In the words of a dental assistant, Delta Dental only use the worst of the worst dentists on their plan.

When I was with the Lee County School District in SW Florida, they used Delta Dental for their dental plan.

My trouble began when one of their dentists referred me to a specialist for work without getting the pre-authorization required. They had referred me before and the work was always covered, so I had no reason not to believe this denstist's work wouldn't be covered. After $2600 worth of work, I was told that since the Delta Dentist at Dental Associates of Cape Coral did not get a pre-authorization it would not be covered.

The work the dentist I was referred to, Dr. Larry Dunford, did was resin bonding and it all chipped off within a week. The day after his treatment I went to him. He tried to blame me for the chipping blaming the way I flossed, but when he flossed in his office that day more chipped off. He quickly refunded the expense of one tooth $250, but then dismissed me as a patient refusing to see me again. This was over 2 years ago, and to this day my teeth are continuing to have damage to the gums from this work which is now almost all chipped off and ruined my teeth. One dentist said he had done "irreversible damage." The teeth had to have veneers put on them to cover the chipped edges ($6000). I tried taking him to small claims court, but he sent in his high paid lawyers rather than show up himself (and miss a day of work as I had to), refused to negotiate, and used a Florida state loophole to prevent me from winning in court claiming this was an attempt to prove malpractice and not just badd business practice, so I was now out the cost of the teeth, plus court costs and time.

After many grievances being filed and denied by Delta Dental as well as their dentist submitting proven falsified treatment notes (they were all signed by the same dentist and I never saw the same dentist twice at that facility), they switched me to Dr. Jeffrey Rubin. I saw this dentist only a few times, but within those times he convinced me that he had to remove two of the teeth damaged by Dr. Larry Dunford. This was despite being seen two months prior by a dentist who stated the teeth were stable and just needed gum grafting.

Jeffrey Rubin removed the two teeth and improperly prepared the anchor teeth next to them and put in a bridge all in one visit. The bridge since there was never a temporary did not fit and my top teeth would not close over top of it. He then suggested crowning the top teeth so they would close over the bottom bridge - rather than redo the bridge. I refused to lose more teeth to all of this and incur such a high cost to do so at my expense, so I filed another grievance with Delta Dental/PMI Insurance. They denied every grievance I filed, though during this time I was on high doses of pain medication and was being seen by many dentists and oral specialiats at my expense to try to prove my grievance. Each one stated that the bridge was large and mobile and must be replaced. They could not see the damage under the heavy and thick and improperly made bridge that a year later would prove Dr. Jeffrey Rubin left the anchor teeth too small and destroyed to support ANY bridge and were completely absessed and causing severe bone loss under the bridge. Also, my top teeth were becoming chipped from hitting the bridge (but they ended up being veneered anyway from the extra damage of Dr. Larry Dunford's work.

Delta Dental finally agreed to replace the bridge IF one of their network dentists agreed it had to be done. They kept making me appointments with their dentists, but when I got to the dentist offices, the assistants would take x-rays (always commenting on how the bridge would move and how big it was - it was very obvious just from looking), then the dentist would come in, not even look in my mouth, and say everything was fine. They were obviously contacted prior to my visit by Delta Dental. Much later this was confirmed by a former worker for one of their offices when she said they WERE indeed told about the entire situation prior to my visit and that "no repairs were to be recommended".

Knowing something was wrong, I set up an appointment with one of their network dentists by using my middle name and telling them I had no insurance. This dentist evaluated me and immediately wrote up that the bridge was large and mobile and destroying my occlusion and must be replaced. When I submitted this to Delta Dental/PMI, they IMMEDIATELY agreed to replace the bridge. Over a year and half had now passed. The cost to replace this was to be $11,500 - but Delta Dental/PMI agreed to pay.

The new dentist (not on their plan) removed the bridge and discovered all of the damage underneath. It was impossible to do root canals on the teeth due to how small they were and the dentist said the next two must be removed and a 6 unit bridge would have to be put in, but due to the large amount of bone loss underneath from having to wear this bad bridge and no support for this long DUE TO DELTA DENTAL'S DENIAL OF TREATMENT (they told me repeatedly that if I had any work done without their approval, that they would no longer be responsible for anything done), I now had to have a bone grafting ($4500) and would have to have implants ($15,000+) all of which would take over a year of treatment and recovery.

Delta Dental/PMI now refused to pay for anything more, but sent me a "Settlement Agreement and Release" form to sign. This would give me $11,500 toward all of my damage, but I would have to agree to not ever sue anyone involved and, more importantly, would have to never speak of what happened to anyone and if I ever said anything to anyone about anything that happened I WOULD HAVE TO PAY DELTA DENTAL/PMI $5000 EACH TIME I DID.

$11,500 would barely cover the debt I've gone into over the past two years, the loss of employment, the permanent loss of 4 teeth and damage to 8 others, and the pain and suffering all of this has caused me. For two and a half years now I have been unable to bite or chew (have lost over 50 pounds), cannot kiss (which has ruined my relationship) or do anything involving my mouth. The pain is constantly severe, however due to being overmedicated by Dr. Jeffrey Rubin years ago, I suffered kidney failure and was on dialysis and now cannot take the pain medication.

Due to the laws in Florida, the dentists cannot be sued. Though I am still pursuing a lawsuit against Delta Dental/PMI.

However, though I have lost my home, job, personal life, and will more than likely have to file bankruptcy since I can't get out of the debt or pay for the endless amount of repairs, I still find the important thing is to retain my free speech and to warn others of these dentists and this insurance company, so that others will not have to go through what I have and will be wary of other dentists and insurance companies.

Throughout this process the people at Delta Dental/PMI have been contacted with emails, phone calls, letters, and faxes at every level - especially the Board members and Gary Radine, CEO, but none would ever respond. When my grievances were being denied against Dr. Jeffrey Rubin (who has lost his license before and received State disciplines numerous times and has settled many malpractice claims in the past), I offered to fly to California from Florida to show Gary Radine or his staff in person the damage. They refused to see me.