SmileCare Family Dentistry

It’s been years since I’ve been here and I’m still pissed at what a joke of an operation this is. I paid $ 800 to have the caps on my front teeth redone until I could get veneers done. The lady made them crooked (the bottom of the teeth should be straight across, instead there is an inverted v shape — should look like this: _​_​_​instead looked like this: ^) I pointed it out and the dentist said that’s what teeth look like and WOULDNT FIX IT! I’ve been to two dentists since who have asked what happened and couldn’t believe the poor work. They also were consistently running 45 minutes or more late. I went here when I was broke and it cost me more in the long run getting all their mistakes fixed!

Dentist walked out wen i got there 4 my appt. Gone an hour!!! Once in chair another 20 minutes. He looked at my teeth 20 seconds n stated i needed a full mouth bone replacement surgery! Never been told that… its bs!!! money hungry mongers!!! Dont go here!

I would give this place negative 5 stars if I could. Came to this crappy office when I had the worst dental insurance when I was a poor college student. I think this place either hires new grad dentists or dentists who can’t find a job anywhere else bc the 2 different dentists were both relatively young and horrible at what they did.
PLEASE DON’T GO TO THIS PLACE IF YOU CAN AVOID IT. Worst DENTAL OFFICE. EVER!!!

I visited SmileCare in 2011 while I was insured under Cigna. After paying my bill, SmileCare never took care of getting Cigna’s side of the bill payed out. I was later contacted in 2012 by a collections agency that expected me to pay for SmileCare’s error.
After contacting SmileCare 3 times, and being ignored and deferred ²⁄₃ times, someone on their end finally said they would clear up the issue with the collections agency. They told me this billing problem occurs a lot at this location. They never did called the collections agency, and now my credit is suffering. When I try to talk to anyone at SmileCare about the issue they always tell me that they are busy and will call me back.
So far no one has called me back.
Don’t waste your time with these crooks.

I would gave a minus star if it’s possible.
My mom wanted to do a regular clean. She went there last week. Instead of getting her teeth cleaned, she was forced to take full X-​rays of her mouth, even though she expressed her reluctance. The whole process took two hours and then they didn’t have time to do the clean up for her in the end.
Today she went there again hoping to have her teeth cleaned. She was told she needs a deep clean, even though they are aware that deep clean is not covered by her insurance. They came up with all sorts of lies. My mother told them she just had her teeth cleaned 10 month ago and she doesn’t have any problem with her teeth right now. They just refuse to do the regular clean up for her.
I think this place is a cheat house. All they care is money for themselves.
I wish there could be something we can do to shut this place down.

I had a wisdom tooth extracted here which went really well. So when I had heard they also had a periodontist, I decided why not since I needed an implant done.
While the surgery wasn’t bad, it was the miscommunication between the DR and myself regarding the procedures/​prices/​and work.
Even though I have insurance, I still paid 3500 out of pocket. Now, NOBODY there bothered to tell me that this was only for the graft and healing cap and NOT the implant crown which is obviously the most important piece. When they said I had to speak to a dentist about doing that and that it was a different dept, I was shocked. So when I had a consultation with another dentist there, they said it was going to be another 2 — 3K, and that’s with insurance…
What a freaking rip off…
And if you do go here, be prepared to wait.
Two stars for the oral surgery.

