Do yourself a favor and AVOID this place. Dr. "Mike" Archuleta was great, I really liked him and…read morethe dental hygienists. He has retired and many of the hygienists have left as well.
First, the front desk/office staff have always been difficult. I previously wrote a bad review about the time they told me that because I had two different insurances, I could have 4 free cleanings per year (2 per insurance.) I didn't believe that because I've had 2 insurances for years and had never heard that. They scheduled another cleaning 3 months later, and actually called me to confirm that my secondary insurance would pay for it. I had a record of the call (why else would I have a 5 minute call from them?) Then, after the cleaning, they told me I'd have to pay for it out of pocket! In the end, Dr. Mike waived the fee, so I stuck with them rather than find another dentist and agreed to delete my review.
The dentist has changed but the front dest staff continues their nonsense. They will change your appointment time on you. I have the text messages. I had an appointment for noon, then I got a text message reminder for 1 p.m. I called and texted but I couldn't get in touch with anyone, so I went at 1 p.m., figuring maybe they had changed my appointment for some reason. I would have preferred noon. When I came in at 1 p.m., the staff acted annoyed, saying, "You're an hour late, but we'll try to fit you in." I showed them the text message that said 1 pm, she said "We're not responsible for those." What? What do you mean? Who is responsible then? Were you "hacked?" Even seeing my screen (I'll post a screenshot), they still did not apologize. That's the level of professionalism you're dealing with here.
Then, while I was in the waiting room, another man came in and they said his appointment was last week. The man argued, "No, I have the message." The man had a bit of an accent, maybe English wasn't his first language. The woman kept saying, condescendingly slowly, "Last week." She ended up saying she would try to fit him in. He never got his phone out, but I'm willing to believe he had an incorrect message just like I did. Does this go on all day? Do they never think that maybe they're the problem? Get your system figured out or at least apologize, don't blame your patients.
When Dr. Mike was there, I rarely needed work done. I would get a cleaning & exam, I didn't have any pain or issues, he'd say "Everything looks good, we'll see you back in 6 months." When I first met the new dentist, she said I had to have all my fillings replaced. I asked why since everything seemed fine and Dr. Mike never mentioned an issue before. She said that because they are old, they could crack. I asked, can't I wait until they crack or there is an issue? She said no, if you do that, you could end up in a lot of pain or need a root canal. And, she said, you never know, you might not have great insurance when they crack. I scheduled the first one. And, wouldn't you know it, she cracked my tooth in the process or removing the old filling! It got infected, I had to go on antibiotics, I ended up needing a root canal, and I developed a severe lactose intolerance from the antibiotics. Luckily the lactose intolerance resolved after a few months, but all of that pain, multiple appointments, paying my copay for the root canal, and months without yogurt or cheese, all of that from something that was completely unnecessary!
As I mentioned, the hygienists that I liked had all left. Maybe that's a sign that the dentist is difficult to work with, maybe it's a coincidence, but while I was having work done it sounded like the dentist made some passive-aggressive comments to the hygienist like. Maybe I misunderstood or missed the context from my angle, but she said a few things like, "Well, I'll just hold it if you're not going to hold it."
I think there's a trickle down effect, a bad dentist who doesn't get along with their staff is going to lose good staff, and the patients are going to suffer. I waited a while to write this review, I wanted to find a new dentist first. Maybe things have improved. But there are plenty of other dental offices in the area, I'd recommend that you avoid this one like the plague.
