Boulder Dental Center

To start this off, I am a college student and I had my wisdom teeth out over Christmas break when I was in my hometown. I’ve had immense pain and bleeding for the last week and decided I needed to visit a dentist in Boulder for a check-​up. The office was immediately able to get me in the next day which was a relief. I filled out the paperwork and waited to be called in. The nurse was nice, she complimented my glasses and then informed me that an-​expensive-​panoramic X-​ray needed to be taken. It was kind of a shock… all they really needed to do was look inside my mouth. Then the dentist comes in and says «I heard you got your wisdom teeth out a couple days ago.» More like 8 days ago which is why I’m so concerned sir. He takes a look and says «well, it looks fine. Here’s some more pain meds.» That’s it. Nothing else. Both he and the nurse walk out and I don’t know whether to wait or get up and leave. I finally decide to get up and the nurse is waiting in the hallway and says «oh there you are.» Well, where did you think I was. The only reason I’m giving two stars is because the receptionists were helpful and got me in so quickly.

Ok medicine, horrible administration/​billing department.
I had two wisdom teeth pooled by the doctor in this practice. It was rather complex and expensive procedure. From the medical point, it went ok. However, I had some really unnecessary problems with the costs and administration in this practice. They’ve made calculation of the price for the procedure before the procedure, and gave me number around $ 1.5k that I had to cover from my own pocket. And as usual the rest would be paid by my insurance. I agreed and paid my part right there. After the procedure I have received an additional bill from Dental Center claiming that I have to pay more because my insurance (Delta Dental) did not cover all the costs left. At the same time I received calculations of the costs from the insurance and the two calculations did not fit at all. There was not 2 numbers that were the same. I have asked both, insurance and the dentist, to clarify these for me. After several letters between the insurance, dentist office and me, it became clear that the dentist office did not follow the rules of the insurance. If they want to be accepting Delta Dental, and want the insurance to cover costs for their patients, they have to stick to the prices Delta Dental offers to cover. In my case the original bill was already too high for the procedures that they performed. It meant, they had to pay me back. They did write a letter to clarify why they needed to do this and that and why the price is over the standard that Delta Dental is paying for. I have nothing against paying higher price for the better service, but you have to tell me that! And you have to explain why this is better BEFORE the procedures, not plainly send me a bill after the fact. Do your calculations first and do it right, it’s not rocket science. Now, the dentist office has sent me a letter saying that «we do not feel like we have good patient-​doctor relationship and hence will not provide you service anymore». Well, for one thing they are right — our relationship did not go well! As soon as I questioned the bill, it went all wrong. I guess, my wish for clarity about «what I am paying for» is to blame.

The receptionist is so stupid. They scheduled me wrong, and told me different things about my insurance every time. I drove there twice without seeing the dentist because they told me wrong thing about my insurance. They weren’t even nice about it. I don’t even want to give them one star. They are rude and mean. I will not go to see them again. Thank you.

I generally don’t write reviews, even when I’ve had a poor experience somewhere. However, I want to put this out there so that people can make informed decisions based on various experiences.
I went to Boulder Dental Center for the first time for a cleaning. They were able to be flexible with my work schedule, the receptionists were all friendly, and the dental hygienist did a great job cleaning my teeth, no complaints! The dentist came in towards the end, briefly introduced himself, and jumped right in to looking at my teeth. He took pictures and pointed out to me that I appeared to have a few small (minor) cavities. I have had one other cavity my entire life and generally take good care of my teeth, but I trusted his opinion (and the photos he showed me). He suggested I get them filled sooner rather than later so as to avoid anything happening to them. I appreciated the visit and even suggested Boulder Dental to a friend.
Fast forward… When I walked in for my fillings appointment, the front desk charged me before I had any of the work done. I was nervous, I’ll admit. Like I said, I haven’t had many fillings done and not since I was a kid, so I was a bit unsure what the appointment would look like. But I thought, I only had to get past the numbing and then my cavities would be taken care of. I was taken back, seated, the dentist came in and explained again that we were doing a few small fillings. He began numbing my mouth with no explanation or conversation, ended up hitting my tongue with the numbing agent as well, and once he was done sitting there injecting the numbing agent (which took about five minutes), both he and the assistant left the room without saying anything. My mouth began to get numb, as I’d expected, but then so did my tongue, chin, and lower lip. I got a bit worried, because I thought that seemed strange for a few small cavities. I walked out of the room to find someone to speak to. It took about 30 seconds to find someone available to talk to. I went up and mentioned that it was all feeling a bit funny and I wanted to make sure my lip wasn’t swelling– was that normal? The assistant sat me back in the room and said that due to the numbing agent, that was normal and then promptly left again. I felt no reassurance at all as the lower portion of my face grew more and more numb. I attempted to talk to her again, to which she responded with something of a laugh and said I must be nervous. At this point, I no longer felt comfortable getting the work done. I grabbed my things, apologized profusely, and let them know I was opting not to have the work done.
They did void my transaction, though the money hasn’t shown up yet (but I understand that takes a while). They also charged me the $ 20 to email my x-​rays to my personal email address (those haven’t appeared in my inbox yet either).
Five hours and fifteen minutes later, the lidocaine medication wore off. I feel I was given too much medicine, especially for a procedure that was to be for small cavities and last only forty five minutes. My mouth was also sore from where the medicine was injected. I completely understand that my case could be exactly that– just an unpleasant personal experience. But when so many people already don’t enjoy going to the dentist and having their mouths poked and prodded, why would you laugh off a patient’s nerves and questions? I’m not unfamiliar with dental work in general– I’ve had braces and I get bi-​annual checkups. I was trying to find a dentist closer to where I live now and I’ve never walked out on an appointment. It left me feeling really discouraged, embarrassed, and for the first time, really uneasy about going to the dentist.

