I never leave reviews but I feel this warranted a review to hopefully save someone the headache. This review is for Newport Dental Group in Costa Mesa, specifically for Dr. Sean Saghatchi
I needed an implant on tooth 7, the tooth to the right of my front tooth. Because the front teeth are crucial, I made sure to do my research because I wanted to make sure I would get the best looking tooth possible. When I first met with Dr. Sean Saghatchi he said that they would make sure that they would get the tooth as close as possible to my other crowns. They did say it's impossible to get it identical, which I completely understood. However, Dr. Sean and his assistant, Erin, did say that they would make sure I would leave with a tooth I loved, no matter how many times it took until it was to my liking. They were so convincing that I was super confident that they would get it right at the first try. However, that was far from what happened. When they first delivered the first crown it looked like a white chiclet. Horrible quality. I immediately said I did not like it and the color was completely off, as well as the translucency and shape. Erin agreed that it was off but Dr. Sean Saghatchi immediately looked bothered and said that there was nothing else they could do about it and walked away. He literally wanted me to walk away with a subpar crown. I, of course, advocated for myself and Erin agreed that it should be sent back.
It took 4 tries for me to get a crown that finally was just acceptable enough for me to move on and be done dealing with the office. They were never able to get the right shape and length despite how many times I explained it to them. I even brought my old crown and sent pictures. You would think a practice, especially the dentist, would want to take pride in their work and ensure a patient leaves with a crown they can truly be happy with, but that was not the case.
Another concerning aspect, after the initial delivery of the crown and the dentist not being happy with me not accepting a low quality crown, I did not see the dentist again. Everything was always handled by assistants. During my final appointment, the dental assistant screwed in the crown and took the X-ray. The dentist finally came in only briefly to seal the access hole, with no cleaning or inspection of the area beforehand, which I found concerning given this was a permanent implant. I asked a simple question about the angle of the crown and his immediate answer was "You've already had four revisions, that's all you get." Completely unnecessary and unwarranted.
Additionally, I felt that the dentist treated me as if I was not paying for services. I told him that his goal should be to have a happy patient rather than rushing someone to accept a subpar crown they would have to live with for years. He just kept saying "I disagree." I told him of course he would disagree but I was just letting him know my perspective and experience as his patient. He once again said "that's all you get," in a demeaning way, as if he had given me the implant for free. His treatment of a paying patient was unprofessional and disrespectful.
Overall, the experience left me feeling dismissed and undervalued. My best advice to anyone considering this office is to do thorough research beforehand. There are countless dentists who deliver excellent work and genuinely care about their patients, there's no reason to settle for someone who treats you like a second class citizen.
EDIT: I want to respond to Sean's factually inaccurate response. First, the staff was never the problem. At no time was my review about the staff being the problem. If anything, he has to thank them because they are kind and professional. Sean is the problem. Second, I never said that the photo I posted was the tooth I left with so he is the one not being accurate. He should take the time to read his patient's review and experience before trying to argue. That is one of the revisions that he deemed acceptable that you can tell is definitely not okay but he said "that is all you get." Had I not advocated for myself and let Sean bully me, I would have not left with an acceptable implant. This is the second revision. You can just imagine how bad the first one was! It was so bad I did not even want to take a photo of it. Now I wish I had. Lastly, if you notice, all negative reviews have rebuttals by him somehow making it the patient's problem/issue. He is never at fault. If he feels he got slandered it is because he got called out for his horrible customer service and arrogance and he can't accept any feedback. read more