SmileCare Family Dentistry

Terrible clinic … The worst dental office, I had ever seen in my life. On December 2015. We called them schedule an appointment for my mom suffering pain in her tooth. In her initial visit which was after 3 months, the dentist said that she need to pull out her tooth. So they schedule an appointment with oral surgeon after another 3 months on June 2016 in spite of her suffering … At the same time, they schedule an urgent appointment within 2 days for deep cleaning even she didn’t need it because they don’t care about their patient’s suffering, all the care about how they can get money from you, they charged us $ 510 because the insurance covered portion of the whole amount. After 6 months waiting and suffering pain. We called them before one day of our appointment on June to make sure about it, the answer was: — there is no appointment and the oral surgeon will not com on that day and we should wait until the surgeon’s coming which is unknown when??? What a great clinc! How long time should we wait for pulling one tooth? I never recommend this place to anyone. It is unorganized, wasted time, impolite customer service, didn’t know what they are doing!

SmileCare accepted my insurance and I spoke with Yosenya over the phone who was very polite and professional. I am having some dental pain and was trying to find a provider who could see me quickly. They were booked out a month, but Yosenya was so understanding and really tried hard to help. The first emergency appointment was a week out, and she explained that that was a quick appointment mainly for writing prescriptions for antibiotics if you have swelling, and had an additional fee. I won’t be going to the office this time, but was very happy with the experience of calling in and may go in for my next check up.

I gave this one star because I have to give them some sort of rating. Too bad I can not give them negative stars.
I called in a few weeks before Christmas 2014 and made an appointment for December 28^th for my 2 kids. And one for myself just after the first of the year. A couple of days before Christmas I got a call from Smile Care saying that one of their doctors had a family emergency and that they needed to reschedule my children’s appointment. I was understanding and rescheduled my appointment for 3 weeks later because that it what worked for my schedule. Then I got a call that they had to reschedule my appointment as well. A couple days before my children’s appointment I got a call, they wanted to reschedule again. At this point in time, I was very annoyed. I explained that they have already done this once with my kids and myself, the woman said, well we only have one doctor here, the other one left because of a family emergency and they didn’t know if she would be returning. I asked why they keep scheduling appointments with her if they don’t know if she was returning, there wasn’t a good answer for my question. She said that they could get my kids in, but it would be later in the day at 1:30 pm. I took the appointment because my kids didn’t have school that day (MLK Day) and I didn’t have to work either. I arrived about 10 minutes early knowing that I would have to update information or fill out new paperwork since I had a change with insurance. I checked in at the front desk where the receptionist asked our names and checked her computer screen. She gave me paperwork and we sat down to fill it out. about 10 – 15 min later (and now the waiting room is filling up) i turned in my paperwork. People were coming and going as we sat there. Finally at 2:05 pm I was fed up. I went to the counter and asked the receptionist how long it would be before we were seen? She looked at her computer and said «We have you scheduled for 2:00 and 3:00 pm» My jaw dropped and I told I was told on the phone 2 days earlier that we were scheduled at 1:30, both kids. I asked again how much longer. She said she would «go check» and walked off. I sat back down and watched her walk all over the place and never told me how much longer. At 2:15 (another 10 minutes) I approached the counter again and requested to know how much longer we would be waiting and the receptionist replied, «oh, let me go check». As soon as she walked off, the door to the back rooms opens up and my daughters name is called. All I can think is, of course, now you call us back after nearly and hour of waiting. My kids and I walk towards the door and the dental assistant welcomes us in. I asked her if they can be seen at the same time and how long this is going to take. She looks very puzzled and the person I assume to be (I will refer to her as the office manager) the office manager is walking by and stops. I said to the both of them «We have been here for an hour. My appointments have been rescheduled twice as well as a time change and I am less then pleased. Not to mention that I was told 1:30 to only find out that I am actually scheduled for 2 and 3 pm.» The office manager explains about the Doctor that is gone due to a family emergency and that the only other one they have there is part time! I told her that i was seconds away from walking out the office when my daughters name was called. In the meanwhile the assistant took my daughter to the xray room just feet away from where I was standing talking to the office manager lady who apologized for everything in about the least sincere way possible. I Thanked her and headed to the xray area where my daughter was seated only to hear another staff member saying to the dental assistant (in a rude tone) «well what does she expect us to do if we dont have rooms for her? what does she expect?» I looked directly at her and told her she was about the rudest person I have ever come in contact with. I told my daughter to get out of the chair, looked at the office manager lady by the open door to the waiting room full of people and told her that her staff was the rudest and most unprofessional people I have ever had to deal with and that I would find another office to take my children to and we walked out.
I will NEVER, ever recommend Smile Care in Citrus Heights to anyone, even if they were doing free work! The staff doesn’t care, they are rude and not helpful or knowledgeable at all. I wish I would have read the Unilocal reviews before selecting them and wasting my day and time with them.

