River West Smile Center

WOW an enjoyable dentist experience! Everyone in the office is so nice and friendly, front desk, techs, dental assistants. I saw Dr Victoria Korol and she was awesome. I had to come back to get two cavities redone, and the procedure was easy and painless. She was informative, fast and super nice. Would recommend Dr Korol and the practice to everyone!

If you’ve got 2+hours to spare, this is your place. My daughter had her braces put on here and given our experience, I will not use this place for my son’s braces. We have NEVER, in the 2+years we’ve been coming here been able to get out in under an hour. Walked out the last time after an 1 ½ wait only to be assured that there would be no wait time when we rescheduled. It’s now been close to an hour and no orthodontist yet. Clearly they need more staff. The waiting room is currently packed, standing room only, with very irritated patients!

I had Dr. Smulson and he was AWESOME! I could not have been happier with my experience. He is experienced, professional, and does excellent work, and he was kind, courteous, friendly, and approachable. At one point, I was concerned that my grafts did not take and I left a message with his office to ask him a question. He called me back personally within minutes and even gave me his personal cell number to call in case I had any further questions.
I would highly recommend Dr. Smulson and his staff to others.

I personally hated and feared going to dentists until I met Dr. Korol. She is super cute, friendly and professional. Even after I totally lapsed in visits she never made me feel bad. She rocks!

It has been a while since I updated this review and after yesterday I felt it was merited. Went in for some fillings and despite the shots of Novocain there is still the fear of pain because that is what we are conditioned to think of when people think about the dentist. Well I have to tell you that these folks have never let me down. I recoil and tense up for no reason other than the psychological idea and the sound of the drill in the mouth but it is wasted and I feel kind of silly when I leave.
The entire staff makes the experience as pleasant as possible, spelled out treatment costs, never any surprises, and have always treated me well added bonus… they take my insurance.

Finding a good dentist is a crapshoot, but let me say up front: the dentists here are great. I’ve had an especially good experience w/​Dr. Korol — she is triple great.
I have also had very positive experiences with the hygienists. Those women are patient, positive, and pleasant.
HOWEVER:
1) Each trip here is an exercise in nothing but frustration. Even if you are the first appointment in the morning, it is at least 30 minutes after your appointment time before they call you back.
2) They frequently (50% of the time or more) cancel your appointment, usually the day before or day of. Apparently the dentist just calls in and isn’t coming into work that day? (Really, that’s what they tell us.)
3) Appointments are hard to come by. And you may very likely be on hold for ages on the phone when trying to make said appointment.
4) They «don’t have their calendar ready» to schedule your next 6-​month checkup. You have to wait until 2 months or so prior, call them back, and then you can schedule. Why? I do not know.
Other FYI:
No parking lot, but paid street parking is usually plentiful, and blue line CTA Chicago stop is 1.5 blocks away.
No kid-​friendly waiting room. They do have a treasure chest for after the kid’s dental exam, but the gobs of time you spend waiting in a room w/​no space for kids, no kid-​friendly books/​magazines, no TV, no nothing… Come prepared is all I’m saying.

I have a horrible memory, but I do recall the last time I had a root canal.
Not only was it one of the most traumatic experience of my life, but the MOST painful.
When my dentist told me that I had a chipped molar with a cavity deep inside it, I just wanted to yank the damn thing out. It wasn’t the most logical plan, so I decided not to.
I found Dr. Ameri listed under my dental insurance’s providers list. She had no reviews, but I decided to take the chance. She is only at the office two Thursdays out of the month, so be mindful of this.
The procedure was quick (took less than 40 minutes) and PAINLESS! Well, nearly. Before you skip reading the rest of my review, I didn’t cry, made a fist, or winched. There were moments when I was slightly uncomfortable (a pinch is more painful than what I felt). Before I knew it, Dr. Ameri was done.
I was in all smiles. Never did I expect to leave a dentist’s office feeling happy and satisfied by an experience. I thanked Dr. Ameri before I left. She’s really great at what she does, and if I ever get a root canal (I better not) I would go back to her in a heartbeat.
PS: I called off work to have my root canal. Guess what? It’s been three hours since the root canal and I’m back at work typing this review. There’s almost no pain post-​procedure. Awesome!

