James Olsen DDS — Local services in Lodi Township

This place is so horrible, I don't understand how it has such good ratings. I had my invisalign consultation back in June of 2023. I thought I would see Dr. Olsen in person to to walk me through the treatment, but he wasn't there. His assistant did the consultation with me - and she did not have the skills or knowledge to do a proper consultation. She ended up facetiming Dr. Olsen and that's how I had my consultation. That should've been my sign to walk away, but I chose to start my treatment. My first tray was in July and I had a total of 26 trays and everything went down south from there.

Originally, my treatment plan was switching out a new tray every 3-4 days which meant that I was supposed to eat with them on and only take them out for oral care. Within a day, I realized, I couldn't eat with them on, so I called the office to notify the change. The person on the phone said, that's fine, I can take them off for meals. I expected them to make changes to my treatment plan like wearing each tray for a little longer, but they didn't.

A week after my treatment, one of my attachments came off, so I brought it up to the doctor who was doing my IPR, during my second visit. He said it was fine, and didn't need to be reattached, so I went on with my treatment. At this point, Dr. Olsen has not once seen my teeth or me in person to do any type of evaluation. In fact, he was NEVER at any or my appointments until at the very end of my treatment in February of 2024.

My treatment was supposed to be done in November, but it wasn't "done" until Feb 2024, because it was such a pain to get an appointment with them. Don't be fooled by their office hours listed, they are actually not there for all the times that are listed. 2 weeks before my last appointment in November, I called to reschedule, they told me they would call me back with earliest available date. I never received any calls. I called again in early December, they told me it's the holidays and Dr. Olsen is out of town on vacation and they would call me back with earliest availability. NEVER got a call back. I get that November and December are holiday season so I expected some delay, but like 2 WHOLE months to reschedule an appointment??! I called back early January saying no one has called me back, the person on the phone said okay. Did not even bother to apologize. I was quite fed up at this point. Finally got my last appointment in Feb 2024. I was ready to just be done.

Lucky for me, on my supposed last appointment, I waited an hour for Dr. Olsen show up, remove my attachments and tell me that my teeth did not move properly, which was no surprise because I can clearly see that my crowding has moved from the center to the left. He said I'll have to do a revision and wear the whole 26 trays again. I think he would've noticed it a little sooner if he'd actually showed up to do evaluation during the treatment. I really think they don't care about your time. They just go with their time. I ended refusing the treatment and throw away 3.4k to the drain, because I just have no energy or time to play the whole scheduling game with them again in the midst of my wedding planning, moving homes, and a full time job.

Clearly, this place is mismanaged by a bunch of college students and overbooked. I would've thought that as an older orthodontist, he would've made enough money to afford himself a nice schedule, but maybe I'm wrong and he's just broke to the core so he needs to get in as many clients as he can. But then again, he does give me a greedy retired orthodontist who wants to make a little cash on the side to afford his said vacations. who knows, but I'm clearly not a fan of this place and will be telling everyone that. Edit: Dr. Olsen, your response explains why your practice is the worst place I've ever been to. You are obsessed with ratings and yet not capable of actually acting on your shortcomings. In the last six years I have been to 10000+ establishments. 2 was exceptional so they earned my 5 stars, congrats you're in 10/10000 worst places...

TLDR: Legit Invisalign Deal, Short wait times, Can work on communication

1. Invisalign Deal The $3,459 all-inclusive deal is legit. You'll see that exact number on your bill. I was told that my treatment would take about 4 months. This is provided that I eat with my trays in which supposedly makes your teeth move faster such that you can switch trays every 4 days instead of 7. Everyone around me thought that eating with my trays in was crazy but I've read other sources where other patients ate with them in so I'm guessing there's 2 schools of thought to it. Regardless, I'm happy to complete the treatment as soon as possible. Prior to Olsen's clinic, I also had an Invisalign concusltion at Great Expressions and I was quoted for $4,995 (44% more) for a 12-month treatment. So, seems like Olsen's was not only the cheaper but also more time-efficient choice.

