Vinings Dental Group

This dentist office will do anything for money. I should have turned away when I got a bad review from one of my co-workers but I had already scheduled my appointment so I figured I would go for a cleaning an see for myself. Luckily I was prepared for what was to come and I escaped with little damage. The constantly try and sell you additional "services" that you don't need an conviently aren't covered by any insurance provider. There is a reason why no insurance provider covers it...it's not necessary. After turning down these "services" they were very frustrated with me and barely cleaned my teeth before shipping me out. I will never go back there again and will tell everyone that I know to stay away. It's a complete waste of time and money.

I too had similar experiences. Although the staff was very friendly, I always had a nagging feeling that I was being taken advantage of. I never had to have a deep cleaning before nor did I have to go every 3 months for a cleaning. 3 crowns and teeth whitening later, I am out of pocket for more than $3,000. On my last visit, Dr. Perez insisted that I needed 2 more crowns. I have now switched dentists. I am so glad I read all of these reviews. They really helped me make up my mind to switch. These people at Vinings Dental are so smooth. They give you enough information to make you think that you really need all of these procedures.

I, too, had a bad experience here. I switched dentists a couple of years ago because this group tried to tell me I needed a very expensive deep cleaning! When I went to another dentist, he said it wasn't at all necessary.

I switched to Dr. McMasters, right down the street, across from Vinings Jubilee, and am very happy with him.

Do not feel trapped when dealing with this dentist office. There are plenty better ones out there. I had a horrible experience here and do not recommend them to anyone. Customer service was somewhat decent until confronted about concerns. The dentists were nice but the whole time it feels like you and your insurance are being taken advantage of, and you both are. If you do not believe it at first, go back a few times. Please leave if you can, but don't come here in the first place. Thank you to those reporting them to the Dentist authorities!

I had the same exact experience. X-rays, the Deep Cleaning, and they first thing they did was pull my insurance to see what i had available. They didnt even clean my teeth.I must say some of the staff is ok, but the other half not so much. SO they ripped me off just like the rest of the patients they have. It cost me over $3000!!! I talked to several other people and had them get a estiment from their dentist on the same work I had done by Vinings Dental and the other dentist only charged about half those types of procedures.

I wish I had read these reviews sooner as well. Prior to moving to Smyrna, I went to a dentist in Decatur who didn't see any problems with my teeth. I started recently with Vinings Dental and Dr. Perez told me that I had early signs of Periodontal disease and the bone loss was concerning for someone of my age. They said that the fact that my gums bled when they flossed was a sign of this. Previously, I thought that gums bleeding was just a sign that I didn't floss as often as is recommended - which is true. They did the gum depth test and seemed to be pushing rather hard to get a deeper score. Before starting, they told me that scores higher than 4 indicated that I needed a deep cleaning. Sure enough, I had some 5's and 6's that corresponded to the times that it seemed like they pushed harder. That day, they immediately did the first round of deep cleaning. As other writers have mentioned, this treatment is not covered much or at all by insurance. They also told me that one of my fillings was compromised and would need to be re-done. I was scheduled for another visit to do the second phase of deep cleaning and re-do of the filling. The whole time I was wondering if any of this was really necessary. How could my other dentist have seen no problem at all and this dentist see so many? There are 2 possible explanations and I don't know which it is. I got the second round of deep cleaning and the rework on my older filling last week. Dr. Perez said that it looked perfect after he completed the filling. As I write this, a week after the filling was re-done, my tooth is starting to ache when I bite down. I am wondering what to do next - do I go back? I feel inclined to do this because the problem originated there, but now I feel a little trapped.