1 star is too many.
My dentist faxed a referral to this office. When I called they said they received it-​and that I needed to stop by to do paperwork, turn in copies of my x-​rays and book the consult appt. Fair enough.
I went by this afternoon and was absolutely floored — truly dumbfounded-​by the attitude of this thick chick w/​glasses who was at the front desk. She basically accused me of lying about the referral being sent. I said that my dentist said it was faxed and someone here said they got it. I wouldn’t have come by as I had been asked to do if they hadn’t rec’d it, I explained. Shen then said they stopped receiving fax referrals a month ago. Not my problem nor did I care. It was sent-​and I was told it was rec’d. if she had NICELY handled it by asking me if I could please call my dentist to refax as it appears to have been misplaced, I GLADLY would have. Or better yet, she could have offered to call my dentist. She was reeking of bitchy rudeness w/​zero sense of customer service.
I pretty much know already I need a root canal… no insurance involved, was going to be paying cash for this — AND NOW they have lost a customer. I don’t know (yet) what my work will come to but am going to guess in the 1000 dollar range.
I told her that I had read the crappy reviews on Unilocal but was going to give them a chance… I did, they failed.
I drove straight to another dental office — and closer to home. I was greeted warmly, they were extremely nice and polite. Immediately booked me an appt for tomorrow-​12/​17, filled out paperwork and ALL was perfect.
SmileCare lost business because of an unprofessional *&$#@ — rhymes with witch.

Needed to get an apt asap due to a toothache and wanting to book their next available or get on a cancellation list. Can’t go back to my old dentist because of insurance. Been waiting 4 days for a call back just to schedule an apt and they aren’t calling back. I’ve left 2 voice mails since Monday and it’s Friday. Going to a dentist tomorrow and will have to pay full price out of pocket as my toothache is getting worse and I can’t keep waiting. The fact they can’t even call to schedule an apt already lets me know I want nothing to do with them. Not to mention these reviews… Sounds like they need to re-​staff.

This place is the worst dentist office I’ve ever been to. First they didn’t even know how to numb my mouth, they actually gave me 12 shots of novacaine. I ended up throwing up within a few minutes and couldn’t even walk for several hours. That was in 2012. When I left I was completely paid up. Then they have the ordacity to send me a bill for 106.40 three years later with no explanation. I called several times and was told that they would call me back. Which they never did. Finally I called and waited till someone in the office answered, the manager I was told. She told me my dental insurance didn’t pay after several attempts by the office. I believe this office is full of crooks. DON’T GO HERE YOU. WILL REGRET IT.

They have incompetent unprofessional employees.
My original dentist referred me to this place based on accepting my insurance and it is closer to home. I’ve read the reviews before going here and it made me think to myself «I don’t want to go here but I have no choice, I’ll give it a try». Well, these poor reviews were right!
I’m still waiting for a call from them to schedule my consultation for extracting my wisdom teeth. It’s been a month already. Every week I have to call to know the status of my referral if its approved. Every time I call they have been giving me the same answer over and over again. I’m going in circles with them which is ridiculous. If I haven’t been calling I bet they would not even call. I’ve called back many times to the point the same person at the desk seems annoyed. I state my name and the reason why I keep calling. Like I said, it’s been a month. That’s a long time… Until now, nothing.
Time to find a better dentist.
Very disappointed in this place. I would rate it –5 stars.

If I could give it zero I would. 10:00 appt finally at 11:30 dr. Comes in to just tell us about procedure that’s been booked for 2 months. Front desk said it was being done today! Then they tell me they don’t have another appt until September to do the procedure. Should have read Unilocal before choosing this dentist office.

