City Dental

My experience with City Dental and Dr Cheng has been perfectly normal and comfortable. She’s a confident and capable dentist, from what I gather, so I don’t understand the negative reviews. But to each their own! I’d refer anyone to her anytime.

My first appointment here because it is a convenient and short walk from home. I got to the office 5 minutes early and they had me sit down and fill out paperwork. 15 minutes after I finished filling my paperwork I noticed they kept bringing other patients in before me. I went up to the front desk to ask her why the appointment was running late and she smiled and said «Maybe because you come in late» and I told her I came in 5 minutes early. The front desk went to the back room right away to speak with the dentist and the dentist came out in the middle of seeing another patient and brought me back. She sat me down and started talking to me about my dental insurance not «working out/​wrong» because I wasn’t on their monthly list. I got real frustrated towards my dental insurance because they told me I could go ahead and book my appointment. The dentist kept saying «it’s not my fault» and I kept having to tell her «I KNOW it’s not I’m not saying it’s your fault»
I went back home and got a hold of my insurance over the phone. They told me that I should have been seen because my participation became active for that month. When I called the dentist office and told them this they said «AH YESSS you can come back and wait for a space to open up because other appointments ahead of you»
Highly unprofessional. The receptionist should have been able to handle this situation with me rather than making the dentist step away from her patient. The dentist shouldn’t have walked out on her current patient.
What a joke and waste of time. I have a gut feeling I shouldn’t go back anyways to be seen and I wont.

I chose this place as my primary dental office for my HMO dental insurance because it is easy to get to, and they had appointments available relatively soon. Big mistake. I should have read the reviews here first.
The good news is that she cleaned my teeth even though I was a new patient on their roster and the new roster hadn’t come through from the insurance company yet. They had to call and verify my eligibility. That was nice of her, I guess.
The bad news was that she yelled at me for not knowing that they don’t treat new HMO patients until they have the new roster in their hands, which is contrary to what my insurance company told me. She also treated me like a child and told me that I should have asked my parents about this because they would have known about these things (I’m in my mid twenties and have been independent for years — what the hell, lady). Even worse, her physical treatment of me during the examination and cleaning was careless and inconsiderate. She didn’t have an assistant, so she left the suction tube hanging out the side of my mouth while she walked around to get things, and she used my chest as a tool tray. The cleaning itself was very rough and felt cursory at best.
I would call this place totally unprofessional. For my next cleaning, I may just screw the insurance and go back to my old dentist, who is wonderful but isn’t in my HMO network.

Dr. Chang is very nice and gives your teeth a good cleaning. She’s also gives good advice on how best to keep your teeth clean. Great place for a check up

If you look at my history of reviews on Unilocal,they are all extremely positive. Rarely do I go online and put a business on blast just b/​c it’s very easy to be critical. That being said, this woman is the most unprofessional dentist I have ever met in my life.
I have had my teeth cleaned by her twice, as it’s covered by my HMO. I need to have my wisdom teeth pulled. So I scheduled the appointment. About a week before the appointment, I called, requesting more detailed information on the procedure (length, cost due to the range of HMO, if I will be put under, etc.). This is a serious procedure and I wanted to be adequately prepared.
Not only did she not give me any answers, she proceeded to yell at me for about 10 minutes. The list of excuses goes on: She did not have my file in front of her. She didn’t know the exact scale of payment. She doesn’t have any sort of x-​rays to give me information on preparation. I then asked her why she would schedule an appointment to have this procedure done, if the preparation was not there. I stated that I did not feel comfortable having this procedure done, and I was simply requesting information so that I would know what to expect. She then proceeded to tell me that she she doesn’t need patients like me. I would never trust this woman with any sort of dental work.