I wish I had read these reviews sooner!!
just had the dental appointment from HELL with Vinings Dental. First I had trouble locating their office. I called about 7 times to get better directions, but I kept getting a recording, never a live person, so I left a message. FINALLY 20 minutes later, someone called me back. I was about 20 minutes late for my appointment and they said, We dont usually see people if they are 15 minutes late, but since you are a new patient, well make an exception. Then I filled out all the paperwork and waited another 14 minutes. It was just after 1pm when they finally took me back. They began with a series of extremely painful and uncomfortable x-rays. I have never in my life had such a set of x-rays. They stuck about 20 different films in my mouth in odd positions and kept saying Cant you open wider than that?! Finally the torture of that was over, and I waited another 10 minutes for the hygienist. She said, Im going to check for gum disease and began a series of pokes into my gum tissue that Ive never felt before. She kept calling out numbers as she did it and later explained that was the depth of her poker. So then I wait another 10-15 minutes, and the dentist comes in to do his exam. He tells me he is referring me to an oral surgeon and orthodontist that I need my wisdom teeth removed and braces. Ive heard that before, but I dont have any pain or problems with my mouth. After another few minutes, they tell me that I have an infection in my gums (however, I have no pain or bleeding when I brush) and that they are recommending my gums be irrigated with medicine for the infection. This is not covered under my insurance, so my out of pocket expense will be $109. By this time, I have been there nearly 2 hours, so I ask if they can just do the cleaning and I come back for the medicine later. They hem haw around and finally say no, that they refuse to treat me if I dont take the medication. I was so upset and angry, but I needed the cleaning, and I had already been there for 2 hours, so I reluctantly agreed. It took me nearly 2 months to get this appointment and I was overdue for a cleaning. I am nauseous from the medicine they flooded my mouth with and have a headache from all the noises. I have had my teeth cleaned twice a year since I had teeth, and I have never had any "infection" or other problems requiring such treatment. RUN FROM THIS PLACE! I reported them to the GA Dental Board.

I went for a scheduled cleaning appointment. They took xrays. They also took out the insurance information so that they knew what they would be able to bill for. Dr. Perez said that I needed my teeth to be whitened and that they were running and special AND had a cancelation so he can do it today. He stated that he wouldn't refill an old cavity until I had the needed whitening. Also, he recommended a deep cleaning. When I was presented with the treatment plan, I didn't want to sign. The assistant insisted that I had to sign. So, I did, with the words "I do not accept this tx plan". I asked about my regular cleaning and she said they wouldn't do it, they would only do the deep cleaning which my insurance doesn't cover. I know I need a deep cleaning, but I don't have the $169 out of pocket this second. I have been in the dental field for many years and something just doesn't seem kosher about this. Also, their xray arms are loose and it kept falling on me during xrays. The hygenist actually held the device, without a lead apron, during most of my xrays.

This place over several visits in 2006 had ONE dentist and about 12 plus chairs. Felt like a puppy mill. Each person left with a whole lot of extra billed items, rinse, toothpaste, special this $$ or that $$. Anything to make a buck. I had xrays taken and the next visit just a few months they dont ask, just throw the xray cover on you. I say WAIT! She says oh dont worry we bill your insurance. Yeah right. They only pay every so often. A rinse in a little cup they hand you is billed $28. Any gum cleaning? They will add arestin which may be good, I dont know, but SO expensive and insurance wont cover it. That added multi multi hundreds. Beware. You will leave paying 6 times or more what you thought you were going to pay.

This place is shady. I got the same gum diagnosis with a really expensive treatement program spread out over a long period. I've seem alot of bad reviews. I am changing doctors for my next visit.

I first went to VDG several years ago and was completely thrilled with my dentist, who has since left the group and moved to Macon. I needed quite a bit of work done and he was very helpful in prioritizing my needs and was meticulous in getting everything absoultely perfect. So entralled was I that I overlooked the complete lunatic that runs the front desk. At the time my dental insurance was set up with a five dollar co-pay plus a sort of a la carte charge per service. I spent several thousand dollars there because I wanted that dentist to provide me with some veneers. He did an excellent job. I paid in cash and life was great.

