Kool Smiles Dentist

Reviews 4

JE

Jennifer Murphy

I typically dont write reviews, but my experiences at Kool Smiles have been so horrible, Id like to keep others from wasting the time and energy I have at this practice. I have taken my two sons to Kool Smiles many times over the course of the last three years. I liked the convenience of how close it is to my home, and because of how challenging it is to find a dentist who accepts my kids insurance, I thought we were stuck going to Kool Smiles, so I didnt look around for another dentist, even though I hated taking them there. And I love the dentist (and have worked for several dentists in the past), so the fact that I dreaded taking them to Kool Smiles says a lot. The waiting room is always extremely loud and busy, most parents dont watch their kids who are playing in the play area and there are always kids who are misbehaving and a danger to younger kids. Since this is billed as a pediatric dentist, I just assumed all pediatric dentist waiting rooms are like this. Since weve started going to a new pediatric dentist, I know now that is not true. The wait time is always ridiculously long. The shortest amount of time weve had to wait is 45 minutes. The normal amount of time is 1-1.5 hours, the most weve had to wait is 2 hours. All of these wait times are unacceptable, especially when you have young children. Never once has anyone apologized for the extensive wait time. This is a reflection of poor scheduling, among other things. We have really enjoyed one of the dental hygienists weve seen, and I would love for my kids to continue seeing her, but its not worth it to stay and endure all of the other issues just to see her. This practice is billed as a pediatric dentist office, but none of their dentists specialize in pediatrics, so if your child ends up needing any sort of dental surgery, they will have to refer you to another practice. I dont understand why they wouldnt at lease employ pediatric dentists since that demographic is the majority of the patients that they see. One dentist weve seen was horrible with my children, I wish I could remember her name. When she was examining my two year olds teeth (who was having his first visit to the dentist and was doing really well) he was slightly fidgety, not at all fussy, and she actually said to me, "Why wont he just sit still? Whats wrong with him?" Ummm, hes two and this is a brand new experience for him, and it isnt the most comfortable and fun place for most people to be. Our most recent appointment was due to a trauma to three teeth my 3 year old had. The x-ray they took didnt capture all three of the teeth, so the dentist was unable to see all of the damage that was done. My son sat extremely still during the x-ray and didnt fuss at all, even still they refused to attempt to take another x-ray so they could do an accurate assessment of his teeth, saying that it would be nearly impossible to get those three teeth in an x-ray on a child. (This was after waiting two hours to see the dentist) After that, I decided Id had more than I could take at this dentist and found another pediatric dentist to go to, Atkins, Maestrello, and Miller. They are wonderful, Id highly recommend them. My son has had three visits to check on the teeth he injured and each time they have been able to get an good xray of those teeth, capturing all of them perfectly. Save yourself a lot of time and sanity and stay away from this practice. If you need a good pediatric dentist, go to Atkins, Maestrello, and Miller.

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Monica Sharp

I took my child in for a cleaning yesterday, the only above average thing I can say is the man taking the X rays of my childs teeth was very gentle, calm, patient, reassuring, and kind to my child. He went above my expectations and I was truly pleased with his ability to provide an extraordinary experience for my young child. Usually my child gets anxious when having X rays taken. I was so impressed by how this impacted my childs willingness to stay calm and cooperate, right before the X ray was taken I pulled out my phone to take a picture and almost immediately a woman swatted at my phone and said no pictures allowed (the picture only included my child, no evidence of "KOOL SMILES" in the picture). The customer service at the receptionist desk was fair. Our time waiting in the waiting room was also fair, but our time waiting to be seen by a dental hygienist/ hygienist assistant was an extremely poor experience, there were three other patients not being helped sitting dental chairs, while the employees were having a conversation (unrelated to work) and another employee cleaning chairs, none of them assisting patients . I felt like this was ridiculous! Once my child was seen, the woman was unfriendly, rude, and impatient. There was no organization, or team effort in order to serve these patients properly, the dentist didnt know whether the patients have had there teeth cleaned before she checked them, the dental hygienists/ assistants didnt no whether the dentist had checked the patients teeth etc. The dentist did not inform me about whether or not a follow- up was necessary. A different dental hygienist later told me that a follow up was necessary but was unclear about work that needed to be done. Finally when I was scheduling a follow up appointment and a six month cleaning the man at reception desk for scheduling was helpful , cleared up the confusion and provided good customer service. I giving my experience two stars. I would give it four stars if I hadnt experienced poor customer service most of my childs visit. I RATE THE MAN DOING THE X RAYS AT 4:30ish IN THE AFTERNOON 5 OUT OF 5 STARS!!!!!! ***** :)

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Reyna Ayala

Al principio la secretaria bien ; pero la que me llamó a mi niño estaba pésima El Niño al principio tiene temor pero luego depende quién le toque se tranquiliza pero ella de una vez me dijo que yo tenía la culpa porque yo no lo tenía educado y que cuando fuera a la fuera a la escuela yo le iba contar , después ella se salió y El Niño se quedo tranquilo y cuando entro me dijo que si ya le había ofrecido el cielo y tierra yo le dije que si ella no tenía hijos me dijo si y luego me dijo que ella no iba trabajar si el doctor no la autorizara después el doctor llego y el si tiene carisma para tratar a los niños la primera vez que fui en la semana lo atendió otra persona muy amable , y El Niño estaba bien . La verdad deja mucho que desear esto porque ahí se caracteriza por qué es un lugar para niños. Pero yo solo con ella e tenido esta experiencia. Lo ciento .

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K Mason

I went to Cool smiles for emergency care. I was in VA for a visit with family. I called the Kool Smiles number to see if I could get an appointment...they Got me in. I arrived and was registered within a short while. Dee, the nurse, took me to the back. She talked to me about what would happen and got me in for an Xray. Dr. C came in said I needed a root canal. I asked if they could pull it. They told me the oral surgeon would be in on Tuesday. We checked but he was overbooked. Dee said she would have them call me if there was an opening. I had two other appointments on Tuesday. By the time I got out of my first appointment on Tuesday I had a phone call from Kool Smiles, they could see me at 2. I arrived and spoke with Clem who said Dee was on the job to get me in. Now in the world of hating dentists. Serine and Dr. Herrera took GREAT care of me. Serine talked to me about what would happen in the extraction of this tooth. Dr. Herrera came in, numbed me (never had any of this done before.) He was nice. Talked about what he was doing as he did it. Now, the reason I chose childrens dentist is because I heard they were better. This was the simplest process ever. They were great. I am sure the treat children even better than us adults who have fear of the dentist. I would recommend this location, these nurses (I apologize if you have a fancier name than nurse! Maybe dental hygienist?) and doctors. The reception staff was great on both days and they were AWESOME. Thank you for seeing me in an emergency. For looking out for me. For in my opinion, going above and beyond. THANK YOU!!!!

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