ComplaintsforBonadent Dental Laboratories

• Initial Complaint

  05/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  A dental bridge was started for a patient on 12/29/2021, and the impression was sent to Bonadent Dental Lab. It was not satisfactory to the patient, and was re-made in January 2022. The bridge went back and forth from my dental office to Bonadent Dental Lab multiple times between February and March 2022, and it was still not satisfactory. I was billed $1314 for the bridge on a Statement from 1/31/2022, and this was paid on 2/28/2022. After returning all models and the unsatisfactory bridge to Bonadent on 3/31/2022, I only heard back today (5/3/20220) from Tina, the customer service manager, that Bonadent Dental Lab does not issue refunds. Tina offered for Bonadent to re-make the bridge again. However, the patient was very upset after missing work so much for trying to finalize the bridge for almost 3 months along with her appearance with the bridge. Because the patient was unhappy with length, felt some of the teeth were too long and that her lip was being pushed out, the patient opted to start a new bridge with a different dental laboratory on 3/29/2022. The patient is scheduled to permanently cement the new bridge in my office next week. After practicing dentistry for almost 23 years, I have never worked with a dental laboratory that was so unethical in refusing to issue a credit or refund for dental lab work that was not acceptable.

  Business response

  06/06/2022

  BonaDent is a family owned lab that has been in business for over 70 years and has always stood behind our products.  We do not issue refunds for returns of custom made dental products. We rely on our doctors prescriptions to provide us with detailed instructions, proper preparations, accurate impressions so that we in turn, can provide the best product to their patients.  The main complaint about the original bridge is that it appeared “too long” in the mouth.  This is caused by the doctor not prepping/reducing the patient’s natural teeth enough for the bridge to fit correctly and allowing it enough room in the mouth to look natural.  It was agreed that, at the same time that we would remake the bridge, we would also provide the doctor reduction guides at no charge.  Reduction guides are placed on teeth and act as a template to show the doctor where to further reduce the patient’s natural teeth so that the bridge would fully fit/seat and allow a more natural fit and appearance.  We ALSO supplied Dr. ***** with four computer images showing her the design of the new bridge and exactly what it would look like (image 1 is one photo.  We have more but this site limits the number of images to upload).  She approved these images.  We then fabricated the bridge to exactly those specifications (image 9).  After trying to deliver the new bridge, Dr. ***** then sent us a photo how it looked in the mouth (photo she provided).  From the photo Dr. ***** provided us it is clear the bridge is not seated fully in the patient’s mouth, proving that she did not use the reduction guides we provided correctly and the patient’s natural teeth still needed to be reduced further so that the bridge would fit.  The doctor then took another impression of the patient’s teeth and sent it to us.  You can see in images 10 & 11 that models poured from the new impression still shows the patient’s natural teeth coming up through the reduction guides.  The stone material you see coming out of the top of the wax reduction guides is the replica of the patient’s teeth that we communicated to her had to be removed in order for the bridge to seat correctly.  We then sent her ANOTHER reduction guide at no charge and when doctor attempted to deliver the bridge we were told again that it did not seat.  When doctor returned everything to us, we discovered again that she did not use the reduction guides to reduce enough natural teeth.  If the reduction guides had been used correctly, and the doctor had reduced the patient’s teeth exactly where we had indicated, the bridge would have seated in the mouth.  This is beyond our control.   We can only provide the doctor with the tools necessary to make a successful case but we cannot execute them on the patient.  BonaDent warranties our work against materials and workmanship.  This case did not fail due to either of these. To lay the blame solely on our lab is unfair and unjustified.

  Customer response

  06/09/2022

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Consumer relayed clarification to BBB:She returned the appliance, they never finished the work, and they did not give her a refund.Approx. $1713.00 is owed for the appliance.She is not asking for a refund, but she would like a credit adjustment to resolve this dispute.She is requesting that the balance owed is written off and brought down to $0.00. Regards, ***** *****

  Business response

  06/16/2022

  The work was completed and the doctor was told before returning the work that BonaDent does not give refunds.  As stated, this case did not fail due to material and/or workmanship.  We went above and beyond to work collaboratively with the doctor and are not responsible for her patient’s unhappiness.  Her alleged success with another laboratory has no bearing on this, as the quality of instructions, communication, preparations and impressions were likely vastly different.  We will not make any adjustments to the bill and expect to be paid for the work that was done and will take necessary steps to ensure we are properly compensated.  All materials will be returned to the doctor. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