The dentist and the staff here are remarkable. The office is always clean and vibrate…read more Upon entry, guardians will notice The "Under the Sea" decor helps create a fun and exciting atmosphere for everyone. There are video games in the lobby for the kiddos and a television usually playing something interesting. My children loved attending here and always enjoyed their experiences. Sadly, we moved to another state and have missed this place greatly! As a mom, it's been challenging finding any dental care that exceeds my expectations like First Step Dental did. I recommend FSD to every mother who wants peace of mind and the care and professionalism of this group.

Nothing but professionals. I have been taking my children here for over ten years and have zero…read morecomplaints.

David nor Kevin are worth the one star I am being forced to give as they are FRAUDSTERS. Let me…read morestart by explaining that David was brokering a car purchase deal on behalf of his son in law, Jay Kevin Gremillion, and I was the potential buyer for Jay's 2016 Toyota 4Runner with the vin number JTEBU5JR7G5290298. I interacted with both men in regard to this purchase, and in order to hold the vehicle, as I lived outside of California, I was asked to pay a $1,000.00 Retainer Fee to David via Venmo. I sent the $1,000.00 to David on July 23rd, 2025, on Venmo, with the condition that the fee would be REFUNDABLE if I did not go through with the purchase. Needless to say, I did NOT buy the vehicle as there was an issue with the means of payment I could provide for the remainder balance. I have since filed a dispute with Venmo after multiple attempts were made to contact David Telling about refunding my money. David has refused to communicate with me despite contacting him via texts and phone calls, and I have sent him two requests for $1,000.00 on Venmo for repayment that have gone unanswered. Simply put, David Telling is a thief. Do NOT recommend doing business of any kind with the likes of David. Jay Gremillion goes by Kevin, and apparently is the owner/ operator of Dino Smiles Children Dentistry in Atwater, CA; however, the dental offices website can't be pulled up on google strangely enough in order to leave a review on google, so I am settling for Yelp. I believe these men are both professional scammers.

This is the WORST dental office I've ever had experienced. Every time I schedule my children (which…read moreare more than 6+ months out) they give me a call either a few days before or a day before their scheduled appointments and leave a voicemail with the same excuse about it being "an emergency" and move it to a different date. Mind you, I put in a request from my job early to approve the original appointment date and it NEVER fails that this office is always forcing a reschedule. My daughter is now 6!! And she has NOT once been seen here. And given the pandemic time, and now the months waiting to be on schedule, she was supposed to be seen today but they MOVED her appointment for yesterday 7/17/23! Now I not only waited MONTHS for her to be seen but again REQUESTED my job for the day off because I work before they open AND get off 30 minutes before they closed! Plus I make these appointments for my children to accommodate my schedule NOT theirs. I finally have had it with this dental office. My children will go elsewhere, I rather pay out of pocket at an office will give them services.... After being told that I was a "no show" (falsely noting in system) on a appointment that I didn't reschedule and they moved her original scheduled date. I let them know I have every voicemail of THEM changing it, for a so called "Dr emergency" and "office will be closed" , to my surprise I called today (my child's actual day scheduled 7/18/23) and who is in office? The Doctor who was supposed to be out due to the "emergency"! I wish I could give it a -5 star. You people need to do better with your "services" because how dare you continue to have me take a day off and not see my children due to FALSE emergencies and "offer" to reschedule it for FEBRUARY OF 2024!!!! If the doctor doesn't know how his front office is running things, I suggest getting involved with your staff and do better for the patients and understand that CHILDREN need/require these visits...

I was extremely impressed with this pediatric dentist office! The people at the reception are very…read morekind and friendly. The lobby actually has a pac-man arcade game and also a PS5 console, which made my 8 year old daughter's first experience with this office visit start off happy and excited. Dr. Moran is very nice and took a lot of time to explain in detail what procedures she recommended and what was going on with my daughter's dental health. My daughter is on the spectrum and was scared at a previous dentist to the point she refused to even lie back in the chair, but was at ease with this dentist, and Dr. Moran and her staff made her feel comfortable. She had no issues following their directives and was not afraid and had no issues with her first tooth cleaning. At the end of the visit she got to pick out some little toys and stickers which made her happy too. Hopefully future visits continue the same way!