I had my braces put on in 2011. At the time, I was not too unhappy with the service but the Oral surgery I had was a nightmare. They waited too long after injecting me with the novacaine and then stuck a needle all the way through my gums even though I told them that I was not numb. That was just the begining. My braces were expensive, and I was lucky I had great insurance at the time. After the braces came off, the orthodontist sanded down my teeth to make them fit together and put a bar behind my two front teeth to close the large gap between them. 4 years later, my teeth have started to drift apart in spite of wearing my retainer on a religious basis every single night! I went to them for help, hoping that I just needed to have an adjustment made to my retainer. The orthodontist I saw today flat out told me that the orthodontist that put my braces on should not have put the bar back there and that he could not help me. He said that the bar is keeping my teeth from closing and that the retainer would do me no good which is confusing because they have held together for 4 years with the retainer. He refused to adjust the retainer, and told me that I would need to bend the bar behind my teeth which may break it. I would then be responsible to pay for it to be replaced. I spoke with the finance girl there who adivsed me they don’t even replace the permanant bars, that they don’t do them. To take it off it would cost me $ 700.00 plus office visit fees and at least $ 200.00 to get a new retainer to fix a problem that was their fault to begin with! Did I mention they were going to charge me $ 45.00 just to adjust the retainer that they made for me? I am VERY upset that I paid so much money for braces and they are telling me that they refuse to fix a problem that they created to begin with. I left their office in tears today. I had a large gap between my teeth for 32 years. It took a lot of money to fix my teeth and today I was pretty much told that I should not have bothered since they did shoddy work and are unwilling to do anything about it. I will be writing a letter to corporate. I am hoping that they are interested in keeping a good customer and will be willing to fix this since they should be willing to stand behind their work!

I have medi-​cal insurance and an extreme dental emergency. I found a great dentist who targeted the issue right away and said I need a root canal or extraction and I was given a referral to Smile Care in Citrus Heights. I called that Mon, left a vmail.
Called Weds, left a vmail. Called my dentist back to say I was not being called back by Smile Care but their hands were tied as that was supposedly the only place that did what I needed with my insurance. When I called again on Friday, their vmail was so full I couldn’t even leave a message. I found the number to their corporate office online and left this info. I was contacted back immediately by a nice woman who apologized and explained they just lost an office mgr, leaving them understaffed. Not my problem. So after dealing with this abscess and pain for a week, I had to drive down there to speak to someone in person. They were backed up, busy and phones ringing off the hook but I Saw them answer which was weird cause they sure didn’t when I tried calling multiple times. The woman who helped me explained there three credit programs, as medi cal only covers root canals in the back but extraction was free. The total cost for a root canal was over $ 600, which she said could be broken down in payments of $ 50 a month. I do not have $ 50 a month so asked for extraction. She said they could schedule me for a root canal in 5 days but for extraction their next opening was 3 weeks. I was basically forced to agree to something I didn’t want or have the money to pay for. So I saw my dentist the next day and he extracted it for me. This place is wack.

Over an hour wait everytime, sometimes 2 hours. Don’t plan anything else for the day.

If you are looking for a new dental office DONT GO HERE! They are money hungry and will find any way to take every last penny they can get their hands on. I had my x-​rays taken here and after my horrible experience I switched offices and would like to get MY xrays that I already paid for but they will not fax, email, mail MY xrays over without me paying $ 18 for «duplication». The receptionist AMANDA had the worst customer service I am surprised they would hire such people. Not only did she give me attitude and a hard time for asking about why there is a fee but she even raised her voice and yelled at me!!! When I asked new questions she would say «I already answered that» when she did not she than told me I will not sit here arguing with you she put me on hold for 10 mine because she claims to have a patient that called before me! She couldn’t have said that before instead we were in the middle of a discussion? When she finally picked up I asked her once again why are you charging me $ 18 if you are faxing me xrays and wasting my ink and my paper what is the $ 18 for if me and my insurance have already paid you for taking the xrays. She said an analogy saying its like going to a store and saying you Dont want to pay the price for a shirt… This situation is nothing like that. What it is like is paying for a shirt but after you bought it you want to wear your shirt but they say oh no you must pay a fee to wear it. after much arguing and yelling Amanda said she will not talk to me anymore and if I want to discuss the situation anymore I would have to speak to the manager.

