SmileCare – Fresno

The back office staff and the drs are great! The one star is for the front office staff! They have a hard time scheduling appropriate appointments. Or they say that they scheduled an appt and your not on the books. I work nights so to get up and go to the drs in the middle of the day is hard and I hate having my time wasted!

I would give this place a zero star if possible. I have been to this place for almost 15 years but recently it’s become a joke! They cancelled my appointment three times because no one know what the hell is going on.

This place is a sham, don’t go to this organization. My 76 year old mother purchased dentures from this place in May 2013, she paid over 1900 dollars, we were told the material used to make the dentures was quality and they would last her lifetime, 6 months later they broke, they repaired them after she paid an additional $ 139, 8 months later they broke again while she was on vacation. So she had to find a local dentist and again pay $ 170 to get them fixed. Six months later, guess what they broke again. They were once again fixed and this time they didn’t charge, only because my mom stood her ground and refused to pay. You would think this would be the end but guess what they broke two more times, the latest one month ago. She has called, gone in to the office and keeps being told they are waiting for Corporate to tell them what to do. Well Corporate I think what we need to do is post on Social Media, Unilocal.Twitter and let these avenues do what they does best, put the word out. Along with talking to a lawyer.

Whatever you do, don’t come to this dentist. If your insurance assigns you to it, do yourself a favor and switch. This goes for the location in Clovis as well (since I’ve been to both) They add on tons of extra fees that most insurance covers. It’s by far the most unorganized office, they overbook and have you waiting for hours. Between my visit 3 of the dentist assinstants came to ask my dentist if she was free at a certain time. I just kept wondering why don’t they keep a calander up to date. The equipment is outdated and at the end it always comes down to the money. They try to sell you things that you don’t need (like a toothbrushes for 89 $) that I failed to see on the full page of fees. Thankfully they refunded me but it was absolutely ridiculous that they charged me in the first place. I’m still waiting for my cap to come in for my tooth since the first impression was awful and didn’t fit at all. Here I almost 2 months later with no tooth cap, and tooth that still hurts even after the root canal.

Joke of a place.
I went to get my braces tightened, and the lady said «I’ll be there in 5 minutes»
lo and behold I’m left hanging almost upside down for almost a ****ing hour with the lady and another person talking about someone’s pregnancy and gossiping. I wanted to say something so bad… not sure why I didn’t.
That was a while ago. I went in again a couple of months ago to get new retainers because I had lost my original ones. They asked me if my dad was a patient… uh… patient? He doesn’t do his teeth here. So I said no, but I am. They said I needed insurance.
I called my dad and he said we are covered, and that they should have his files there. They didn’t see anything or they didn’t bother to check. They sent me in the back room to see an orthodontist.
Orthodontist, tall lady with long brown hair, looks in her 30s comes in with a smug look in her face saying «so why are you here?» I said I would like to have new retainers. She scoffed and said «yep that’ll be $ 400 bucks.» I said «but we are covered.» She leers at me and leaves the office and started working on some kid’s mouth. I had to go because I had tooth cleansing scheduled and waited long enough.

#1 the people are nice that work here. but the doctor sounds like a sales pitch for a car dealership. supposedly our Dental coverage doesn’t cover cleanings but I look at the paperwork we have and low and behold they are covered. I wouldn’t go back here. I’m gonna find a new Dentist that will listen and won’t try to get extra money out of you for things that aren’t needed at the time.

SmileCare my ass. More like Frown Care. Dumb joke, but so true. There was nothing good about this place, the employees were only semi-​friendly, and definitely not knowledgeable. The dentist was a white guy, but I can’t remember his name. This is the only endodontic «surgeon» my shitty HMO would cover.
So onto my ridiculous experience. I went in for a simple tooth extraction. They sat me down after the x-​rays and all that nonsense and started injecting me with lidocaine. I sat there for a few seconds and my heart started POUNDING! I mean, I literally thought I was having a heart attack. I complained to the «Dr.» and he said, «oh it’s probably the epinephrine we gave you.» I was like WTF, no one told me you were giving me that and I’m pretty sure you should tell someone before you inject them with a drug that makes you feel that way!!! Anyway, he’s like «Did they take your blood pressure when you came in?» I said, «No» and he says, «Well, they probably should have done that, nurse take her bp.»
He then proceeded to tell me that my bp was fine and they would go ahead and get started, even though I told him I was not numb enough yet. So they start and I immediately start freaking out. I am telling them I am not numb and trying to push them away from me, and he’s like «its just pressure, its just pressure,» and I was like, «no motherfucker it hurts!!!» he continued to do the procedure until my body went into shock or something, I was shaking like a leaf and bawling hysterically. So they stopped, injected me with more lidocane, and finished the procedure/​torture. The entire time, I felt EVERYTHING, and it felt like they were breaking the adjacent teeth.
Then I was rushed out of there and he wouldn’t let me see my tooth before he trashed it.
Needless to say, I will NEVER be going to this garbage ass «dental practice» ever again. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone.
Drink a bottle of jack, and hook your tooth up to a rope and a tow hitch instead of going to this torture chamber.

Apparently I should have read Nanda’s review before going. This is my HMO dentist, but I will be switching. It took 3 ½ hours to get x-​rays, and a treatment plan — No actual service mind you, just the plan, which included fees well beyond anything listed in my HMO insurance guide. When I went to have service, the Dr. hit a nerve & I experienced pain like NEVER before. I went ahead with needed service because it wil take over a month to change dentists, but I will be switching ASAP. You can hear everything going on & almost every pt consult came down to money. I guess the fact that I only had to wait 2 days to get initial appt. and they called more than once telling me there were cancellations and I could come in earlier should have been a tip off.

Horrible brutal dentistry. Doesn’t stop hurting your mouth. Even the exam hurts! That is not normal. They don’t stop either when you raise your hands. They also give you extra charges even if your insurance covers everything. If you have a bad feeling about them and googled them while in the office, do yourself a favor and get out while you can.

This location is certainly not closed. In fact, this is the best dental experience I’ve had in years! I’m impressed with the ability and especially the rapport I had with the young male Dentist who works on Mondays. Dr. Ben is great and so is the staff – I don’t feel like I’m in a «chop shop» like when I went to Western Dental.