and poor service as well as indifferent attitude, we did not want to continue to use their service anymore and decided to leave. On leaving, they even had the cheek to ask if we were going to do the crown replacement with them. When we said we wanted to consider, the clinic told us that they would charge us for the reattachment of the crown they dislodged as well as the mould for the crown replacement.
When I asked why they were charging us for their mistake, the dentist said that sometimes other crowns may dislodge when doing the mould if the job was not well done. I told him that the crown was attached by him. The dentist gave us an exasperated look and said that he was “helping” when he attached it the last time even though he had charged us for doing it and that there was no guarantee it wouldn’t drop again. When I reiterated that the crown was dislodged by them, he just insisted that the clinic was not responsible and asked us back why he should be liable for “helping” us.
When asked why the clinic didn’t tell us the price of the replacement crown before doing the mould, they even had the audacity to say that it was not a STANDARD practice for their clinic to inform patients of the price and drew our attention to an obscure pricelist pasted on their countertop which was covered by a table calendar insisting that MOH only required them to display the prices. When I asked them if it was they should at least inform the patient what they were going to do, they said rudely, “you lost your crown so must be coming to replace lah” making it seem their right to do as they wish without patient consent or information. First, they didn’t ask for consent, didn’t give any pricing information before performing a procedure. (So the charges will be up to them and we just have to pay what they say???). Unethical behaviour.
Secondly, they caused an existing crown to dislodge during their work and still insisted that it was not their responsibility, wasting my time and putting me through more distress and discomfort. No professional standards.
Thirdly, when questioned, shirked all responsibility on their part by blatantly declaring that the blame was on the previous work done. Irresponsible to patients.
Would you be willing to go to such a clinic for your dental needs????