Ocean Dental–bomb shelter offices more like sweat shops

From RipOff Report:

Ocean Dental advertises for Medicaid and has commercials that attract children with Medicaid.  They have a call center that takes their calls.  They train these young representatives to not let the caller know they are on the phone with a call center.  Ocean Dental wants the patient or parent to be tricked into thinking they are talking to a nurse in the clinic.  In all actuality you are speaking to someone who knows nothing about your child, nothing about Medicaid, and nothing concerning dental terminology or illnesses caused by tooth decay.  The purpose of the call center is just to real you in onto their schedule, so that they can give you a 7 minute cleaning and take your Medicaid.  Someone from the Kentucky, Louisianna, or Ohio area can call and will get the call center in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  The representatives in this call center, which is located in a bomb shelter and set up under a bank, has never seen the clinics and do not know what they look like.  They have only heard the voices of the people that work the front desk.  How sketchy for a dental practice to take advantage of Medicaid patients because they know that these people are low income and welfare based.  Something should be done about the quality of that working environment.  They seldom have water and have to walk up a large set of steep steps to get to the bathroom which is shared amongst the Ocean Dental reps and the bank workers.  Eight hours of work underground with no breaks.  This place is worse than a Chinese sweat shop.  The best advice from a worker who currently works there is if you care about your child’s dental needs DO NOT take them to Ocean Dental.

Ocean Dental gets a D- from the BBB

Ocean Dental, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma is not receiving very good reviews. In fact the Better Business Bureau is giving it a D-.

Over on Topix there was a thread started in 2009 when a parent complained and told what happened to her child at an Ocean Dental in Arkansas. Here

No wonder so few parents speak up about the terrible experiences that happen to their children at these dental mills. This was was literally attacked! One person even said, that if they were bad, they wouldn’t be in business. 

Lord, it must be nice to live in land of Oz.! Last I checked the “waterboarding” dentist, Megann Scott worked at one of their OK clinics.

Ocean Dental Complaints

I've always had my suspicions how children were treated at Ocean Dental.  I even made a trip to the one in Louisville, Kentucky and talked with a couple of parents.  I was scared the children were receiving the same kind of care at Ocean as they do from FORBA/Small Smiles and NCDR/Kool Smiles, Smile Starters and other dental mill clinics.  However, I'm only one person and my focus has been on Small Smiles and Kool Smiles. 

Ocean Dental and Adventure Dental have been on my radar and did make the 'to do' list here at Dentist The Menace.  A couple of weeks ago the two comments below were posted. 

I was a employee of ocean dental. I was a hygienist that had to see 40- 50 patients a day. Ocean Dental commits Medicaid fraud and something needs to be done! RDH

I worked at ocean dental. ocean dental should be investigated. I also heard children cry and a doctor tell the kids to shout up. They give to much nitrous. the children are getting sick, wont allow parents to come back. now they are committing insurance fraud: bad filling!! RCT (Root Canal Therapy) failures, abscesses and fistulas not treated because they are to busy. They have fired over 20 people in three years in the Louisville office because they had been good employees, and didn't like what went on. Someone needs to do something.  I reported it to the dental board but nothing is done!! Health care and being poor should never be at the cost of our children. RDH 

I hope this employee or ex-employee takes this a step further and files a Qui Tam (Whistler Blower) lawsuit.  Surely there is some attorney in Kentucky willing to take this on.  In light of the recent settlement by FORBA and their Small Smiles clinics it's clear the same kind of abuse and fraud is taking place.  Let me appeal to "greed"...Imagine the $$'s to be made here.  As for the employee, 10% of the settlement is usually a pretty good chunk of change...  

To the poster:

I understand your frustration with the dental board.  I've written them several times, the last time ended up more like a book and have not heard a word from them.  I sent a copy of this letter to 8 lawmakers in Kentucky and I've not heard back from them either.  Clearly they could care less.  But know this, I care!