I'll make my story brief:

Called Western Dental's 800 # to see if I could get in to have an impacted wisdom tooth extracted.

My main concern was whether or not they accept Medi-Cal because that's what I have.

The lady told me over the phone that they do, but that it would be best to enroll in the Western Dental program for $90, which would entitle me to an exam, and then I could get my tooth extracted. And if the final cost exceeded $200, I could pay in installments.

Otherwise, if I were to use my Medi-Cal, I would have to pay a $630 copayment.

The former option, obviously, was the wiser choice.

So I go in, to the 24th street location.

Fill out all the papers, jump through some hoops.

And then I get called up to the front desk.

Regardless of whether or not I intend to use it, they say, they will not see me with my type of Medi-Cal. And on top of that, they will not let me enter into the program that their corporate office told me about. When I asked why, all I got was the old "it's just the policy" routine.

So... apparently front desk clerks are setting the regulations for Western Dental.

I raised a fuss, of course, and they supposedly called the regional manager... but still came back with the same story.

Class discrimination?

I'm poor as hell right now... I'm a college student with a wife and a kid.

All I want is a damn tooth pulled!!!

Just out of curiosity, I checked the Better Business Bureau's website to see if Western Dental  had any complaints against them, and HOLY CRAP!

The BBB's Fresno office alone showed 200 DIFFERENT COMPLAINTS!

In addition to that, the company's GRADE, as designated by the BBB, is a fat F!

Also, they are not BBB accredited, and so far as I can see on the BBB's website, the company rarely if ever makes any attempt to correct any complaints filed against it.

Also, if you want to see how loathed Western Dental is for their standards of cleanliness, their dentist's lack of training, and more... just do a google search for "complaints against Western Dental." You will have plenty of reading material.

Now, I don't have anything against Western Dental other than how they treated me today. I've never thought twice about them.

But after all the stuff I've read today, on top of my own experience, I just felt like I had to share this information with some people.

By the way, if anyone can recommend a dentist who does extractions, and accepts cash as payment (you'd be surprised at how many don't anymore), please let me know.

james