After I posted my review on 08÷23÷11, their skill for serving urgent need has improved. At least we can call first and squeeze Jo in to cut the dangling wire. Just when our impression on them starts to get better, something happened today to destroy their credit.
Our son is originally scheduled to see the doctor next Monday at 3:00 pm (appointment writing on their business card). However, I received a call this morning and their clerk over the phone wanted to confirm the appointment at 8:00 am next Monday. I told her that the writing says 3:00 pm, but she just kept saying that it should be 8:00 am, otherwise I have to wait until next next Monday for another 3:00 pm schedule. She didn’t say sorry nor apology and her tone is cold in a way that I have to accept either time schedule.
I drove my car to their clinic and went through the second door and wanted to talk to the financial lady to know what’s going on, but their front desk clerk asked me to come out to talk to them. Well, to put things in a nutshell, I was so angry that I banged on their desk and they still didn’t know why their system said 8:00 am not 3:00 pm, even though I presented the paper proof. Their system doesn’t have a trace that can show who has changed my schedule. Then, the lady who talked to me over the phone said apology and sorry (my god, she is not a clerk but an office manager). But she said next time something like this happened, I should come to their desk first. I said, fortunately I live close. If I live in San Jose downtown, so I have to drive 20 miles for their mistake?
So in the end, we have to accept the appointment delay for another week at 3:00 pm because we don’t want Jo’s school work to be delayed in the am.
Probably this clinic’s brace fee has a lower price than others, but I certainly think it’s not worth it. It’s damaging to parents’ health.
On the way back, I started thinking why they asked me to postpone my schedule but not calling the client who took my original schedule. I mean, first thing first, right. I have paper proof to prove the 3:00 pm slot is mine, so they should call that client to reschedule, not me.
Here is the reason I can think of:
We are already a «fixed» customer (i.e., money paid, cannot escape away), but that client is probably new or his payment is more lucrative than ours.

I am at my wit’s end with this place. Long story, short — it has taken almost 3 months for them to get my son’s retainers right. They tell me to make an appointment, I make the appointment. We show up for the appointment and we end up waiting 45 minutes only to find out that the retainer is not in. I yell, why didn’t anyone call me to let me know so I can cancel, and they just sit there with a stupid look on their face and tell me «I don’t know.» I agree with all the 0 – 1 ratings here. They deserve a zero! I hate walking in to the office — overcrowded with lots of disgruntled patients — myself included.

Horrible! Worst customer service, waited 2 hours for an appointment that was booked (3) weeks in advance! I have great insurance and was still treated like I was some bum off the street. They over charge because there is such a high turnover. Stay far away from this chop shop!

I totally agree with the last person. I’ve been waiting to write a review, but obviously they keep changing their Unilocal name — IT’S THAT BAD! I didn’t have insurance at the time so it was my only option. I have never been to such an unprofessional, scam artist dentistry before.
To provide you with a snapshot: with an appt. you wait at least 30−45mins EVERYTIME, once you’re in the chair you wait again for some random technician to come along, several occasions I didn’t get the dentist I made the appt with, receptionist think they’re doing me the favor, each one tries to sell you on something you don’t need (they said I needed braces when I have perfectly straight teeth) and you have to book TWO appointments — one to tell you that they are going to give you a cleaning and the second appt. is to do the actual cleaning! WHAT?! Yeah, like that. AND the cleaning process took 10 mins — didn’t look or feel like they did a thing. I could actually keep going, but I’ll spare you cuz I’m getting pissed off just writing this.

If I could give this place zero stars, believe me I would. The only reason I continue going here is because I’ve been on my parents’ dental insurance and thank goodness I’m 26 and only have one more appointment with them until I am on my own insurance because I will never come here again. I have tried so many times to give them the benefit of the doubt and to put on a happy face and be polite, but they never cease to be terrible. Here are some of the examples I am talking about:
I have been going here since I was in elementary school; they messed up my braces and told me that there «2 phases.» Parents: NEVER LISTEN TO THIS CRAP. Because of this, they slapped braces on me when I only had literally half of my adult teeth in!!! Then they took them off, made me wear retainers for several years, then convinced me to do phase 2… by this time I was a freshman in high school having yet ANOTHER round of braces. And low and behold, after a short period of time. i’m talking like a month, they go, «oops, we shouldn’t have put these on because your roots are too short since you had braces too early…» UMMMMM… so they took off the second round and now I’m stuck wearing retainers at night for the rest of my life since if I skip a night or two, my front teeth start to ache. My front teeth are literally MOBILE after one or two nights without the retainer because they never properly set in that bogus «second phase.» UGH
Every time I come here I see a different dentist. Apparently the «turnover» rate is extremely high…
When I came to get my wisdom teeth pulled…(in the middle of my first semester of law school) I was nervous to say the least. I had to wait over an hour and a half for my initial consultation only to be told, «oh by the way, your insurance only covered 2 of the 4 teeth to be pulled… oh and the insurance won’t cover anesthesia…» Oh thanks Smilecare, so now as a poor law student I am told at the last minute that I need to shell out an additional 1k to have the pleasure of being asleep while you take out all 4 of my wisdom teeth (all of which were impacted!?). Oh and they even mixed up which teeth were going to be «covered» by my insurance and which were not (ie: the ones I had to pay for). Oh it gets better… right before the surgery starts, they left me alone with an IV in my harm shivering from the cold for 25 minutes after I told them I’m terrified of needles… and when I woke up asking for my mom, the mean old lady told me to shut up and stop crying or else I wouldn’t get to see my mom… UMMMMM seriously?!
There is so much more, but the last thing I want to say is when they moved from their Cupertino office to the new (tacky) Santa Clara one… they mixed up my patient file, lost all of my info, and tried to stalk my dad to pay some bogus $ 800 bill. We had all the paperwork and showed them that the names and account numbers were mixed up but their office staff was too incompetent to handle it.
UGH I can’t wait to be done with this place. Seriously, do yourself a favor and don’t come here EVER unless you want to ALWAYS deal with them being late, total attitudes from the mean ladies at the front desk, and always getting a different answer about everything from each employee.