Wish I could give less than one star. This place wastes your time and tries to create mouth problems so you use their service. I went in for xray/​cleaning and was left in a room forever AND they wanted me to come back to finish! Also they said I had an overbite and needed braces which is CRAZY my teeth are healthy and very straight. My husband came in on same day and they told him the same thing… EXACTLY the same thing. Run for the hills from this place. It’s like the chop shop of dental offices. If you need a great place for kids try Make a Smile in Rocklin, for adults try Dr. Kennedy on Morris in Sac.

I went there to have a broken tooth filled. They spent 2 hours doing X-​Rays and gum inspection, discussing gum disease processes amongst themselves and I was finally told that a Technician (The Closer) would bring me an action plan to address my needs. I asked if the tooth that prompted my visit would be fixed today and they said no. I asked why the F@#k they wasted my time and left. I think they are following a Corporate plan to drain customers (Yes, that’s what I am) of their money with a «Long Term Plan», which unfortunately is pretty much Par for the Course in this industry.

Contrary to others experiences I actually liked this office. I had a great experience with the hygienist Yervand. He was very thorough and explained everything he was doing. I was very pleased with the service and the ease of the appointment. I will definitely return to see the hygienist and will be scheduling another appointment for some other work that I need to do on my teeth. I have been to quite a few dental offices and orthodontists and in caparison to those I was very pleased with my overall experience at SmileCare.

Crooks. Do not go here. I asked for specific procedure and they try and get me to buy all kinds of other services. And didn’t even schedule me for the procedure I came in for. This place is horrible. Save yourself the headache and don’t go.

still an awful place… you are better off using the pliars in your garage

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE! DO NOT GO THERE FOR ANYTHING they are complete liars! ortho doesnt know what their doing! their rude and the manager is a low life who doesnt know what shes talking about save yourself the trip and money their worse then western dental! id give them –5 stars if i could

Keep in mind they are only receiving the stars because I have had some positive visits! Been coming to this office since 2009 and it sucked then and has been on a continual decline since. I have had at thousands of dollars of work and several visits however this last one took the cake so I decided to finally write my review.
Appointment?! What appointment. Be prepared to wait a minimum ONE HOUR after your ‘scheduled appointment’ to be escorted into a room, 30 minutes on a good day. Typically I don’t get to see an actual dentist until about an hour to hour and a half after my appointment. This office books a minimum of 3 – 4 clients per dentist for the same time slot. Ridiculous right?! The appointments are scarce all of a sudden so be prepared to wait a week or two to be seen. The front office staff are pretty cool to me although they have, on several occasions dropped the ball on making calls if your appointment had to change for some reason causing you to drive to your appointment only to find out you don’t have one.o.0 They used to have weekend appointments which was one of the main reasons I stayed so long, but that too is now gone. Rotate doctors in and out so don’t expect to see the same one for several visits.
Word of caution: SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS! I never leave this place without paying my balance in full and at the beginning of this year was shocked to find a 800 bill in my mailbox they said I owed them yet nobody could tell me why??? Just that I could not be seen until the debt was cleared. Crazy right. After two or three months, being sent to their corporate office and back to this office and several run around calls they finally miraculously cleared the debt after nobody could give me a clear answer as to what I owed money for. This also happened a second time this year when my the person whom I had insurance with previously had a balance and they decided to charge me. Umm NO!
Overall:I will say most people here are friendly but the way this office is run is beyond ridiculous and inefficient. instead of doing my cleaning the crown prep which should have been 1.5 hours max 2 hours later I am still here having to reschedule for a fourth time even though I was told I would be in and kit in two hours. One day soon I will realize their two hours is not a normal persons two hours. –_​– After these last visits I am on the market for a new reliable dentist. You get what you pay for and this place is expensive and for the birds. Run don’t walk away from this place!!!
Breakdown:
Wait WITH appointment: bring a book/​Ipod/​IPad something to entertain u! 30−60min wait in the lobby followed by 30 – 45 min in the room.
Convenient Hours/​Availability: if you are flexible and have no life maybe. If you need to be in and out in 2hours don’t get your hopes up
Payment: All fees must be paid in full at time of service. They used to have some type of payment plan option but they recently switched to a new company I guess.

OMG! HORRIBLE. The worst dental service in California. SmileCare is horrible.
I received a bill from them 1 year and 6 months of 1300 dollars. They claimed that insurance hadn’t paid. I called my insurance company and got a written statement that they paid all claims that were requested. That no claims were denied.
I also got bank statements and locally I have all the receipts from them that showed I had paid.
Enough about that.
The service was gross. Don’t go there please.