A Healthgrades review about a failed bridge named a dentist who is not me
This account was submitted by a healthcare provider and de-identified before publication. Details that could identify a patient or practice have been removed, and it is shared with the provider’s consent.
A one-star Healthgrades review described a bridge that came loose within a year. It criticized the dentist for poor fit and a dismissive attitude about the complaint. The review named a practice in a city where I have never worked. The dentist's credentials listed in the review did not match mine either. Another practitioner with a similar name works in that distant city. The reviewer had evidently landed on my profile by mistake. The clinical story, while unpleasant, simply was not mine.
In thirty years I have placed many bridges and stand behind my crown and bridge work. The failure described took place at an office I have never been affiliated with. This was a mistaken-identity posting, tied to a similar name in another region. I could not publicly note the error, because doing so would require implying the person was not my patient. HIPAA treats that implication as a disclosure, no matter how obvious the mix-up. My hands were tied by a law meant to protect the very confusion harming me. The correction I most wanted to make was the one I was forbidden to make.
Healthgrades is a place patients turn to when vetting an experienced dentist. A misattributed failure sat among decades of positive reviews and dragged at the average. Longtime staff were dismayed to see my name tied to shoddy work. A couple of referring dentists asked about it, which was uncomfortable after years of collaboration. The reputational damage felt especially unjust given its source. I spent time and money on a legal consultation to be sure I was handling it right. Even at the end of my career, the exposure was unsettling.
I submitted a correction request to Healthgrades explaining the shared-name confusion. Their first reply stated the review met publication standards. I escalated with the distant office's details and the credential mismatch. After a few weeks the review was removed from my profile. My attorney confirmed that a public clarification would have risked a HIPAA violation. She advised documentation and patience over any online response. I followed her guidance and let the platform correct the record.