Smiles Dental Eugene

Write a Review541-632-7452

CLOSED NOW - Opens at 9:00am

This was by far the worst experience (in 40 years of having teeth) that I've ever had. I needed to change dentists from Roseburg to Eugene, so I picked Smiles based on the over-the-top great Google reviews. I really wish I had seen the Yelp! reviews first. While my one and only visit there was questionable in a number of ways, the worst of the worst of it was Jen, the finance person, who you will have to deal with for anything that is not covered by your insurance. I have never experienced a high-pressure, sales-pitch in a dentist's office before. It was really distasteful. I felt like I was on a used car lot at the end of a slow month... The fact is I needed a crown for a cracked tooth, Smiles was not In-network for my insurance and I was being quoted the cost by Jen. Now, I don't know if she is totally incompetent in her role there, or if she lies to make the sale, but based on the high-pressure, relentless push to try to make me get a Care Credit card to pay for it and schedule the appointment...I have to lean toward sales-related lies. Jen gave me the quote for the crown of something like $1500 covered at 50% by insurance, for an out-of-pocket of around $750; which sounded crazy to me. I was surprised and told her that I needed to look into what it would be with my old dentist, who was In-network because I was sure that my coverage was more like 80 or 90% and I have good insurance, etc.. And the pitch was on... It took me about 20 minutes to get away from her from the first "Let me do some research" to the final "no." Not only did she push Care Credit on me -- over and over again, she literally pushed their application at me on my way out the door after I had repeatedly refused it. We actually argued about how putting it on credit is still me having to pay for it. She insisted that the "no interest" was a great deal. Well, OK, but not if I can get the same thing for a lot less somewhere else, so you don't have to put it on credit. Sigh... it was exhausting. But, the most troubling part is what she said, "No matter what dentist you go to your insurance is only going to cover 50% of a crown. The cost of the crown may be a little less somewhere else, but you will still be out-of-pocket for 50% of it -- and you won't get better care anywhere else." Thankfully, I'm not stupid; I finagled my way out of there, saw my old dentist and paid $220 out-of-pocket for the same work. That extra $500 in my pocket is better than out, and I did get better care somewhere else. I called Jen to point out her error and to ask why she would tell me that my insurance would only cover 50% no matter where I went and she replied, "Well, I didn't guarantee it." What?!? No, I'll agree to that, but she sure sounded certain of the fact when she was trying to sell it to me. Ugh! No credibility there what-so-ever. I'm concerned for the elderly or easily confused going there.As for the rest of it, as one bad apple shouldn't spoil the barrel...The front desk gal was sugary sweet, no real complaints except her lack of response to my emails post- visit in trying to get my x-rays sent to my old dentist. The hygienist was good, except he didn't want to fuss with my long thick hair when protecting me from the x-ray radiation, so he skipped the x-ray "collar" that protects your throat and neck and asked me to just try to keep the main "blanket" held up as high as possible. Hrmmm, this is cancer causing radiation, right? Anyway... The Dentist, Dr. Matthews was OK - not especially personable, but seemed pretty competent. Except, he noticed a space next to an old crown and after confirming that food gets caught there constantly he recommended a filling to close the space. Sounded great to me until my old dentist, who I returned to, said the appropriate solution was a new, correctly fitting crown. Tha...