I can’t say enough bad things about Christine Chang’s City Dental practice. I wish I could give her a negative star rating!
Firstly, it is virtually impossible to schedule an appointment. You can’t make an appointment online so you have to call. Whomever is working the front desk is unorganized and doesn’t seem to know how to read a calendar.
Secondly, they have terrible record keeping. Their «system» is a 1990’s binder filled with ineligible scribbles. When I arrived for my appointment, they told me they couldn’t see me because I wasn’t in there system even though I had seen Christine back in 2010. No call, mind you, before arriving to alert me of the situation. After running around the office for 15 minutes speaking in gibberish and telling me it is my insurance company’s fault, I called my insurance company. My insurance company told me I had been registered with Christine since October of 2010 and I should absolutely be in the system. After I hung up with the insurance company, Christine told me that she could only see me if I paid my $ 5 co pay that supposedly wasn’t collected in 2010. She also proceeded to tell me that she was doing me a favor by not charging me the full amount from my 2010 appointment (since they never bothered to collect it from my insurance company).
Once I got into the chair, Christine poked and prodded my teeth and gums with no care or regard. She is the roughest dentist I have ever been to. Next, she proceed to tell me that I needed a gum treatment that insurance won’t cover and would cost me about $ 1000. This is the same treatment that she tried to sell my boyfriend on the week before which is clearly a money-​maker for her.
After a 12 minute «blood bath» cleaning, Christine told me I was finished. She doesn’t take x-​rays; she does the very minimum. Back at the front desk, I went to pay my co pay from 2010 and from this visit a total of $ 10. I handed the «receptionist» a $ 20 bill. She then proceeded to tell me that she has no change and that I would need to go next door to get change. Obviously annoyed that a business cannot make simple change, I handed her a credit card. She then proceeded to tell me that there is a $ 200 minimum charge for credit cards… So with no other choice, I walked to another establishment down the street to get change. (Everyone I have told this story to, has told me I should have walked out and never returned with the change. Honestly, I thought about it but decided against it.) I went back in and handed her the $ 10. The receptionist again proceeded to tell me that I should be grateful that I wasn’t being charged the full amount for my visit back in 2010…
Obviously, I will never go back to see Christine Chang at City Dental and will advise all friends, family, and everyone and anyone to NEVER see this women. In addition, I am also going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

If it weren’t for the horrible experience I had with Dr Cheng I probably would not have met the amazing dentist I have now. So I guess thanks are in order? Never mind, do yourself a favor and use someone else unless you want a barrage of sales attempts thrown at you as you lay helpless with a mouthful of dental crap.

She may have someone at her front desk, you most likely will see Dr. Chang yell at her. You will Have to wait forever because She will have scheduled too many people. She will take 5 minutes on your teeth and find a way to get $ from you. She filled my cavity in 5 minutes told me it was porcelain fill so she could charge me $ 300 before I walked out the door. Although my insurance pays for cavities. After fighting with her and talking to several dentists, she still wont refund me and porcelain fill is like working with a rock, takes hours, and no dentists use it anymore ever. They use resin base composit. Which insurance covers.

I have had multiple problems with my teeth over the years, and have seen a few different dentists. The most of the dentist didn’t want to perform certain procedures because this or that needs to be completed first. I’m sorry but I’m a paying customer and I would like some things to be done first.
Dr, Chang was the only one that was straight up with me, explained everything in complete detail without candy coating what I am having done and what needs to be done.
I’m still wondering why did she get all this negative reviews. I guess that people want to hear wonderful stories about their dental status and they are not ready to hear that their smile is not perfect as they thought it will be. I can’t speak about insurance issues of others but with my Blue Shield insurance I didn’t have any issues.
One star down because I would like to schedule appointments online but they are not responsive on email scheduling.
Go to City Dental ONLY if you are ready for straight up talk.

I did actually get the $ 50 refunded to me. Thanks! Still not coming back…

Pros–
–Easy to get an appointment
Cons–
–Equipment is old and the suction device looked like it had been repeatedly chewed on.
–I only wanted a teeth cleaning and was repeatedly told that I needed Invisalign. I had braces less than 2 years ago — I doubt my teeth could have been that bad.
–Dr. Chang made me feel uncomfortable — Her tone of voice made me feel like she was yelling at me, and at the same time I couldn’t really understand her. When I asked her to repeat herself, her tone got increasingly frusterating.
I was trying to save money and opted for the HMO through work. Subsequently, I have upgraded to the PPO and will be going elsewhere.

