Western Dental in Bellflower is the worst dental experience I have ever had! I have been going to this office off and on for six years. Mostly because they accept medi-cal and hmo dental insurance I had. A long time ago I got over the ghetto way the exam rooms are open for all to see, the unprofessional staff that basically ignore you while they are actively involved with your dental care. The long never ending wait each time you are faced with a dental appointment, and the lack of compassion for pain, not to mention the lack of decent pain medication the dentist gives you. That doesn't even cover listening to the dental assistant and the hygienist complaining about their sex lives during dental procedures. Classic ghetto, unprofessional behavior.

The first time I had an issue, I was on medi-cal and had a bad infected tooth. The dentist didn't give me any antibodies or pain medication. By the time the Novocain wore off I was in horrible pain. I called the office and told them what dire pain I was in. I couldn't sleep or eat anything. It was horrible! The dentist refused to give me anything, and told me to come back the next day. Lucky for me, my mom had some decent pain medication I borrowed from her. The next day, they fixed the problem with no Novocain, and drill into my tooth. It was excruciating, after that I had the tooth fixed at another dentist office that took medi-cal. That dentist gave me pain meds and also antibodies. She was disgusted by the condition of the tooth.

Just recently, I decided to give them another chance. I had no dental insurance, like a good portion of the people in the US, I was unemployed. I went in for an infected tooth. The dentist recommended a tooth canal. I signed the paper work, and he did the procedure. I was reminded from the office staff that I had a two hundred and eighty dollar credit I hadn't used. I was given a number to call in billing to have the credit added to the new account. I also made a payment of a hundred in forty dollars. I called the billing department and the billing representative told me that the Bellflower office should have already credit my account, and she would leave a message to the office manager. I asked her to have them send me a statement with the corrections on it. She told me that would be no problem.

I continue to get more bills with the same amount and the corrections hadn't been made on it. I called the billing department again, and left a message about the problem. Nobody got back to me by phone, email, or letter. A few more months went by, and I had left several messages with collections and the billing department. I was told by the representatives that they could see the credit balance I had on their computer, and that it would be added to my bill for the root canal. That never happened, I was so fed up I told them I wouldn't pay a cent on the bill until they had taken action to correct this problem.

Finally, in July, I called the collections again, very frustrated and upset that this had still not been taken care of, not to mention I had called, left messages, talk to representatives in both billing and collections about this, where I was told I had a credit balance, but none of them could explain why it had not been added to the current bill.

After talking to collections, billing, and the office manager in the Bellflower office of Western Dental, I was told that the credit balance was used in another procedure that I cannot remember getting. They refused to add this to my current bill. I called to make a complaint with Western Dental Complaint Department.

If that was the case, than they did some other dental procedures that I cannot remember getting, than why did their front office staff tell me that I had a credit balance and gave me the number to billing to get it transferred to my new account? This was at least two people in this Bellflower office telling me that right after my root canal! Why didn't the office manager contact me and let me know about these mysterious procedures months ago when I called? A letter an email explaining any of this? Why did the billing and collections tell me I had a credit of two hundred and eighty dollars? I think this office is fraudulent, and the office manger probably stole the money! I am not paying that bill! This whole situation is bs! I am beyond unhappy. I don't have the money right now to pay out the kind of interest they want on this bill, or deal with this ghetto people like this! I was told that this credit would be going to pay this bill, and now suddenly it's not. Whatever!

Don't ever go to Western Dental, because they will scam you, give you second rate dental care, and try to screw you like they did me. I will never go to any office dealing with Western Dental, and I will also never take my children there either! I hope that office manger get's fired!

Western Dental is the worst experience I have ever had. They are rip offs and have the worst dentists.The first time i went there I spent about 30 min. getting my X-rays done because the stupid lady forgot how to do X-rays.After that she led me to this "room" which had no privacy as well did the others.Then the dentist came and started putting sealents on my teeth and had to stop in the middle of my treatment to go attend another patient.I stayed there having to spit for about 15 min. after they came back when the dentist's assistant started sucking out all they wet stuff with a tube they were both paying little attention and the assistant started pulling my cheek with the little tube, as well the doctor was applying to much pain with a metal tool.After they were done they led me outside without telling me if I had to wait a certain number of time to eat.The next day I had an appointment for orthodontics and I waited while my mother and my sister were already called in I waited for an hour.They finally called me in and said they had to speak with my mother so I waited till my mom came out and we went in all so they could tell me that the Dent-cal didn't approve the braces that i needed.While I was surprised to hear that after I heard almost all the other kids in there got their braces approved by denti-cal.I really dislike Western Dental and I will never do there again.

These people are crooks!! Apparently they have been investigated (and offices raided) by the FBI for insurance fraud, and they are famous for over charging their patients and harrassing them. My husband went to them and had some work done. The work itself was fine, BUT after he set up a payment plan with them to be charged to his credit card, they keep billing his card every month and he pays it every month, but they call him (and me) every week sometimes several times a week saying that his card has been declined, yet the charges show up on his credit card statement. They have been rude and even hung up the phone several times on him when he has tried to work the situation out with them. They even started calling me trying to find him because he now refuses their phone calls. I told them not to call me again because they are not authorized to call my number, and if they keep harrasing us and don't sort the situation out on their own, I will be filing a complaint with Consumer Affairs, and the California District Attorneys office. If neccesary I will also contact the phone company and file a complaint for harrassment. I also told them that I am well aware of their business practices and that they have been investigated by the FBI for fraud. Hopefully they will stop calling and get it together. If not I will be seeking legal action.

Ok Im am posting this in effort to save some other family from the horrible experiance of dealing with western dental...

let me begin by saying that the Ft.Worth office is a dump... During my first visit there, it looked like it was under construction with sighns say please excuse our mess as we are expanding to better serve you. The floors were nasty and looked like they had removed tile as they were and looked sticky. However the staff and Dr were very nice. So first App went well except for the way the office looked.. However after going back for more visits the office continued to stay in a mess. My 11yr was set up to get braces on.. during the first visit of this prosses I started to notice things I felt were being done wrong. Like the Dental ***. was having a hard time making molds and putting in spacers that consisted of just small rubber band being placed between teeth. she was very rough with my child during this and seemed very nervous. I asked for another ***.

during the next visit to have bracets put on, I again became very uncomfortable as the room we were in was small and dirty. The table that was used to hold the equimpment being used was a cardboard box with some kind of cloth cover.. I even seen her put stuff on that dirty nasty floor, because her makeshift table was too small. Then after some... NOT all brackets were placed on..Im informed that they dont have them all and we will have to come back to have the rest put on. So as we are leaving A heated argument breaks out behind the receptionist desk between coworker who are yelling screaming and cussing at one another... all infront of the dentist that just walks out the front door with one of the angry ***. ANYWAYS long story short point... Western dental is a joke...

Western Dental put Brackets on my son for braces without installing the wires and told us to come back in two weeks. By the time we got home, two of the Brackets had fallen off. I immediately call the office back only to be told not to worry about it. One week later all the Brackets had fallen off. Concerned that my son had swallowed them, I got a second opinion from another dentist that advised me that it was unusual for the the brackets to be installed without the wires. I decided to use the new dentist and requested a closing bill from Western who in turn verbally said that it would be in the neighborhood of $300 (exam and xrays), The actual bill I recieved is for $1500, the cost for installing the braces even though they did no more than glue the brackets on. I have called the dental office and their corporate office to resolve this to no avail. I am being extorted for choosing a more competent dentist. Please help...