I feel compelled to come forward due to a recent podcast I listened to about cutting babies tongue,…read morealso known as Frenectomy. My husband and I took our daughter just after she turned 1 in May of 2022. Almost instantly the Dr. suggested cutting my daughters tongue- giving multiple reasons of the benefits. We highly considered it, but wanted to do some research and get a second opinion. I am glad we did. The next Dr. suggested against it and I am so glad we went with our gut instincts. My daughter is now almost 3 and not having any speech issues like the original Dr. suggested she would have. My point is to not criticize the Dr. but to keep in mind that dentistry is a business and to always get a second opinion. If you haven't already, listen to the podcast from The Daily- "The Booming Business of Cutting Babies' Tongues" Episode dated: Feb. 24, 2024. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-booming-business-of-cutting-babies-tongues/id1200361736?i=1000645852980 In my opinion, always get a second opinion.

I live in Modesto and make the trek to Turlock to have my children see Dr. Armita Akbarnejad or…read moresimply, Dr. A. Her office staff and dental assistants are so sweet, kind, and attentive to the children and parents. I initially reached out to Dr. A when a Modesto pediatric dentist recommended my son get anesthesia for a cavity or two. I am totally against that and this dentist wouldn't even consider laughing gas as my son is really good at dental exams. When I met Dr. A, she really listened to my concerns and recommended laughing gas to try at first. We did that and like I expected, he did so well! And Dr. A even recommended not working on the other concerns from the Modesto dentist, and he's been doing fine since then. I really appreciate and trust Dr. A and I love how they make the children as comfortable as possible and leave them with smiles on their faces with their balloon animals. Such a sweet and memorable touch! My children get excited about the dentist because they know they'll get their balloons! LOL! I highly recommend checking out Dr. A for your child(ren).

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER…read more Zero communication, discrepancies in all of our billing and insurance. They overcharge and only when I bring in my previous paid receipts and my insurance statement showing what I SHOULD have paid and request refunds do they own up to it. Then refusal to do a simple teeth cleaning even though I have bent over backwards to get medical paperwork signed and allergy testing done for my medically complex child! Scheduling is a nightmare, then they will call you 42 min before an opening in their schedule to see if you want to move your child's appt for a last minute spot. They will quickly get you in as a new patient and then make you wait weeks or months for additional appts to fill a cavity for example instead of leaving slots open for procedures. Very backwards and misleading because I would have chosen a different dental office for my children if I knew that. They were presenting me with fees the second I walked in today, and stating my kids needed x-rays, and that it wasn't covered (despite us having blue shield) because supposedly all their preventative care covered items was used already this year. STRANGE BECAUSE one of my children had ZERO of her dental benefits used at all this year due to their insistence on wanting medical paperwork signed. Which was signed and faxed over by our clinic MULTIPLE times. I had called to explicitly request that BOTH my children get a cleaning, and they waited until we were there and the appt was supposed to start to say they could not and would not perform a cleaning on my daughter. This appt had been scheduled for over a month!!!! NO COMMUNICATION ON THEIR PARTS AT ALL. Very unprofessional and rude service. My son has had a total of 5 or 6 appts at this dentist, and the office staff has always been rude. Then after one filling, the dentist had over numbed him and long after the 2 hours of no eating had passed, his cheek was so numb he accidentally chewed it up and was in a lot of pain for 3+ days. We are so over the poor service, poor treatment, poor scheduling, poor attitudes, poor communication, over charging (seems fraudulent and if I wasn't carefully going through our insurance bills and the receipts i wonder if they would have acknowledged they overpayments and issued back the credit.) Our family is COMPLETELY DONE with this dental office. My children will not be returning. We walked out today before we even saw the Dentist. This place is awful and I highly recommend you steer clear.