I have never gone to a dentist with worst customer service and a more unpleasant experience. Let’s first start with the fact that, 2 years ago, when I went, I had to go in TWICE! Once for the «evaluation» and the second for the cleaning. It wasted my time and then never told me that ahead of time. Also, the times I went I routinely waited about 30min-​1hr. On top of that, I recently got a bill for $ 32 for service I got in ¹¹⁄₂₀₀₉! These were for X-​Rays that they should have known weren’t covered except for once a year!
Absolutely the worst service you could possibly go to! If there was the ability to put 0 stars, I would!
The lady I got on the phone from their claims department was also completely unsympathetic. Her name was Jacky and is a supervisor there.
Stay away at all costs!
BTW, for me, this was not an isolated incident and that’s why I transferred to another dentist. But seems like they found a way to ruin my day even more than 1 year later! Unbelievable!
Oh yeah… I also forgot about the time I went there and had an early morning appointment. I got there and no one was there. I eventually called into their HQ and found out that they don’t open that early! Seems like someone should have told me BEFORE confirming my appointment to avoid wasting my time in the morning!

0 Stars.
Ive never been to this dentist. But in a nutshell… It was horrible.
When I called to make an apt. I said «Id like to set up an apt.» and she immediately put me on hold for 10 minutes got back on the phone and asked if she could call me back to set up an apt! She never called me back… so I called back the next day.
And she did the same thing. I FINALLY got an apt set for 8am Friday morning. When I got there, there was an old man and a lady waiting. I arrived 10 minutes early, signed in and they didn’t call me in until 8:15. I heard them talking about how the computers weren’t working and they were struggling calling patients in bc the computers were down. They ended up calling me in before the old man! He complained and the mexican lady goes «Well, SIR, your paperwork isn’t READY yet.» [to another worker] «Can you HELP this old man, hes complaining» and then just walked away. very VERY rude.
Then they tell me all this stuff thats wrong with my teeth. They tried to sell everything they could. The tooth brush, fillings, deep clean, the paintings on the wall, EVERYTHING! They said my gums were 4s, and 5s, and I needed «deep cleaning» that was over $ 400. They kept saying if i didnt do this or didn’t get that I would get gingivitis.
After the examination I went back to the front desk to receive my «Evaluation Costs» for everything I «needed» done. They added things on to this list that the Dr. didn’t even mention! Then I said «no I dont need antibiotics» but she insisted I needed them. Then I asked her to double check with the doctor and she went in the back for 5 seconds and came back and said «Yeah your gums are 4’s and 5’s you need it» I called back to ask a few questions they never answered about some of the ridiculous costs. put me on hold AGAIN. and asked if they could call me back again. and hung up on me, TWICE!
DONT WASTE YOUR TIME!!!