This place is horrible. The dentist has a heavy hand and is unconcerned with the patient’s comfort level. I have used him twice before with poor results. My mouth has felt violated all three appointments. It does seem as though he is more concerned w profit than his patients’ welfare. Staff is pleasant is my only compliment.
We should all complain to the colorado dental agency.

Dr. Abboud was great, hence at least 2 stars. He performed an unusual procedure for me with zero complications — almost unheard of for this particular procedure. However, the billing department is horrible!!! Every time I go in for an appointment I triple check to make sure my insurance will cover everything. I ask when I call, I check online, and I check again at the front desk. After my last appointment, when at the office they told me everything was fine with my payment (and another $ 1500 worth of services I didn’t need was proposed to me), I got another bill for $ 100 three months later. I called to ask about it, and they told me that not enough time between my appointments had gone by, so my cleaning wasn’t covered (I had scheduled this cleaning at my previous 6 month cleaning, so I knew that couldn’t actually be the case). Months more of back and forth went by, and their story changed — suddenly I was getting charged for getting a cavity filled for the same reason, which makes no sense because I’ve only ever had one cavity. Then I got a threatening letter saying too much time had gone by and they were sending a collection agency after me and it would ruin my credit. Based on the comments, I’m not the only person this has happened to. I did everything right. They screwed up. And even though they pull in as much in a day as I make in a year, they threatened the collection agency. Again, I triple checked my coverage and only followed their directions. Terrible and sad.

The quality of work is awful. They just drill for money, and you will be back 5 times with the same tooth problem. Since that time I have had nothing but problems in and around the crown due to a poor fit. I have excessive food build-​up, and now inflammation in the gum and pain. I revisited dr. Abound’s office to have him look at the crown and his recommendation was to drill into the adjacent tooth and install a larger filling where a filling already exists in order to fill the gap left by the poor crown installation.
First, the crown should have been appropriately installed and sized initially, and second, the idea of drilling into an otherwise healthy tooth to fill a gap created by the mis-​sized crown is bad practice.
At this point I need to have the crown completely redone, and it’s highly likely that this will result in a root canal for the underlying tooth.

******************STOP READ********************
If you use this dental office chances are very likely you will end up getting billed more money than the cost of service. Quality of the dental service was great, but their «Billing Department» is atrocious!!! Customer Service is about as helpful as «A Pocket On The Back Of A Jacket»!!! We were covered by 3 Dental insurance policies and they would only bill one and now getting calls from a «Collection Service» for the remainder!!!

I am 26 years old and have been to seven dentists in two different countries. I have beautiful, naturally straight teeth … which I can say without feeling narcissistic because they are (and always have been) horribly unhealthy. My first two dentists ventured to guess that it was due to growing up in the country without fluoride-​infused water. The next four didn’t offer any explanation but genetics.
The first time I went to Dr. Abboud’s office, the dental hygienist told me she has teeth like mine. «You’ll always have a high-​maintenance mouth,» she explained, «but you can help that by taking better care of your teeth.» Obviously, I had been trying to take care of my teeth to the very best of my abilities given my dental history. However, she gave me a good education on how to floss (I had, of course, been given this demo in all dentists’ offices, but her demo was different), and recommended that I purchase a Water Pik, which I did. When I came back in several months later, Dr. Abboud reported that my gums were much healthier from my diligent care; which, of course, was refreshing to hear.
I do like this dental office. I feel the receptionists are nice and patient. They have always taken the time to explain what my insurance will cover to me. The office also emails/​texts to remind you of appointments, which is really nice.
The only thing to keep in mind is Dr. Abboud is a down-​to-​business type of person. He’s not the guy who is going to take a seat next to you, ask about your life in general, and try to make small talk. He sits down and asks you necessary questions about your teeth, then he does his thing. This, to me, is very refreshing since (with few exceptions) no one genuinely likes going to the dentist and you want to get in and out as quickly as possible. He doesn’t come off as unfriendly, but he’s a very efficient person who values your time and his.
As far as the work itself, it seems to be quality work. I don’t know much about dentistry, but I do know that I don’t have any dental pain and I’ve already had several mercury fillings replaced with porcelain at Dr. Abboud’s practice. I believe he did my first fillings about a year ago, so there’s something to be said for that.
Bottom line? I’d recommend giving them a try. You might keep Google reviews in mind as well … for some reason, everyone on Unilocal has had a horrible experience, but there are 250 or so Google reviews that have more of an even balance of positive and negative. If you don’t like them, there are a lot of other great dentists in Boulder, too. I personally will stick with this dental office as long as we live here in Boulder, I’m sure.

