Western Dental & Orthodontics

Reviews 6

LE

Leena C.

This place is so ghetto that Ive seen brighter, cleaner and more professional medical offices in the crumbling parts of eastern Europe, back when any country there was referred to as being part of a bloc. I was referred to this place not only by my insurance company, but the office itself. When I took off of work and drove all the way to Santa Cruz for my dental appointment, I waited several minutes to receive help. Finally, a receptionist who does all of her work on speaker phone (for the entire waiting room to hear; hello, patient information is private!) addressed me and finally told me that neither of the doctors available were under my insurance. She then proceeded to imply that I never called their office in the first place - that I had called corporate and had been misinformed. Either way, someone there dropped the ball on me because now I could not see anyone and had to reschedule. The same receptionist then suggested that I see one of the doctors as an out-of-network option, and that I could pay out of pocket for such things as exam, cleaning and x-rays. Really?! First I lose pay by taking off of work, then Im out $2,000 to see a dentist in your ghetto office? No thanks. The same receptionist then proceeded to publicly dial my insurance company, with volume turned all the way up on speaker phone. After three attempts she said shed call them back and let me know the "coverage" verdict by the end of the day. Well, its now 6:36 pm, and no one from that office has called me back. Save your time, money - and possibly, health - and go somewhere else, folks. When I left, I saw an empty parking lot space with what appeared to be window glass all over the ground. Impressive, Western Dental!

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DA

Danielle Crook

Out of four on-time arrivals for scheduled appointments to this location for dental cleaning, I was only given the expected service ONCE. The first time I was told upon arrival at the office (in the afternoon) that my appointment had been cancelled because they were short staffed. I asked why they didnt call to let me know as soon as they found out, and the clueless receptionist just shrugged and said "its busy." The second time I actually received a cleaning, it took over two hours because of all the waiting. The third time I waited for an hour and my cleaning had not yet started, and they didnt know when the hygienist would be available, and I literally could not stay because I had to go back to work. I rescheduled for two days later, asked for a morning time on a day when they werent so busy. When I arrived, I was told my appointment was cancelled because they were too busy, and apparently again "too busy" for the most basic courtesy of calling in advance to cancel so I didnt have to waste my time leaving work and driving out there again. In several decades of dental appointments and appointments in general, I dont think a doctor or other business has ever, not once, waited to cancel on me when until I arrived at the office for the appointment. For this business to do it twice in one year shows an amazing disregard for peoples time and energy.

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A

A Private User

I would change this to negative stars if I could...This place is beyond the worst place I can imagine. It is not worth going - even if your child is on Healthy Families, you are better off trying to go to a real dentist and making payments. The first appointment lasted 2 hours! I brought my son in for a cleaning and after nearly 2 hours they come and tell me what work he needs - they had not even done the cleaning at this point! So then they proceed to do the cleaning which took all of 5 minutes. Even though they wanted to do all the work that night - after already being there for 2 hours I said we would have to come back. Today we go back for a filling and my son comes out crying!!!!!! He is 8 btw. Apparantly when he raised his hand to tell the so called dentist it hurt she slipped and cut him with the drill. Then after pulling out a cotton ball of blood she told him "we told you not to move" - even though they told him to raise his hand if it hurt. So then they tell me that it would be better for him to come back when the dentist is there that specializes in children. HELLO!! Why is that not who he was seeing in the first place?? Anyhow I said forget it. I just feel bad for my kid and I wish there was something I could do besides write this review.

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NA

Nathaniel Ready

EDIT: I will say the staff are friendly and try their best with the terrible management, but avoid this place if possible. Honestly the worst dental experience of my life. Literally had everything filled out and ready for them at 9:15 am for a 9:30 appointment time. The receptionist then asks for a piece of information not requested by the forms I was given prior to arriving (would have easily had that if they had asked me for it at all), then proceeding to delay every person who arrives either with an appointment or not. I saw people come in after me get seen before me. After waiting for over 1.5 hours I finally am taken back to do the x-rays. Not only does this process take longer than any other dentist or orthodontist I have been to, but then they make you wait again. This time the wait was only 1 hour before they had someone check my gums. Finally, after that 2.5 hour ordeal I am told there is ANOTHER WAIT before they can begin the cleaning. The one I requested for at 930 am. Not only that, but the wait was expected to be another 2 HOURS???? This place exists solely to waste your time, go literally ANYWHERE ELSE. Do not ever use unless you want to test your level of patience.

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TE

Tessa Blake

I have to go here because of my insurance but if you have a choice DO NOT GO HERE. It was the absolute worst experience I have ever had at a dentist. The dentist was hurried, rough, and unfriendly and they made me wait literally hours for a routine cleaning. First visit: I went in for a cleaning/check-up. They made me wait so long they couldnt even finish the cleaning that day and made me schedule another appointment. Who does that? When I came back, the dentist gave me the most painful cleaning of my entire life. I was almost in tears by the end of it. Second visit: Again I went in for a cleaning/check-up. After waiting a total of 2 hrs while only completing half of my cleaning, I asked when the dentist was going to finish my cleaning. They told me it will be another 45 minutes. At that point I had had enough and left. Overall: The facility was dingy and there are no private rooms. The receptionists were nice and helpful. The hygienists were efficient but distracted and did not explain why everything took so long. The dentist was completely unprofessional, rude, and incompetent.

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ST

Steve Rom

My wife and i came as new patients last week, and it was the worst dental experience we have ever had. Not only were they 30minutes late, we had 18 x-rays. When i asked why so many, the technician explained that this is normal, and every dentist does this. I have never had that many x-rays at the same time in my life. After that was supposed to be our consultation and then a cleaning. As i was waiting for the consultation i was approached by a staff member who told me they were running behind and it would be at least an hour. The cleaning would be after that, so we were looking at an additional 2 hours. My wife and i decided to leave and had to schedule another appointment for 3 weeks later. The front dest staff were non-responsive, un-helpful and looked bored out of their minds. We will give this one more shot, but it is like this again, ill cancel my dental insurance and pay full price elsewhere.

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