Peak Dental Health

I hate writing bad reviews but I came here because of all the good reviews and I really feel the need to share my experience... I will start with the good. The office is very fresh and clean, all of the staff was very nice, they had a lot of perks like a warm neck wrap and a TV you can watch while you have your teeth cleaned. It seemed like they did a thorough job cleaning and examining my mouth. Now I will go into the bad. I haven't been to a dentist for a cleaning in a couple of years, and I told them this when I booked my appointment. I heard this was a good place to go for people who were afraid of the dentist. They told me I needed 2 fillings from my previous dentist replaced, 6 new fillings, and that I have periodontal disease and need scaling and root planning. During my exam, they measured a handful of 5mm deep pockets in my gums and they told me paying the $2,000 to treat periodontal disease should be my number one priority, even before fixing my cavities. All throughout the appointment they stressed how important it was that I get the periodontal disease treatment immediately, how serious this disease is, how having an infection in my mouth is like having an open wound on my arm, etc. Needless to say I was totally horrified. At the end of the visit they handed me a $4,000 quote for all of the work I need done. When I reviewed the quote in the office I was a little skeptical about the gum disease treatment... the line items on the quote included a lot of "extras" in addition to the actual periodontal cleanings (Things such as supplements, vitamins, a tongue scraper, etc). So I drove 3 hours back to my childhood dentist to get a second opinion. After the appointment at Peak Dental health I was scrupulous with my dental routine, flossing twice a day, brushing a full 2 minutes, using a gum brush, and a fluoride rinse. My childhood dentist did bite-wing x-rays (Peak Dental only did a panarex which my old dentist said didn't show enough detail), examined my mouth, and told me my gums look very healthy. She walked through all of the x-rays with me and said she sees absolutely no signs of bone loss (which would be present in someone with periodontal disease) and she barely even sees any tarter. She told me sometimes if you have bad dental hygiene and your gums are inflamed, pockets can look deeper than they actually are. She said if they did a periodontal exam and they measured some 5's on a patient - especially one that hadn't been to the dentist in a while - they would do a special type of cleaning and see how much tarter scraping I could handle at a regular appointment. Then, they would discuss dental hygiene techniques, prescribe fluoride tooth paste, and ask me to come back in 3 months and see if the pockets have decreased. She stressed they would NOT jump straight to scaling and root planning. Additionally, peak dental health told me I needed 6 cavities filled. I asked my dentist to check those too and after looking at the x-ray she said they had marked all of these as "watch" areas years ago and 5 of them haven't progressed to cavities. She said even if I was her daughter, she wouldn't do a filling on these yet. Overall, Peak Dental Health will claim that periodontal disease is very under treated and a very serious health problem, which I believe is true. But I feel like I was being taken advantage of. As a new patient they tried to scare me into paying a huge amount of money for a treatment rather than working with me and trying to exhaust all less invasive methods, like using good home care and extra dental cleanings. I did really like the office, but I feel like I can't trust them. I think if I had come there with perfect teeth, I wouldn't have a problem, but I need a dentist that will be honest with me and try to work through problems and try easy solutions before jumping to extremes. P.S. If you read other reviews you will see I am not the only one who was told they have periodontal disease and need $$$$ treatment. If you have deep pockets this dentist might be for you!