I write this review to warn potential clients of this dental office so that they know what they are getting into. I used Yelp before I made my appointment, and read many of these glowing reviews. After an extremely disappointing experience, I have come to believe that this office uses search optimization and fake reviews to drive business, so I would be hesitant to believe all the 5 star ratings (they are almost too positive looking back at it). Please watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOuYLFstiv4
My first mistake was wearing a suit to my first appointment at Ambiance, which immediately made me look like a walking dollar sign. I work for a bank, and I actually have terrible benefits, so even though I was in downtown Calgary, one of my biggest concerns was cost, because I have to pay for the dentist out of pocket. I was first told by the receptionist that I would need to have an initial consultation, with X rays and the like. I agreed, this ended up costing around $420. All I really wanted was an appointment to have my teeth cleaned, but I was pushed into this, being told it was a "requirement" (which I later learned from other dentists is not true).
This was when the experience got even worse. I came back for a separate appointment that day to have the actual teeth cleaning (the initial service I wanted). The dental hygienist that was cleaning my teeth immediately started asking me the same questions about career, insurance, and other things unrelated to cleaning teeth. I happen to work for a bank so during the cleaning she kept stopping and asking me about the Canadian dollar, what I thought about oil prices, telling me about her boyfriend, where she went to school, and why it was important that I come back to their clinic every three months. There was also a 5 minute sales pitch on an electric toothbrush they were trying to sell in the office. I would honestly say that during the time spent in the chair, she was maybe cleaning my teeth for 50% of the time maximum.
During the appointment I was also told I would be "given" some toothpaste that they recommended for XYZ reason. As the appointment time was coming to an end, she had not even finished scaling half my mouth, and I was told that I would need to make another full 1 hour appointment to complete the cleaning. I went to pay, and got fleeced again, getting charged about $450 for the cleaning, and being told the next appointment could be another $550. Doing the math on this, that would have been over $1400 to get my teeth cleaned.
Given that I had already gotten the service, I had to pay. I felt totally robbed, and literally could not afford to even go back to get the rest of the cleaning completed (I was at almost $900 and I had gotten the bottom half of my mouth scraped, no fluoride, no polish). I looked at my bill after as well, and found friends of mine from university who worked at dental clinics for second appointments. I was charged for 5 units of scaling, and was not even in the chair for 1 hour (with maybe 30 minutes of this time spent actually cleaning). Apparently units represent 15 minute time slots, so based on 30 minutes of actual service I was overcharged for 3 units. Furthermore, when I looked at my bill closer, I noticed the toothpaste that they offered to "give" me, conveniently charged in the amount of $14 on my bill, with no explanation to me at the time that it was being charged or that it was that expensive. That was the icing on the cake, and the reason why I am writing this review, to save the next poor soul from going to this clinic.
If you are a millionaire, have a top notch corporate dental plan, and don't mind getting sized up financially the moment you walk in the door of this clinic, by all means I would recommend this place. If this is not your situation, then find a better alternative. read more
