Philly Dentists

So, if you happen to live in Philadelphia you may be in the market for a dentist.  I have interacted with so many local dentists/oral surgeons, that I consider myself a bit of an expert at this point.  Unfortunately, I have had many more negative experiences than positive. 

I will include contact info because one woman's frustration may be another man/woman's favorite new dentist.  I happen to feel that if your front desk person is rude, I really don't want to deal with you beyond that because this is the person you chose to represent you. You may not feel that way.

(*) = African American 

Who I (basically) like:
Gentle Dental
Dr. Andrew In

Dr. Andrew In

2627 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia
215.764.5884

Why: Dr. In is a pretty straight forward guy, and is certainly not the jovial dentist I would recommend for children.  However, he works on some Saturdays, and does his job well.

The front desk at Gentle Dental has been pretty good with one HUGE exception.  There was once a time when I waited outside in the snow for over an hour beyond my appointment time before anyone would let me into the building.  I banged on the door in the bitter cold for 45 minutes.  The woman who let me in was completely unapologetic.  I have not seen her since.  Sadly, even with this terrible experience, this is the best dental office I have located.

Interesting tidbit:  Dr. In is not African American (at least, I don't think he is), however he went to Howard University for dental school.

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Jefferson Oral Surgery
909 Walnut St., Philadelphia
215.955.6215

Why: I went in for oral surgery, counted to ten, and woke up without wisdom teeth.  I never experienced pain, just the annoyance of having food fall into the vacant holes until they healed.  I had some issues with the front desk--they told me that my health insurance would cover my extraction, claimed to have "verified" this information, but when I showed up the day of the extraction I was told that my health benefit would not cover it.  I ended up rescheduling so that I could verify this information for myself.

Verdict not out:
Temple University Orthontics
3223 N. Broad St., 2nd Fl
Why:  So far so good, but I'll fully review this one after my braces come off. One moment of frustration however was the two week period I spent in August trying to reach someone (anyone) in the office to schedule my second tightening. I ended up calling the dental clinic at Temple and having someone take a note to orthodontia asking them to call me. I did get a call and was told that nobody had answered the phone for two weeks because one of the secretaries was on maternity leave and her replacement was not very good. Umm. What?

Who to avoid:
Ogontz Dental Center
Dr. Dvorchak James, DMD
1614 E Upsal St., Philadelphia
215.392.4550

Why:  I swear I am not someone who usually attracts rude treatment, but once again I experienced extremely rude treatment at the front desk.  Twice I attempted to schedule appointments, and twice I was so aghast at the rude treatment that I just had to walk away.  It's more of a general eye and neck roll as if you are inconveniencing them by asking a question than anything else.  The dentist himself may be lovely.  I will never know.   

Further, there are no weekend hours and weekday hours are quite limited.  This lucky dentist only works until 2 p.m. three days out of the week.

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Dr. Douglas A. Cranch, DMD

2630 W Cheltenham Ave., Philadelphia
215.924.2436

Why: This dentist plead guilty to insurance fraud and theft.  If you can't trust trust him with your insurance billing, I certainly would not trust him in my mouth.  Might be hard to get an appointment with him anyhow since he may be locked up.

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Dr. Chinyelu Dibor, DMD*
5525 Wayne Ave., Philadephia
215.843.4900

Why:  Again we encounter rude front desk staff, but this was actually even worse than the Ogontz Dental Center experience.  (I really am a nice person.  I promise.) I traveled on public transportation in the unexpected rain to visit Dr. Dibor on a recommendation.  I wanted get a feel for the place and schedule an appointment.  I got off of the bus too early, and walked the last few blocks. I arrived drenched, and told the woman at the desk that I wanted to schedule an appointment for a teeth cleaning. 

Let me share the dialogue of the conversation:

Me:  Hi!  [friendly smile] I would like to schedule an appointment to have my teeth cleaned.
Rude Desk Chick: Well, can you afford it?
Me: [pauses]  Um, I'm not quite sure what you mean.  I'm pretty sure the procedure is covered by my insurance.
Suddenly UnRude Desk Chick:  Ooooh, you have insurance!
Me: Oh, wow. 

Side note:  I really don't even know why I bothered to go check out the place because it was pretty unappealing, yet I still went ahead and tried to schedule an appointment. 

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About Your Smile
Glenn A. Brown, DMD, JD*
6772 Market St., Upper Darby
610.734.0115

Why:  Billing nightmare.  I found Dr. Brown on my insurance provider's network to ensure that he was in-network, then went for X-rays and a cleaning.  I arrived at the office and they verified that they were in-network.  Well!  Imagine my surprise when I am billed out-of-network due to the fact that the dentist had someone else in his office who did not take my insurance complete the work.  Completely unacceptable.