Christine Chang is a total loser. I chose her because I had been to her many years ago, and my insurance did not have many choices. She is the rudest person I have ever met. She tried to sell me everything from braces, to a bridge, to an implant, etc. and I said no to all, just clean my teeth. I get a cleaning every 6 months, went back 7 months later (took a day off work to do so), and sat down in the chair, was ready to go, and she then decides she will not clean my teeth, as she tells me I have to wait 7 months, and then another month afterwards. She told me to leave her office, and then she berates me and my «terrible» insurance, stating that no one has this insurance. I could not believe it. I plan on reporting her to the American Dentist Association for her unbelievable inappropriate behavior. DON’T GO TO HER!

I randomly selected Christine Chang as my dentist via my insurance coverage list — and I definitely plan on changing my primary care dentist after my first routine teeth cleaning a few months ago. A dentist is a dentist right? Of course it’s going to hurt a little at times and it’s not the most enjoyable experience, but I am rating this lady a 1 (negative if it was applicable), simply due to her unprofessional behavior throughout my visit.
As she quickly half-​assed cleaning my teeth for 20 minutes, dentist Chang would repeatedly mention how «terrible» my teeth were and pitched various other procedures and products I should consider. I had eight teeth removed, had braces for two years, and consistently floss/​brush my teeth so I had no idea of this revelation that my teeth were worse than Austin Powers. (My bottom front four teeth are slightly unaligned due to not using retainers for a year).
Anyways, she would basically repeat «you’re teeth are no good» every 10 seconds and said my teeth would be considered «acceptable a decade ago». Either this lady is a used car saleswoman on the weekends or she has absolutely no idea how to communicate with her clients (i guess the latter).
After politely turning down her requests for invasalign (sp?), teeth bleaching products, braces, and veneers, she concluded by giving me the most painful flossing of my life — maybe it was because I wasn’t a good client to cross sell? And after checking in the mirror, I realized she did a real half-​ass job.
If her office wasn’t located conveniently in Lincoln Park, she would go out of business. I hope she does in the future.

For the past 2 years, I feel that Dr. Chang has been very informative and helpful everytime I have visted her. My teeth cleanings have been nothing but superb. I would definitely recommend her.

Dr. Chang is a very good dentist. The office is clean and comfortable, and she knows her stuff. She’s not going to win any awards for storytelling or dentist parlor tricks, but she is going give a very honest state of the union on your mouth.
Obviously some people claim to have had pretty miserable experiences here, but I’ve been going for more than a year and have never had a problem.

Wow! I made a Saturday appointment to go see this dentist 3 months in advance because Saturday appointments are really hard to get. It was scheduled for today, at 10:30 am. I showed up at 10:30 only to discover the door is locked and nobody is inside. I called the office and left several voice mails. TWO hours later, someone called me, apologized for the confusion, and let me know that the dentist is at a conference, and that I can show up the following week instead.
No thanks. I would rather pay Dr. Sood’s office out of pocket.

Went to her office only once and never went back! Location is great, but the set up … not so much. Patient areas are too close to each other (one big space) which is shared with the front desk and waiting area. Mainly, there is no privacy. Also, she was very insistent on Invisalign. I told her that as a student, I couldn’t afford it but explained that us «young people» didn’t understand and she would know because she is a dentist. She was very degrading. She also didn’t give me a cleaning which I took the time out of work for (waste of my time).
Again, us «young people» don’t understand the insurance system and we needed to wait six months before getting another cleaning (DUH!). Make sure to bring ALL your previous dental records. Otherwise, she won’t see you because you’re too young to understand. She recommended all these other procedures which ALL of my previous dentists did not mention. Only go to this dentist if you are not «young» and actually want Invisalign.