DONT go here. Both me and my roommate went here and had terrible experiences. My roommate went to get a cavity filled and they did such a terrible job that she still complains of sensitivity weeks later and is currently looking for a better dentist. As for myself, the typical teeth cleaning didn’t feel as dentist clean as it should afterwards. It was like how it feels after you brush your teeth at home. In addition they recommended a bunch of cavities to be filled without legitimate evidence based off the X-​rays. I got a second opinion and they turned out to be completely wrong. They are just trying to make money in every way possible. It even costs $ 20 to get your X-​rays sent to another dentist, which my new dentist mentioned the X-​rays were incredibly blurry. I wouldn’t even go here in an emergency. Keep searching.

I had an appointment scheduled to get a root canal on a cavity filled that had fallen out (I had originally got it done there), first sign that maybe I shouldn’t go back. But, I had to cancel my appointment when my truck broke down in Albuquerque on my way back to Boulder. I called and gave them about a 20 hour notice and I had all the paperwork to show I had my truck fixed in Albuquerque, NM as to why I couldn’t make it to the appointment, however, they said they couldn’t book me again and although I have been a client for several years and my son also goes there, they dropped me as a client because of this emergency situation where I was stuck and had to cancel my appointment. The receptionist was very rude and they were not wiling to listen or care about the situation, they are just clearly very unprofessional. After reviewing the other reviews about the dentist, maybe its best I get another opinion and see another dentist anyway. I was even more surprised when I called another dentist and talked to a receptionist who said she had talked to another patient who had the same problem with this dental office. I have reported them to Medicaid and will continue to spread the word about their horrible policies. But in the end, its probably for the best as the filling they had given me hadn’t stuck and had fallen out and had been rotting under the filling, to the point where I need the root canal now only 2 years later. My opinion, this office and dentist is NOT worth the visit, keep looking.
Update: So I received a letter from DentaQuest who I filed my complaint with via Medicaid against this office and you wouldn’t believe it but the office manager Leah lied to the investigator and told her that I called the same day of my root-​canal and not the day before. However, what she failed to realize is we live in the age of data, and that I have a data trail of my cellphone records. So I sent my phone records to DentaQuest so I could prove that Leah lied in her response to their investigation. I can’t believe this lady is still employed at Dr. Abboud’s office, and I can’t believe that DentaQuest hasn’t removed them as a provider, how much lying and bad behavior does one dental office have to do to loose their license to practice?
Additionally their office still has not released my crown pre-​auth so I still have not been able to complete my procedure at my new dentist because this office is still not cooperating with anyone. Seriously avoid this Dental office like its the plague.

Our son goes to school in Boulder and as such, we schedule his appointments for him from a distance… I found Boulder Dental online and after first speaking with them to setup his first appointment I felt good about the office… We knew our son needed to have his wisdom teeth taken out so we started that process. Up front, we were asked to pay a specific dollar amount which Boulder Dental stated was out of pocket due to our type of dental insurance. Fine. We paid. Several months later Boulder Dental sent us a payment request for an additional dollar amount (near $ 400.00 extra). We questioned it and asked why we were told our out of pocket was one amount and now we are being told we owe a significant amount of money more. (I should also mention that his younger brother also had his wisdom teeth taken out and we spent half of what Boulder Dental charged us…) We went back and forth with the office and requested the Dr. call us personally to discuss the balance. We never ONCE received a call from the dentist. In fact the front office person who answered the phone got very rude with us towards the end of the back and forth discussions. She basically insinuated that we could not afford to make the payment — we could, it was a matter of not being ethical.
We DO NOT recommend this dentist office to anyone looking for a new place. Awful service and the fact that the office Dentist cannot even call a client back after multiple requests is poor. We did submit a claim with the Better Business Bureau and surprise, still have heard nothing back…

Excellent customer service, clean, organized and centrally located. Hygenist was very meticulous and gave me a thorough cleaning, while Dr. Herzberg gave an extensive comprehensive exam going over all of my options for treatment. I have found my new dental clinic after moving here from out of state.

If you go to this dentist and he tells you you need work done GET A SECOND OPINION!!! I have great dental insurance where I pay a miniscule amount out of pocket and I felt this dentist tried to take advantage of that. He told me I had 7 cavities. 7?! I never get cavities. I take very good care of my teeth. And 6 months prior my previous dentist didn’t spot any cavities or signs of any forming. So I got a second opinion going to another dentist’s office telling them I have cavities but I wouldn’t say how many because I wanted to know the truth. My new dentist said he couldn’t find a trace of a single cavity in my mouth. Really upset that Dr. Abboud was so dishonest especially since he comes off so nice. Or maybe he just needs to go back to dental school to learn how to spot a cavity.

What a terrible experience! I read recently that the way to build a good business is to be known as a «Likable Expert» in your field and the dental care here fails at both. I was told I needed hundreds of dollars worth of care only to get a second and third opinion confirming that was completely untrue. I also found the dentist impersonal to the point of rudeness and disinterested in any of my concerns or questions. I will definitely not be going here again.