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Temple University Dental School Clinic
 3223 N Broad St, Philadelphia
215.707.2803
I have been having a perfectly good experience with the orthodontic school (upstairs), but the dental school was a completely different story.

(1) First, it will be several months before you can schedule your first appointment.  This is not their fault, there is simply a high demand for reasonably priced dental care.
(2) The wait time the day of your appointment is outrageous, even for a school, and each procedure happens at a glacial pace.  Expect to wait an hour after your appointed time just to be seen.
(3) Of course, each student dentist will be different.  However, it seems that the school in general would do well to spend more time teaching their students chair-side manner.

If you can afford to go to a regular dentist, definitely do.  Otherwise, be prepared for a wait.  I spent a lot of time at USC's school of dentistry in Los Angeles, and the experience at Temple is nowhere near comparable.  I hear that Penn's dental school is good.

Let's Talk Pain

Braces Hurt Like Hell

This is a simple fact that I wish someone would have just told me outright at some point.  The second day of braces was just plain torture.  The closest parallel I can draw is the feeling of having all of my teeth slowly pulled out of my mouth with pliers... all day long.  I popped some aspirin, which did nothing at all.  I upgraded to Ibuprofen and felt a little better, but still very uncomfortable.

For a week I could eat NO solid food at all.  When I say solid, I mean literally anything that required my teeth to close down--no rice, no noodles, no soft bread... NOTHING.  If I could not eat it by mushing it with my tongue, I could not eat it.  You quickly start to realize which foods dissolve in your mouth (thank you cupcakes) and which ones definitely do not (curse you Ramen noodles).

Adult Braces Hurt More
It's hard to get clear answers about whether adult braces hurt more than they do on children, but I am going to go with yes they do.  Simply put, a child's jaw is still growing and their teeth often just grew in.  Adult jaws are firmly in place and our teeth have been in much long.  Braces basicaly re

My week 1 diet included:
- yogurt (no fruit or other mix-ins of any kind)
- pudding
- smoothies
- milkshakes
- mashed potatoes
- mashed sweet potatoes (thank you Boston Market)
- baby food (don't judge me)
- muffins/cake (they crumble and dissolve in your mouth), but bread does NOT
- potato soup
- ice cream (no chunks/nuts)

Ice cream is my favorite dessert, but by the end of the first week I was pretty darn sick of it... and pretty hungry overall.  Somehow not chewing just made me feel hungry all the time.  Probably psychological.  

My week 2 diet included:
- overcooked noodles
- softer breads
- some tuna and other chopped meats (still not perfect, but manageable)
- tamales
- fish sandwich
- most foods considered "soft"

By the end of the second week I can eat most foods with the exception of:
- crunchy foods
- french bread
- chicken/steak/thick meats
- chewy foods or foods that require you to bite in (i.e. a hoagie sandwich)

Update:

I would say that within a month I was chomping down on just about anything... including everything listed above.  The only thing I never do, even 12 months later, is bite directly into dense foods (apple) with my front teeth.  I just always have the feeling that I will pop a bracket doing that (which I've never done).  

Getting Braces

The Process
It seemed to take forever between my first visit to the orthodontist and actually getting the braces on my teeth.  Here was the process (which, naturally, may vary for you).

1. Initial consultation and x-rays.  This was pretty straight forward.  The ortho. basically just discusses why you want to get braces and outlines options.  If you have already researched the different types of methods and know which you would like, you can discuss this with your ortho. so that he can see if it is an option for you.  They will take preliminary x-rays.

2.  More imaging and impressions.  Basically, they just take several more x-rays of your teeth.    They will check your bite, do some measuring, basically look at your overall mouth.  The impressions are taken using a product that feels like sticking your teeth into play-do.  Not terrible.

3.  Three weeks later (time needed to have molds completed) meet with the orthodontist to view a mold of your teeth and discuss your treatment.

4. Time for braces!

So, I was looking at about 8 weeks from the first visit until the braces went on.  Part of this had to do with appointment availability. 

Braces Day!
It took about half an hour for my orthodontist to place my braces, as compared to the two hours that others experience.

My dentist did not talk to me about damon braces or lingual braces, which I thought he should have done.  Nonetheless, the process was fine and I would have probably gone with traditional braces anyhow.  That's because I am getting them done at a school and want to do the "easiest" procedure for the student if that makes sense.

The second day was simply torture.  I feel as though other people downplay the pain, but it hurt like hell for a solid week.  In fact, I will dedicate another blog post just to the pain.

