Dr Ruth dentistry is not cheap, and I often have to wait some 20 to 30 minutes, but I have to admit that her work is of very high quality, and she is very meticulous. I am very thankful for the extensive work done on my mouth, including treating several cavities, crowns, onlays, etc. over so many years. Even after all these years everything is still in perfect order and looking great! Thank you so much and I am glad that you are back seeing patients again! PS: Not sure though if that is your correct page... read more

The first item listed under Viva Smiles products & services is "24-hour emergency answering service." I don't care if your dental practice does not offer an emergency service, but how can you advertise everywhere that this is one of your perks....AND NOT HAVE IT? Called the "24-hour emergency answering service" throughout the night last night, and the message was "We're sorry, no one is available to take your call," without even a message service. Seriously. And the worst part is, not ONE dentist in St. Louis -- all of whom advertise emergency services -- have called us back: - Viva Smiles - Wolken Dental - Premier Dental in the CWE - Clayton Dental - Sevens Dental And let's not forget Emergency Dentist 24x7 whose entire business is based on their "network of fully staffed dental offices available all day, every day, even on holidays." Don't say you have a presence in St. Louis when you are not able to serve up anyone who can help. Unbelievable. 12 hours later, and not ONE has returned our emergency message or page. read more

VivaSmiles is great! I first started going here last year. I was on my way home from a retail job on a Saturday night with a terrible toothache. I googled after hours/emergency dentistry & VivaSmiles said I could come in ASAP. I saw Dr O'Brien who was very kind & explained everything VERY thoroughly. My subsequent scheduled tooth extraction was pain-free and Dr O'Brien was very patient & understanding especially considering the amount of Novacaine it took to get me good and numbed up. I've since made VivaSmiles my regular dentistry. Dr OBrien has been extremely gracious in keeping me feel comfortable & infection free as I've dealt with two troublesome molars. Not only is he almost always available & calls back in a timely fashion, he's also very personable. If there's one downside to this practice, I would have to admit it's the fact that they are a bit pricey. However, if you're like me and place high value on your teeth, you'll quickly realize it's worth it (especially when you have a dentist like Dr O that offers to clean up the shoddy work another dentist did on your sealants!) . Great place, comfortable atmosphere! Oh & Ashley & Miranda at the front desk are ALWAYS cheerful & extremely helpful, another plus! read more

Althought the staff was originally quite professional in dealing with my procedure, after the fact, things went south. First of all, before the procedure they provided me with an "estimate" of what my insurance would cover, without mentioning that my insurance had a one year waiting period for the procedure and NONE of it would be covered. I applied for a Care Credit loan to pay for the balance they said I would owe (before I found out I would have to pay for the entire procedure), because I couldn't afford to pay for my portion of it. Despite knowing this, and knowing that my insurance actually wouldn't cover it at all, they went ahead and let me get the procedure and then billed me for the entire thing after the fact. Then, to put icing on the cake, I have had nothing but problems since the inlay was put on. I have had shooting pains in my tooth, so I went back for a follow-up, where they told me that I needed to have a root canal (i.e. I needed to spend some more money!) I had enough and went to another dentist for a second opinion, and he kindly told me that the pain was normal, baby aspirin would help it subside, and he adjusted the tooth because I was biting down on it wrong (even though Viva Smiles had already adjusted it twice). I can't decide what is worse: the billing issues, or the fact that they didn't care about my well-being and they were going to keep suggesting more procedures so I would spend more money. Regardless, I will never be back, and will also be filing a complaint with the BBB so that other consumers are aware of their shady practices. read more

They say that they offer free dental exam. Yes, they do. But, one week later, you will receive a bill showing the amount of the dental exam. So, if they say they offer such a free exam. Do not forget to get a written document before the exam that the exam is free. They seem to be pleasent and high tech looking thieves. read more

So it turns out thy won't do any service unless they are paid first. There are PLENTY of other dentist offices in St. Louis that are fine with sending you the bill later. This is especially maddening when there is less than 2 weeks before my spending flex account gets reloaded (start of he new year) and they can't wait to get their money. No money up front = no service. They're in Clayton, right? It's clear that their money is more important than their patients. The cherry on the cake is that if they mess up the insurance paperwork, they charge you for it while they wait for the resubmitted paperwork and then "credit" you back. How about THEY eat the charge for messing up and THEY can wait for the money from the insurance company. To be clear, we're talking about charging for one of the two cleanings you get a year that is clearly covered by all dental insurance. But since they didn't submit the paperwork properly they charged me! To summarize, STAY AWAY from this operation. Only headaches here. read more

