Gentle Dental

Reviews 3

CY

Cynthia Coon

This place is horrible when it comes to...well everything! (refer to Yelp!) LONG story: I had gotten started with the SW Dental in Chandler but I had moved to Laveen. I did not have insurance and I thought they would be more affordable for me to get my wisdom teeth out, plus already having a file with SW dental. The LAVEEN office was very unprofessional over the phone when telling me they "dont transfer files from other offices" and that I would be a new patient. (1st red flag). I asked if I should call the Chandler office and see if they would transfer per my request and the response was "yeah yeah! do that!" (again, unprofessional). Chandler office gave me NO grief on the transfer question and said they would send it over. I call Laveen, they said they got it. A WEEK later I went in for my visit to schedule the actual wisdom removal, and upon my arrival they told me to fill out the New Patient forms because they have not received my file from Chandler (why did both parties tell me it was sent & received??) When being sent back for Xrays (that have already been taken by the Chandler office), the tech must have been right out of school. She was all over the place and didnt know much about working the Pano xray machine. Pushing different buttons to see which did what, she was a finger-push away from clicking the button without my xray jacket. She comes back around the corner saying "oh my gosh I always forget this, here put this on". Uh 2nd red flag! (luckily i didnt have to pay for them since they were "waiting" on my file from the other location) Upon probing all over my mouth and reviewing the xrays with nurse, I mentioned I have high dentist anxiety and would like to have my boyfriend present for the day i have my wisdoms removal. They seemed real unsure about how to handle my request. I go into the clinic for the dreaded surgery day and I asked if my boyfriend can come back with me just until I was out. The response was NO because there would be too many wires and the room is not big enough. I took a lot of deep breaths and went back alone with the same dumb xray nurse i had previously. I sit in the chair and i am constantly fidgeting nervously and fighting back what i call "nervousness tears". (Im a big baby when it comes to the dentist). The doc comes in and was not of much comfort, just wanted to get it done and over with. No small talk, just dentist talk. They messed up the 1st time with the injection and had to try a couple more times before actually getting it right. Now im REAL nervous and I let the tears fall. The nurse then goes "why you crying we havent even started yet". UH HELLO HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN MY ANXIETY TO YOU GUYS!!!????? Then I was out. Oh by the way, No i did not get a followup phone call from the doc or nurse seeing how my post-surgery was going. And not to mention the ridiculous pricing for it all even with "their" insurance. It cost more than my boyfriends wisdom removal he had done at the Chandler office. VERY DISPLEASED and HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND! How are they still in business!?

A

A Private User

I was referred to this dental group by my landlord, who has been going to them for quite some time and says their services are quite all right. Being new to the area and drawn in by their assistance program for people without insurance (not to mention a really bad toothache), I went in for an exam. I paid the annual discount fee and proceeded to sit in the waiting room for over an hour after my appointment time, with barely any acknowledgement from the staff. We had a very quick exam, during which I was told by a dentist who I barely saw that the aching tooth needed an extensive filling and a crown. I agreed, paid my thousand dollars, and went through with the procedure. (Clearly I hadnt seen the writing on the wall yet.) A week later I still had excruciating pain in my jaw which seemed to be getting worse, so I came back in to get it looked at. They barely glanced at it, and sent me home with pain meds and an appointment with the endodontist. He determined that I needed a root canal with an appointment that was less than two minutes long, and cost me $62. Thank goodness I decided to get a second opinion before paying another thousand dollars for this tooth -- this dentist at a completely different practice took an x-ray and immediately told me I didnt need a root canal because the nerve was definitely still alive. When she physically examined the tooth, the crown came off with barely a touch! All this time the horrible pain in my mouth was from a loose crown, and none of the people at Southwest bothered to check it. The other dentist re-cemented the crown and the pain was gone within 24 hours. She even told me that the filling wasnt large enough to justify a crown. Despite the fact that I have already enrolled in the discount program at Southwest, I will not be going back to them except to pick up my permanent crown and take it to a different dentist to have it put on. Im sure Southwest is fine for basic cleaning, etc, but they waaaay oversell their services and tell you that you need procedures that you dont really need. I have heard almost the same story from several other people. The people were nice there, but I would recommend getting a second opinion before undertaking any major procedures. An exam with another dentist only costs around fifty bucks, and a crown that I likely didnt need ended up costing me a thousand.

CO

Cody Hall

TL;DR: Called in, placed on hold for 30 minutes, called in again, couldnt find records, so I just scheduled with the office I used before I moved. Didnt even get to meet the actual dental workers. Tony/Toni is cool, though. Full review: I had previously worked with the Gentle Dental on 54th Ave and Thunderbird, but moved down to South Phoenix / Laveen recently. Since I was long overdue for a checkup and wasnt up for the drive across the Phoenix Metro area, I called into this office. When I first called in, I was asked if I could be placed on hold, and had no problems with that; I understand offices can be busy. After being on hold for almost half an hour, I heard someone audibly pick up the receiver (hold music stopped) and then hang up the phone. So I called back in. Rang several times and went to voicemail. Called back in again. Rang several times and at the last minute someone picked up. I didnt catch her name because I couldnt understand her very well, and she would not stop interrupting me. She couldnt pull me up in the "system" by the phone number Ive always had, my former street address, last name / first name, or even my date of birth. In the end, it sounded like she just gave up and then told me Id have to be treated as a new patient. When I asked if I would have to do the paperwork again, I was told that they "would contact the Thunderbird office to get the paperwork" and proceeded to list off the wrong number which I had to correct them with the proper number for the Thunderbird office They said they would call me back. Approximately half an hour later, for curiosity, I call the Thunderbird office, and they havent seen any requests or gotten any calls from this person. I decided enough is enough and just scheduled my appointment with the Thunderbird office since it isnt worth the hassle of dealing with new paperwork / incompetent admin staff. When I called back to the Laveen office, I spoke with Tony/Toni (not sure of the spelling, sorry) to cancel the appointment. Despite my frustrations, she took the message from me in stride and said she would pass it on, which is the most positive thing I have to say about this review.