Honest Review:
I wanted to find a Dentist who did the actual teeth cleaning instead of a dental hygienist since the previous one I attended over the years was the latter and the experience was okay after cycling through 2 different dental hygienist with the Dentist coming in at tail end to make sure everything was okay.
So, I looked on Yelp and found Sparkle Dental Office with very high ratings and reviews plus it was conveniently located by Downtown Livermore where there are renovated, new parking lots (they have 2 customer parking spaces available but they were filled, you can then park in other free spaces but be careful not to park in other business spaces or else you may get cited/towed) plus delicious eateries within walking distances of many different cuisines especially one that is literally downstairs lol. I called and spoke to Frieda over the phone to schedule my 1st appt back in February and everything went really well. Frieda was very nice, friendly and answered all my questions.
My 1st dental appt @ 4pm included questionnaires, X-Rays and teeth cleaning (35-40mins). Dr. Sharma was wonderful as she paid close attention to my concerns and did not upsell anything. She was very understanding of my 1st and 2nd molars since I had a minor chip on the bottom-left like a half small triangle (I was advised that if I began to feel sensitivity/ache when eating to get it filled) and I have a slight gap on the bottom-right where I had a filling done after chipping a quarter of my tooth off from eating the bones of Korean BBQ ribs LOL (I was advised that even if the filling was removed and a new one replaced, the gap may still persist since it is at a sharp angle). Therefore, I let them be and they are still good fortunately without irritation.
The reason for -3 stars was this recent 2nd dental appt cleaning which was yesterday @ 4pm. I waited about 10mins as they were setting up the station. Frieda was super amazing as always and offered me a mini bottled water since I sprinted from the parking lot and up 2x flights of stairs to make it on time. I was approached by the Dental Assistant who guided me to sit down then proceeded placing a disposable dental bib with those alligator clips around my neck to make sure it was attached. While I was given the dental safety glasses, I noticed that my dental bib was filled with scattered dotted specks of dried red-orange blood along the front then a small streak of dried blood same color on the right.
I kindly requested the Dental Assistant for a new dental bib after explaining what I saw, she did not quite noticed the severity of it at first since she was more concerned about how it got there and told me that it usually comes from the rust of the mini alligator clips then proceeded to show me by clipping it onto the bib then dragging it a bit but no red-orange marks were made. It took her a little more while to get a new one from an open-front container in the upper glass cabinet before stating as quote: "Oh yeah, it did looked as though the other one was tarnished" before placing a new one on me. To be real honest, it would of been way better and more sanitary if she had just seen it, apologized for how filthy and unhygienic it was then given me a new one instead of trying to figure out how it gotten there. And mind you the Dental Assistant I had today and last time were young adults in their early 20s which is great and I am very supportive of them but it takes time for them to develop a greater sense of customer service and professionalism since it does not happen overnight.
Dr. Sharma was ready to go at 4:15pm and finished my teeth cleaning in record time of 15mins by 4:30pm using only the dental drill, floss and brush; no dental scraper tools or dental picks used for getting those tougher harder to reach plague/tartar removal places. During the process, she was even able to chat with her Dental Assistant a couple times about personal things which I thought was cute until I found out everything was done and I was already rescheduling my next dental appt with Frieda then back in my vehicle at 4:35pm. The craziest thing was if 15mins wasn't already super rushed enough since they close at 5pm, there was a kid maybe no more than 9yrs old with his father who came in later than me to check-in around 4:05pm was seated 1st and checked out after as I was about to exit which meant that even the little kid had MORE teeth cleaning time than I did.
Anyway, the whole process today felt really rushed so much that I still see slight visible plague/tartar on my teeth (I have some crowding in the front; make sure you get your wisdom teeth pulled early LOL). It is very unfortunate since I really wanted to be a loyal customer considering how convenient the location and parking was but after todays experience, I am going to reconsider and look elsewhere even after giving them the benefit of the doubt that it was possibly Friday and everyone wanted to get off early. read more