I’m afraid I’m only going to agree with all the other reviews.
This was the office assigned to me by my dental plan. I had yet to go this office after my previous one went off the plan. So it was an emergency my first visit, and they squeezed me in, took care of the issue, and scheduled the follow up. So far, so good. I settled in for the long haul. I had a cracked tooth, the crown was taken care of no problem.
But then we got to the cleanings. I needed perio-​scaling and root planing (apparently). Untill they said otherwise, regular cleanings, the type the insurance covers, were unavailable. I had to have the periodontal maintenenance, which naturally is not covered.
I had to have this explained to me by the insurance provider since the office did not adequately explain why all my further treatments would be out of pocket until they said otherwise. Nor did they provide the alternating option the insurer said was standard practice.
Each time I was there I was told I need desensetizing agents, and Aerestin, all of which I fell for. And they want $ 200 for the perio treatment, 4 times a year. I couldn’t get away from the notion that they were measuring the pockets to my detriment, rather than being accurate. That they saw a cash cow sitting in the chair and went for it. That every visit from now on will be excluded no matter what the outcome of the evaluation.
After talking to the insurer I feel even more strongly that they are not interested in my dental health and only want to make money by forcing non-​covered extras.
I’m currently looking for a new dentist.

I went there today with my son it was his first visit to the dentist. My son was nervous and was asking questions about the xray machine. The ladies were so rude and mean to him. I had to ask her could she be nicer to my son. She told me she was being nice just firm and that he was not listening to her. She was extremely negitive to my son shaking her head. He was getting upset. The lady then. Starts to ask me what’s wrong with him. I was furious and asked her could she leave the room that I did not want to deal with her.
You would expect a grown woman would have some compassion for a young child that was so frightened sitting in the chair.
Then to top it off everyone else that came into the room were looking at me as if I was crazy.
Thanks to this dental office my son has had the worst first visit to the dentist.
Don’t go here. They couldn’t treat us because my son was scared. I mean really. Big waste of time. I was so angry and disapointed.

WORST DENTAL OFFICE EVER, like you won’t believe! Save yourself some grief by listening to everyone on this page and steer clear! They operate under the names Stevens Creek Dental and SmileCare Dental.
When I moved to the bay area almost 5 years ago, this office was recommended by my crappy Blue Cross Dental HMO which I was using at the time. It was close so I went ahead and picked this practice.
This place is very «salesy» and dishonest. They insist that you get a bunch of treatments in the form of telling you they’re necessary for your dental health. Many of these things are stuff you don’t even need (I was a sucker and didn’t realize what they were doing until AFTER the fact that I spent thousands of dollars over the course of several months!!). Back when I was going here, they kept trying to sell me oral cancer screening and some dental care kit that they had on display in their office. They did this to me *every* visit. Hmm… I’ve never heard of a dentist doing this before?!? WTF?
When it came time to measure my pockets, Dr. Chaudry stuck the pick so painfully far into my gums… Then she followed that up with telling me I had such deep pockets that I needed Arestin treatments for several of my teeth. It was a couple hundred bucks each tooth. I just trusted her and went through with the next appointment for these treatments, which really did nothing.
I’ll warn you that she’s also not gentle when she has to give you that shot to numb half your mouth. It didn’t just happen once, it’s every time. That’s how she rolls. You can actually feel the needle going in and the *POP* sound it makes when your gums have been punctured, followed by your own blood flowing back into your throat. My experiences here had made me terrified to go to the dentist for a couple years. The explanation that I got from my current, awesome dentist as to why I can actually feel the pain/​puncture so much was that my previous dentist probably didn’t wait long enough for the numbing, medicinal tasting stuff on the end of the Q-​Tip to sit on the injection spot before they give the shot. Not his terminology exactly, but you know what I mean.
Wait, there’s more! I got a filling here for one of my molars. I developed a HUGE crackly scab on that corner of my mouth. This was because she was using that area as leverage the entire time she was working on the tooth. I didn’t feel the pain as she was working since I’d been numb from the injection. When I walked out I noticed the corner of my mouth was pink and raw, and I thought «aw crap». Later on, it sure did hurt to open my mouth until the scab healed!
After the last incident I called it quits with this joint, ignoring the remainder of a big long list of services they said I «needed». This place just tries to get as much money as possible from you and your insurance company. They don’t care providing good service or your oral health. This is apparent in how the entire staff treats you.
My current dentist is Dr. Comport who I started going to since end of ’09. He’s great — he is very gentle when measuring your pockets, very good with the injections, and never tries to sell me unnecessary stuff.
As for Stevens Creek Dental AKA SmileCare — STAY AWAY!!!