Feeling Awkward
I felt incredibly awkward the first day I had my braces.  My mouth felt absolutely chock full of metal, and aesthetically I was not pleased.  Furthermore, my bite felt off, which I told my orthodontist and he did his best to fix, but it still didn't feel as though I could close my teeth properly.  I'm 70% better now, so I guess it was just a matter of time.

I also have to harp a bit on how uncomfortable your mouth feels initially.  Not pain (that's not until day 2), but some pressure and just a general feeling of having a bunch of stuff in your mouth.  I tried to eat right away and was totally grossed out by the amount of food that was sticking between my teeth and my braces while I tried to chew.  This was awful, but two weeks later I barely notice this at all. 

Your lips will get very dry during the application as your mouth is propped open, so lip balm definitely would have helped.  My orthodontist suggested that I take a pain killer right away when I got home, but since I didn't feel any pain (just a good deal of pressure), I ignored him.  BAD IDEA.  Alright, go ahead and read about the pain... [Click Here] 

Up close and personal with my braces.

Paying for Braces

 

Braces Aren't Cheap
So, braces aren't cheap and it can be hard to get up front pricing from orthodontists.  The cheapest I have found in Philadelphia and the option I selected was to go with the Temple Orthodontic School at Temple University.

Naturally, going to a school means that my doctor is also still a student.  However, I was not overly concerned with this because there is a lot of oversight and these are students who already completed dental school.

I am paying a total of $3700 for my braces.  I believe I paid $150 during the first visit, $150 during the second visit, nothing during the third visit, and $400 the day my braces were applied.  My visits were each about two weeks apart, however my first visit had to be scheduled months out.

I will pay $150 per month until the total is paid.  This is a standard payment plan for anyone who goes to Temple for braces.  They just automatically put you on this plan.  Of course, you could pay the whole thing up front if you wanted to.

Other orthodontists will likely charge around $5000, and this payment option would probably cost or be credit/income contingent.

[Update:  I have since learned that most orthodontists offer the same type of payment plan and cost about the same.  So, look for a good orthodontist and skip the school is my recommendation.]

Flex Spending
I am paying my payments with Flex Spending through my job.  If you are like me, you probably are not fully aware of the various benefit options that your job offers.  Fortunately, I made friends with someone in HR who explained how Flex works.

So, my Flex Spending maximum is $1500.  If I choose to take the full amount, what this means is that my job divides the $1500 by twelve and takes the payments out of my paycheck.  So, each month my check has $125 less an it.  I do not pay taxes on the $1500.  Then, my job gives me a Visa card with a $1500 limit on it.  I can use this card only for medical purchases (i.e. paying for co-pays or medicine).  My dental insurance does not cover orthodontia, so I use the Visa card to pay for my braces.  In October I can sign up again, and get another $1500.  One of the nice things is, let's say I get a new job that starts in November.  I could use up my Visa in October, but I would not be responsible for those Flex payments.  That's just how it works.  Note that Flex Spending is use it or lose it.  If I do not use up the $1500, I will lose the money at the end of the year.  Of course, with braces this is a non-issue.

Flex is nice for three reasons.  (1) You don't pay taxes on it, so you save a little money.  (2) It's a bit like a 0% loan or an advance, and you can use it right away. (3) The employer "pre-funds" it, so if you quit or are terminated you do not have to re-pay it.

[Update:  My new job does not pre-fund the flex account, so this can vary.  However, it's still a convenient tax-free way to pay for braces.  Plus, if you struggle with budgeting your employer is already taking the money out of your check before you get it.]

Find out more about Flex Spending on the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_spending_account

In the Beginning

My Back Story
So, my teeth have never been all that crooked. However, there are minor cosmetic changes I would like to see and as I have gotten older I have experienced some crowding in my bottom teeth.  I am finally responsible enough with my dental care to be at a point where I can actually get braces.

If you don't know, before you get braces the orthodontist will want to ensure that you do not have any cavities, gingivitis, etc. Embarrassingly, before last year I had not been getting regular dental care in years. (My mother would be ashamed). This was due in part to my difficulty in finding a decent dentist in Philadelphia, and in part to my being a lazy bum.

In any event, since September of last year (10 months ago) I have had:

- Two cleanings
- Four wisdom teeth removed
- Eight fillings
- One regular extraction (was originally going to be a root canal)
- Braces applied

It feels as though I have practically lived in the dentist chair.

Anywho, I hope that once my journey is over this little blog will help someone else thinking about getting braces with their decision making process.

Topics I will address right away include:
The Cost
First Days with Braces
Let's Talk About PAIN!
My Dentist

Here goes nothing!