If you're looking for a professional orthodontic clinic, I strongly advise against this place!…read more
A few years ago, I lived in Pomona, and this dental clinic was conveniently close to my home, so I decided to give it a try. At the time, there was an Asian dentist who was extremely friendly and professional. My partner and I both liked her, so we decided to stick with this clinic for cleanings, fillings, and other services. Later, we considered getting braces and discovered the clinic offered orthodontic treatments as well. Naturally, we chose to get our braces here. That's when our nightmare began.
During our consultation, we were told that braces would cost $4,200 per person, but if we both did it together, the price would be discounted to $4,000 each, with a treatment period of about a year and a half. What they failed to mention was that the orthodontist only comes in on Tuesdays, and that the doctor changes frequently. So far, we've had three different doctors! This is a huge issue for orthodontic treatments, as each new doctor isn't familiar with your case. We have to take time off from work every Tuesday for these appointments, and if anything goes wrong with the braces, we're forced to wait until the next available Tuesday to have it fixed.
The clinic's internal organization is incredibly chaotic. When problems arise, the staff blames the front desk, and the front desk claims they're just following instructions. On multiple occasions, we arrived at our scheduled appointment time but wait another 30 minutes to be seen, and I've seen this happen to other patients as well. I understand that some waiting time is expected, but if it happens this often and consistently exceeds a reasonable amount of time, then it's clearly a scheduling issue.
My partner and I always have the same appointment time since we now live farther away and need to carpool. Last month, my partner helped book our next appointment for 3:00 PM on the 17th, which was today. However, the clinic later informed me that my next session would take over an hour, so I had to come separately and change my appointment to 11:00 AM. But when I arrived at my appointment today, I waited 40 minutes without being seen. When I asked the front desk why I had to wait so long despite having an appointment, they said I was next and just needed to wait five more minutes. Once I finally got in, I still had to wait for the doctor to have time to see me. I just laid there and received only 15 minutes of treatment. They didn't even perform the procedure that was scheduled for today; they only changed a band on my braces.
When I asked why the procedure wasn't done, they told me they were short-staffed will do it next time. I explained that I had taken time off to come and separate with my partner because they told me my treatment this time would take longer. So, I ended up spending two hours at the clinic, only to have my band on my braces changed. They then said they could ask the doctor to do the treatment later today, but I would have to wait until after her lunch break because it was 1:00 PM, and they needed to take lunch.
If they knew they were short-staffed and couldn't complete the treatment, they should have called me ahead of time and let me keep my original appointment, or at least informed me before the session that the procedure wouldn't be done today.
I don't know who to blame because everyone acts like it's not their problem, but what I want to say is this: respect your patients. Our time is valuable, and as a business, you need to fulfill the promises you make or fix your own internal problems. Patients shouldn't have to suffer because of the disorganization in your system.
I still need to go back for the remaining sessions, and I sincerely hope this doesn't happen again. This experience ruined my day.