This dental group should go out of dental business totally!!!
People at the front desk have no KNOWLEDGE of dental office and even to make a right schedules!!!
We got called over and over to reschedule our appointment.
Evey time we get there ON TIME, we had to wait between 20 – 35 min to be seen! They always running behind the schedules!!!
Assistants are so unfriendly and un professional… No smile no personality…
Horrible place to have your Dental work done.
We just chose them because of our HMO insurance, yet I will change the insurance so we don’t have to go there anymore.

darn, there should be a no-​star rating. It’s great after reading all the other comments that I’m not the only one who hates this place and got the hell out.
I had 4 crowns and a wisdom teeth (O, yeah and the oral surgeon I really didn’t care for) pulled in 05 – 06 that I’m still being billed for even though I think I’ve paid over 2k for services (with some crappy insurance that covers up to 2k) and there’s a never ending bill that says I owe $ 0. I complained that one of the crown is not right and was told every thing checks out fine and that it’s right. Ok, so now my husband notices that around my gums is a black mark (what other dentists call «tattoo»). So, new dentist wants records to make sure it was part of the group of 4 and try and figure out why just one has it (gums are healthy). Called the @#$$% office and they wanted $ 40 plus paperwork to be filled at office. They have to send it to corporate and corporate has to send it out. Umm. my visit is on Thursday and this red tape sounds like its gonna take like weeks.
O and to compare this office with the new one is just not fair. The teeth cleaning experience was felt at this office and the staff… boy the staff at smile care is sure rude and short. Sitting in the waiting room (for all too long than I care to), I hear the staff being so rude to people. umm. hello, customer service? I almost thought it was normal til I hit the new dentists office and everybody was so friendly.
Anyways, please do not go here and save yourself from mistreatment (physically and mentally).

I just want to thank Dr. Chaudhry, or whatever her name is, for totally neglecting the basic duties a physician owes to their patients.
Thanks for taking dozens of x-​rays every six months, even though no one on the planet needs them more than once a year. At least you were able to rip off my insurance company for a few extra bucks.
Thanks for never bothering to actually look at the x-​rays. Otherwise, you might have figured out quite easily that I developed periodontal disease during my 2 years as your patient.
Thanks for doing the most half-​assed examination of my teeth. Now, at 30, I can look forward to most likely having to have my molar removed since you allowed a small cavity to grow unchecked for 2 years.
Thanks for hiring the most obnoxious, bitchy people to work reception. There’s nothing better after a half-​assed cleaning than dealing with rude people when you’re just trying to get the hell out of there.
Thanks for keeping that old, nasty furniture in reception and the world’s oldest equipment in the exam rooms. It really evokes that «3^rd world country» feel. Exactly what people want in medical care!
And finally, thanks for giving me one hell of a punishment on my last visit. When I insisted that I did not want yet another round of needless x-​rays that you wouldn’t bother to look at, and turned down your bullshit offer of a $ 68 oral cancer screening (since I’m a non-​smoker and therefore have almost zero chance of oral cancer!), you took that pick and jammed it so far into my gums that every single tooth in my mouth HURT for 3 days. Boy, did you show me.
You suck, you’re a shitty dentist, you’re an embarassment to the medical profession, and your license to practice should be REVOKED.

Zero stars. This is how they work:
1. Wait in waiting room for 45 – 55 minutes
2. Get taken to chair
3. Wait in chair for 20 minutes
4. Dentist comes and checks you out
5. Tells you list of things you «need»
–Professional Teeth whitening procedure (mind-​blowingly expensive)
–Porcelain veneers (3 at $ 130 each: $ 360)
–Regular teeth cleaning (which I came here for only, so trying to sell me another one just doesn’t make sense.)
Amazingly, I got to ask why the bill would be over $ 1000 before them even cleaning my teeth.
I ended up not letting them do my cavities because they insisted I had to pay cash for it. I just got the teeth cleaning job done, and of course they sent me a bill for extra despite my insurance supposedly covering everything.
Scammed I say. Avoid them like the plague.