Then he left and a new dentist took my case. I believe it may be the Dr. Perez that the previous commenter mentioned. I do not recall as it has been at least 3 or 4 years sent I have been seen in this office.

One interesting thing you will notice about this office is that all the dentists I encoutered were male and quite physically attractive. This is not a bad thing, but they were also sort of schmarmy in a used car salesman sort of way. So the dentist, Let's call him Rico Suave for lack of a better name comes up with all these expensive procedures he want's to do, root canal, fillings etc. and it is all itemized and printed out for me in advance of my appointment.

One of the procedures was something I was not familiar with. I want to say that they cut your gums back, I can't remember what it was exactly I just recall it being very expensive and painful sounding so I researched it on the net. It seemed a controversial and unnecessary part of my treatment plan so I went in and told the dental asst I was not going to allow that procedure but we could carry on with the root canal and filling.

The dental asst basically said I could not change the treatment plan. And I laughed and explained to her, they were my teeth and I, as Bush would say, I am the decider. Shwe also said something very telling. She said Rico was one of the few dentists in the Atlanta area who knew how to do the procedure. I replied that that simply reinforced my belief that it must not be a critical procedure then if no one else is doing it. Off she fled to retreive Rico Suave.

Rico, in his schmarmy I am a hot latino man who is trying to explain
to the clearly unintelligent female about the procedure was becoming increasingly pissed off with me because I did not want the procedure and hollered about how I dare I question his medical assessment.

So I got up and left. I don't want a pissed off dentist giving me a root canal sorry.

Clearly I didn't check out with the accounting nazi on the desk because no services had been rendered and in fact I should have billed them for wasting my time.

So they billed me a five dollar office visit copay. Lord knows what they sent the insurance company.

They send me a bill several times a year for this five dollars I do not owe them. They have more than exceeded the amount they seek to claim in postage. And everytime I get a letter from them I literally laugh out loud. I got another one today and thought I would see if anyone else was having problems with them.

I found a new dentist who disagreed with my need for MOST of the stuff on the printout I brought him He fixed me right up and things are fine. It will not surprise me to see VDG on the news for some scandalous behavior at any time.

Oh and to the previous poster, there is a reason you don't have to wait very long for them to see you.

Edited to add:

I just found this on a blog from May of 2004 with the title "Scam Artist"

scam-artists
This morning I had an 8:30am dentist appointment at a new place called the Vinings Dental group. I switched my dentist to these people on Ss recommendation.

I scheduled a cleaning. However, I did not get a cleaning. Instead the dental assistant girl was very rough with some tool to measure my gums. Next they took about a dozen x-rays of my mouth with an old-looking x-ray machine. After that they printed out a detailed list of all the stuff I need done.

The list included several procedures spread out across four appointments. Apparently I have I problem with my gums and the only way to correct it is to spend $1,030 worth of procedures. Strangely enough, insurance doesnt cover this. I left the dentist office with a sore feeling in my rear and a $20 bottle of glorified Listerine. Only later did I marvel at the fact that I went in for a cleaning but did not get a cleaning, instead a laundry list of stuff that is supposed to cost over $1,000.

I think Im going to get a second opinion.

Please do yourself and your teeth a favor and find a different dentist. Dr. Perez looked at my private insurance maximums and developed disease states from there. I was diagnosed with horrible periodontal disease that required a total of 12 visits costing $3000 worth of care(and 6 office visits). I got a second opinion at one of Vinings most reputable dentists and was told I was in wonderul dental health a mere 5 days later. This man has the WORST bedside manner I have ever encountered - he coughed in my open mouth while he had an instrument deep into my gums gashing it open. I am contacting the Georgia Dental Board.

I have been to this dentists three times in the last three months, my fault (cavities), not theirs. Once signed in, I've never had to wait very long. Also, it is not too bad if a schedule change needs to be made. Plus, they take appointments starting at 7:30 - great way to start a work day.