I went to Dr. Chang once. Like other reviewers, I had crappy HMO insurance. I strongly felt that she was trying to upsell me products and services I didn’t need. She recommended a highly invasive cleaning and braces for my lower teeth; in all the years I’ve been to the dentist, no one has said a thing about my mildly crooked bottom teeth, including the 2 subsequent dentists I’ve been to. The later dentists also concurred that the type of cleaning she recommended was unnecessary. When I switched to the first of these dentists, Dr. Chang’s office wanted to charge me to transfer my records. Aw hell no!
You can go to her, but keep a lock on your purse/​wallet!

Run away from this place as quickly as you got there. I had an HMO as well, so at the time I had no better choice of location and hours. The first time there I had cleaning done and she tried to sell me root scaling which I knew was not necessary. She did convince me to get an orthodontic treatment /​braces.
So on 2÷16÷2007 I paid $ 2,400 for an Invisalign treatment. Dr Chang took a mold from my teeth and in a week I came back to pick up the first set of braces to wear. The braces were poorly made, uncomfortable and after examining them I found out that they are not Invisalign at all. I had her administrative assistant confess to me that they use a local laboratory and a different service provider.
Doctor Chang explained that because she is giving me a discount, she is providing me with a substitute brand of braces. I explained that this is not what I had paid for, nor what I had been told when I agreed to the service so I asked for my money back.
I was promised a refund but not until the insurance company had paid back the dentist. I talked to the insurance company and there had been no claim submitted and consequently none was made. (Dr. Chang claims that there should be no claim since I am just getting a discounted price through the insurance, but then why was she waiting on the insurance for anything?) A month and a half later I received a check for $ 2,000 from the denial office. $ 400 were withheld to cover expenses and work for the first set of braces. She told me that I should feel lucky that I got that much back.
The dental office is one big space in which patients waited, the administrative assistant worked and the dental procedures were performed. The floors were dirty, the equipment was old and questionably clean. I have changed my dentist since but I am afraid that the dental practice of Dr. Chang is a threat to the health of staff and patients because of the working conditions.
Update: 1÷8÷08 I just received an angry call from Dr. Chang about this review. She threatens to sue me for false accusations and that I have no right to write what I have written. I have tamed down my conclusions but I have no intend on twisting the facts of my experience with her. Last time I checked I live in a democratic state — not one where censorship is rampant.
P. S. Andy in his review has Dr. Chang figured out very well — she tried to give me a guilt trip too, while explaining how she has been a dentist for 25 years, knows it all and has seen it all.

So I’ve got craptastic dental insurance (dental HMO) because I have pretty good teeth, and I really only go in for yearly cleanings. Anyway, I had to wait an hour before my first visit only to be told that I had to come back for a teeth cleaning due to liability issues with my insurance. Fine.
Second visit. 1 ½ hour wait this time. I come back to get the cleaning and she tells me that I need a crown for a damaged tooth. Nah. Just the cleaning today, thanks. I had to sign a form saying that I only wanted a cleaning. One minute later, she notes that I have a small cavity that should be filled.
«Can we fill it today?»
She says «No! You signed a waiver that says you only want a cleaning».
«You didn’t tell me I had a cavity before I signed the waiver».
Ugh.
I picked shredded dental floss out of my teeth while I made a THIRD appointment to get the cavity filled.
An hour and forty five minute wait the third time around. She’s obviously understaffed and over booked. I sit down in the chair and she starts laying on a guilt trip.
«With your insurance, most dentists won’t see you on a Saturday. You have to come in during the week»
Hey, it’s not my fault that you CHOOSE to accept the insurance provider. If you’re dissatisfied with them, then quit accepting them. Furthermore, you CHOSE to see me on Saturday.
She again starts talking about a crown. My previous dentist did not recommend a crown, so I don’t want to go that route– especially with this lady. I refuse the crown and she starts belittling me.
«You young people don’t understand. This is important. You young people think you can let problems go. You should make another appointment to get the crown. I am the dentist. You are the patient».
Really? I thought you were a series of Autumn leaves and I was a cup of yogurt.
Bleg.
I’d prefer an outwardly sadistic dentist with rusty tools and hooks for hands to this backhanded quack any day.
Two stars because she had Timeout Chicago in the waiting room.
Oh…and ten bucks says «John J.» is Dr. Chang herself. Evil.