This place has been very difficult to work with post my daughters surgery. She was seen on March…read more17th for treatment including 2 "nu-smile" teeth. I went here instead of her regular dentist so she could be put under. I will say the dental staff was great and procedure smooth and quick. However the office staff has not been helpful. I paid $500 on the day of the visit for the "nu-smile" teeth and they told me they would bill my insurance (which in my policy clearly states they are covered at 100%). They told me they would confirm with my insurance and refund me once my insurance pays them. That it should take about a month. End of March, I get my explanation of benefits stating my insurance paid them, I say okay I should get my money back and get a call. Nope. When I call they act confused as to what I am talking about. The people I need to talk too (insurance and billing) always seem to be busy, or on lunch, so I get messages relayed through the secretary which makes communication difficult. I call my insurance who states the check was cashed by them in March 29th, yet this provider can't seem to "find it" even after I give them the check number via my insurance. They say it sometimes takes a couple weeks to process and to give it a couple weeks. Fast forward to April 21st, still no call back from them and no update when I call them except, the check from insurance is still pending (Really?!). I call May 11th, there response is still the check to me will be written soon and they will call me when it is sent out. I am hoping this will get their attention because this is insurance fraud as far as I am concerned as both me and my insurance has paid them. My next step is filing a grievance to get my money back. It has been 3 MONTHS. I will update this review when/if I get my money back.

My son has had a few bad experiences at the dentist. Central California Dental Surgicenter was…read moreawesome! They make sure he felt safe and they did a really good job taking care of his dental needs while he was sedated. My son liked the bubble gum scent of the anesthesia. They let him pick out a movie to watch. My only small complaint was the wait time. They said because it was so close to Christmas, that was their busiest time of year. They were trying to accommodate as many patients as they could. They told me that even if my insurance wouldn't cover it, they do not bill the parents of patients. They kept their word too. I couldn't have been more pleased.

Dentist didnt even clean my son's teeth just quickly checked and said done so when at front desk…read moreagain asked when he should be back they said they only clean and do fluoride first time becayse he's only 1 I was like nobody even cleaned his teeth so another lady brought him back to brush and Flourude my first vist thrre too for 3 my children not greatest experience and having 4 stars on yelp thought would be better

This place is awesome as a mama that is terrified of the dentist I took my 3 year old here for the…read morefirst time n they r amazing super nice I'd give it hem 10 stars if I could

7/29/26 Had wisdom tooth removed.Very kind concernd about pain.I was in and out of there in one…read morehour.I called got right in.No stacks of paper work to fill out.It was a good experience.I pay cash price very reasonable.The staff is great.

I'm so happy I choose to go to Applegate Dentist. I don't enjoy going to the dentist and get a lot…read moreof anxiety but they made me feel very comfortable. I walked in checked in and went straight to the exam chair. No wait at all. The staff is amazing. I had to bring my 2kids (3 yrs and 9 months) with me. My baby started crying while I was having a procedure and the dentist stopped and let me comfort him. He kept cry and one of the wonderful staff members picked him up and walked around with him even though he kept crying. She also gave my other son crackers. They truly are amazing.

I went in with some damaged teeth and he convinced me to have all my teeth removed and he'd make me…read morean awesome set of dentures... that was over a year ago now I'm still not able to wear them due to the thickness and gagging he refuses to fix properly.... I'm now searching for a dentist that will shave them thinner and give me better quality of life he promised me .... I'd give 0 stars but have to leave something.... I don't recommend him for anything denture related ...... worst experience of my life ...

Dr. Murni is one of the best dentist in Merced. He has been my Dr. for 23 yrs. I trust him…read morethroughly. He really cares about his patients. I have so much fun when I go to my visits . He has such a great personality. We laugh for a long time. Sometimes his assistant has to come in there to break everything up because we're having so much fun! I truly love and appreciate everything you do for me Dr. Murni. You are the Best!!