I have excellent dental insurance, so I was excited to hear about all the benefits Viva offers. How amazing to get free take-home whitening kit FREE with your cleaning, right?! Wrong. It's not that simple and there are a lot of caveats. If you have any orthodontic issues or cavities, the issues must be addressed before you can get your whitening kit. Which is great, and even a motivator to get those cavities filled. However, the prices charged for simple cavity fillings will leave you with sticker shock. Like I said, I have very good dental insurance, so with a couple of filings, I was expecting a hundred dollars at most. No! The price for my fillings reached almost $400!! That's MY out-of-pocket portion, after the insurance pays their portion. My insurance lists Viva as being an in-network provider, so I don't understand the outrageous fees. I found another high quality dentist that when combined with my insurance, will only charge $16 out-of-pocket for high-quality resin filling. Pros: State-of-the art equipment, friendly and competent staff. Cons: Outrageous pricing, hidden fees, false advertising. read more

I signed a financing agreement for planned work with this dental office, and was told when I signed that I could cancel the agreement at any time. After a substantial portion of the work, I asked to cancel the agreement, and asked the office to return only the unused portion of the money to the finance company, so that I wouldn't have to make payments on services I didn't receive. The dental office didn't return numerous messages I left, and even went as far as to tell me they don't know how to cancel the agreement. The financing company has confirmed that they only need a fax from Viva Smiles to cancel it, and that this is a common event - people change their minds. It's common sense that you shouldn't have to pay for work or services you didn't receive, but this dental office has been unresponsive to my request to cancel the agreement and have the unused money returned to me - for months. It's a lot of money. Find another dentist. read more

Poor Service. Waited 25 to 30 minutes in the waiting room. I called and knocked. No receptionist to let me know what was going on. When they finally came out. They wanted to seat me with an explanation. I said I didn't have time. They obviosly don't care about their patients. read more

I must preface this review with saying that this is the FIRST bad review I have EVER written in my life but because the experience was so horrible, I thought it was important to warn others! I first went to Viva Smiles ONLY because of a teeth whitening groupon deal that I had purchased. I should have followed my gut instinct on my very first visit. The groupon deal was misleading and ended up being completely useless. I wanted to get my teeth whitened before my wedding so I purchased the groupon for $99 and thought I was getting a great deal until I went there and they gave me a tiny tube of whitening gel, which didn't even whiten as good as a $10 box of whitening strips. I was really put off then but because it was so close to my work, I went ahead and went back when I needed a filling strictly for convenience. I have had nothing but problems ever since the filling done a year ago. The shooting pains are so bad that I cannot eat anything at all on that side. I figured I would give a few days to heal but a week later I was still unable to even touch the new filling so I went back in the nurse who was completely irritated that I came back in said she didn't see anything wrong and to give a few more days. A few days later I came back in and she attempted to adjust but said "I tried to adjust it but there is nothing wrong". Ummmm YES THERE IS IF I CAN'T EAT!!! I came back 4 more times and only saw the dentist himself once for a brief moment. All he did was look at what the nurse did and said it looked good to him. The nurse had the nerve to say to me that she thinks I just don't have a high pain tolerance!!! What?! I cannot eat on my right side! She went on to tell me that sometimes fillings can take months to work themselves out. It sounded a bit bogus to me but I'm not the professional so I left and got used to eating on my other side. Months go by and I call back saying it still is extremely painful to even touch and they tell me that too much time has passed and they will have to charge me to fix it. They go on to say that it isn't their problem, it is the dentist (Ty Parker) who no longer works there!! I didn't ask for that dentist, I came to their office and they gave me him!! I asked them to pull up the files and see how many times I visited and refer to the notes but they clearly didn't care about anything but the money because all she told me was that they could take me but I would have to pay the full amount. She told me that Dr. Gomez would see me but I would have to pay the visit fee and she may simply refer me back to Dr. Parker. Why would I pay her if she is going to refer me to someone else??!! Then I asked for Dr. Parker's contact information and she said they do not know where he works now!! So I got assigned the doctor that was fired and that's my problem?! To make matters worse, you won't provide contact info to his patients?! I can't decide what is worse: the customer service or their dental services....either way it is clear that they absolutely do not care about my well-being. Regardless, I will NEVER be back!! I have since went to another dentist that is wonderful and has shown me what a good dental experience should be!!! read more

No attendance at reception for 20 minutes. Dr. Gomes had supposedly left seriously ill, but I had only seen her 3 times in the past a series of visits anyway, but I needed her or someone to look at my dentures that had a piece to crack off while chewing. I just wanted to know if I could get them repaired. Before that happened (they were made crooked, in the first place, the attendent sanded them down on one side a bit, but he even said they were crooked, still). I had waited over a year for them. I finally called about them and I was told that I already had them. No! That was not the case, so when I did finally get the permanent ones, I wanted to take them home while I could. Now, the dentures are cracked, no one there to help, so I left thinking that they are a horrible excuse for dentistry, and are probably going out of business if they keep running their office this way. read more