2. Short wait times I believe the clinic when they say that they don't double book because when I've show up on time there's almost been no wait. This is in constrast to Great Expressions where I could show up on time and still take half an hour to get started. As such, Olsen's clinic also has a $50 fee for last-minute cancels which I think is reasonable although I would never want to pay it. I've been late up to 15 minutes before due to traffic and they weren't mean about it or tried to make me pay an additional free so I'm glad there is some grace to it.

3.Can work on communication

The reason for a 4-star review is that the clinic could use some work on their communication.

3.1 Set of 4 Vivera retainers deal For starters, along with their $3,459 Invisalign package, they offer a separate deal on Vivera retainers (which you are required to use every night after your treatment). The deal as told to me was "You can get the one for free with your package or 4 for $410." I was shocked that at the end of my Invisalign treatment I was only getting 4 instead of the 1 free plus 4 I paid for. Thinking back I can see how that confusion happened but I feel like that confusion could have been saved if they instead worded it as "You get 1 for free but you can get 3 additional for $410." I give them the benefit of doubt that they weren't playing with words to make it sound like a better deal than it is.

3.2 Invisalign Brief There was little to no briefing regarding what to expect during your treatment. There were several things which I had to search online to get answers for that I would have preferred if the clinic had briefed me on. For example, the first 3 days hurt A LOT. If you eating with the trays in, it takes a couple of weeks to get used to it. If you are going to an all-inclusive resort, you can only wear your trays at night for those days and just keep wearing the same trays longer (really specific but over several months I can imagine people will want to take pauses more often than not for whatever reason). Some of your trays won't fit because of how they are removed from the mould; you need to twist them to get them to fit. After your treatment, you still need to wear the retainers full-time i.e throughout the day for 6 weeks. None of this was briefed to me. I have already feedbacked this directly to the clinic so hopefully they will implement some sort of FAQ sheet or something.

3.3 Insurance coverage This section may only appy to me. I had a chip on my tooth that I wanted to get filled. I was shown a quote for $262 and was told that my Insurance would cover 90% of it (I would ony pay $26.20). Turns out no. It was 90% but not the entire amount was "allowed" for whatever reason and I ended up paying $119.80 (4.6 times what I thought I was going to pay). Perhaps the error was on my Insurance's side of things but you can take this story...

Dr. Olson is an incredibly skilled and wonderful dentist. I am getting older in my years and have built up quite an anxiety over going to the dentist. That, in addition to growing up with well water (no fluoride), poor dental care as a child, and "dark" colored teeth as a result of Tetracycline, caused me a lifetime of embarrassment and very low self-esteem. I avoided ever smiling or having my picture taken without my mouth closed. I would cover my mouth when I spoke or laughed to avoid showing my teeth. Just going to the dentist and having someone look up -close to what I tried to hide from the world was humiliating. Dr. Olson has changed all that for me. He has been so kind, thoughtful, soft spoken, and gentle. I have been going to his office for almost two years and every single appointment has been absolutely pain free and anxiety free. He and his staff have renewed my faith and relieved all my fears of dentistry. He patiently and thoroughly explained all of my options for fixing my teeth. He quoted me a price and patiently waited for a year and a half for me to save the money for the procedure. Never any pressure and most importantly for me, despite being a year and a half later, he honored his quote without hesitation. I also suspect he was MORE than fair out of the kindness of his heart and his genuine concern for my peace of mind. Dr. Olson's staff are extremely competent, thorough, and friendly as well. His assistant is incredibly personable and highly qualified. She is extremely knowledgeable and has a wonderful way of making you feel at ease. His office staff are always polite and helpful. Last week we completed a procedure of new crowns. Through every appointment and step of the way I experienced no pain! The temporary plate, which I had for 3 weeks was amazingly comfortable and actually very pretty and very white!!! I felt like a new person. Now that I have the new permanent teeth, I am absolutely ecstatic! I love my new teeth and I'm so proud of my new smile. Dr. Olson is extremely talented and skilled in what he can accomplish. I cannot possibly say enough to express how thankful I am to him. I can very confidently recommend him to anyone! Also! A huge bonus in going to Dr. Olson's office is having the privilege of enjoying his beautiful photography which plays on a screen in front of you throughout your time in the dental chair. His pictures of scenery from around the world are both beautiful and calming. Thank you for...