My recommendation for anyone considering this place is to open the 'filtered' reviews, which is where this one will end up, I'm sure. The truth is in there. Dr. Gomes, is rough, tactless, and will do anything to try and get the 'big sale'. I promise if you go she will try to sell you a $25,000 -$35,000 neuromuscular what-ever-you-call-it. Right!? More importantly, however, when checking on insurance for specific dental work, they stated it would be covered, then turns out not to be covered. I did my 'due-deligence' and still got burned. Not only was the procedure not covered by insurance, but they waited until after my flex-spend period to inform me! That infuriates me to no end! Furthermore, they stated with a complete teeth whitening program you would be able to have free whiteners twice a year, if you fufilled certain caveats. I fullfilled them, no whiteners, after the first...ever! I will NEVER return to this place nor will I EVER recommend Dr. Gomes. Find any other dentist. AND to top the cake, if you go to Healthgrades(com) and look up Dr. Ruth Gomes DMD, you will find that she has been sanctioned by the State of Missouri. The complaint and judgement can be downloaded there. Basically, Dr. Gomes is now/was not licensed to perform half of what she advertised through Vivasmiles. Her 'conduct... constitutes violation of state and federal drug laws...constitutes improper delegation of duties in violation of regs 20 CSR 2110-2.120...constitutes violation of the Board's advertising requirements...constittues improper record keeping...failure to post license in violation of 332.181, RsMo....failure to have current BLS or ACLS certification despite attesting she had such...misconduct, misrepresentation or dishonesty in the performance and duties of a licensed dentist... which leads to "Cause exists for he Board to take disciplinary action against the Licensee's license." Pages 25-26 of the report. It s good read and will make you think twice before making an appointment with her. You have been forewarned! Hear me now! read more

Vivasmiles is the WORST dental office to attend. The staff is very rude and inconsiderate. The patients private information is NOT safe in this office. If you concerns are pain management and a fast friendly office, DO NOT recommend this office. Beware of this office!!! read more

I had a horrendous experience with Viva Smiles. They employ some technique called "tensing" which is supposed to identify the correct bite for a malocclussion patient like me. However, the so-called "implants" which were made for me to fit over my teeth which Viva Smiles filed down were much too large and I could not enunciate my words properly and they had to be removed. I have never gotten over this regrettable experience and still need my dental problem properly addressed via a bona fide dental surgeon such as a prosthodontist. read more

I am so frustrated with my experience with Viva Smiles. It's been a nightmare. I had my first visit in April 2012. Everyone was extrememely nice and spent a great deal of time with me. I have chronic TMJ and at the time I could eat no solid foods. It was recommended by Dr. Gomes that I have an orthodontic type brace inserted on my lower teeth, then I would receive three treatments, one month apart, and my jaw would be realigned and pain should be gone. I was told that "rarely" did this not take care of the problem. I had to pay $5000 up front then go in for cleaning and xrays before they could proceed. Following that, I was told that I had a great deal of dental work that had to be done to the tune of another $7000. When I said there was no way I could afford that and I'd like to go to my own dentist to have that work done first, they said I could get by with $1200 of dental work. By the time that work was completed, I was fitted for the appliance, and the appliance was put in, it was August. My first treatment was in September. I had my second treatment on the 16th of October. The third and final appointment was scheduled for November 29th. On the 27th, I was called and said the appointment had to be rescheduled. This was the second appointment they cancelled at the last minute. This time I was told it had to be rescheduled by the 12th of December as the doctor was leaving for Brazil until the end of December. I was told by the receptionist that she was meeting with Dr. Gomes that afternoon to go over the schedule and that she would call me back later that day. She didn't call. I waited until the following week then called them back. They hadn't confirmed the schedule yet. They'd call me back that afternoon. It is the 11th of December. I have called their office a half a dozen time. The first three times I was promised by the receptionist that I would be called back the same day. The last three calls I got the answering machine. Their message states that calls would be returned within one day. I'm assuming Dr. Gomes leaves for Brazil tomorrow, and I still don't have an appointment scheduled. I have had NO improvement with my TMJ pain and still cannot chew sold food without severe pain. In addition, they've been telling me they've been trying to work with my insurance company to get some of the money reimbursed. No news there. There have been three different receptionists/office managers since I've been going there. If you have TMJ, DO NOT go to Viva Smiles. read more