I’ve been seeing Dr. Korol for 2+ years, she is the only
Reason I go to that office. I hate calling the office for anything.
The put you on hold for what like seems an eternity and when they get back on the line they are so rude. I called just today because they cancelled yet again my daughters Appt and they have nothing till November. Mind you I made this Appt about 4 months ago. Now I have to wait another 3month so my daughter can get a cleaning! Absolutely ridiculous! But guess what it’s doesn’t get better when you go in, front desk staff Is so rude and they just love to ignore you as you stand there once your done and need to make another Appt. They all see you standing there and they act like there busy when there not. I’m so frustrated it’s not funny. Once my daughter gets her cleaning I am out of there. It’s just not worth it. I don’t know why they have a bunch of cranky, rude, abnoxious women working there. Some people should not work in a medical setting if their not sympatheic and have no customer service skills!

I went to Dr. Werner here as he was on my HMO provider list and I needed several fillings. He did a great job, and his assistant was super friendly. I had to get seven fillings in all, and he explained everything to me in great detail as it was going and was very professional. The whole atmosphere of the place was really great, clean, and friendly. I was very impressed, especially given that I have heard that HMO providers aren’t always the best. The only negative thing I can think of is that not all of the equipment seemed super new, but none of it was really that old either. It struck me as a standard dentist office – nothing fancy.
I’m not sure why others have had such a hard time with receptionists. I found them to be prompt and helpful, so maybe it just depends who answers the phone.
Anyway, if you’re looking for a good, standard, not too fancy or expensive dentist office, you’ll find one here!

The check finally arrived.

Dr. Werner worked on 3 fillings. Not particularly fun but was and ok experience. Will definitely go back, like the professionalism. Going back to the Dental Hygenist in a few weeks for a cleaing.

That it is up to the skinny front desk girl, I would give this place 1 star.
But when you pass the front desk, there is wonderful Dr. Korol. She is responsible, knowledgeable and has good motor skills. I think that she is amazingly professional and I trust her. So, when you find a dentist that you trust, you will go over the high fences, and you’ll fight three pit-​bulls and two dragons… just to get to somebody to whom you can give responsibility to do your teeth. Because of her, the River West Smile Center gets 5 stars from me.
I like Dr. Korol’s assistant too. She is cool.

I’ve been going to see Dr. Toy for many years, she’s a great dentist. Before I started seeing her, it had been WAY TOO LONG since my last dentist visit, but she was friendly and light on the judgment, and I appreciated that.
I agree with some of the other reviewers here that the office staff can be sluggish and difficult to deal with sometimes, but on my last visit (yesterday) everyone was prompt and friendly and I had no problems.

The hygenist and my dentist, Dr Korol, were very thorough. They provided great service. However, the corporate office that runs this office is another story. I was fitted for a $ 540 nightguard and Dr Korol indicated that if I had problems with the device, I could return it. When I discovered that it never stayed in my mouth the way it should, I called to return the guard. However, the corporate office said they would not let me return it for a refund. Terrible way to do business

The dentist and hygienists I’ve had here are great! My only beef is with the office staff!!! They’ve changed my appointment time on me without informing me. And have straight up cancelled my appointments without notifying me. The dentist is great, but the office staff is HORRIBLE

I’m writing this review as a former patient of theirs. I found the staff not terribly easy to work with, and the dentist (Dr. Werner) just OK. He definitely seemed capable, but not overly friendly, and admonished me for grinding my teeth at night (HELLO — can’t help that!). He was supposed to do some research on mouthguards for me to help with this issue, but I never heard back from him, even when I called (twice) to follow-​up. Getting an appointment with these folks is next to impossible, and when I gave them a month’s lead time to get my dental records for a new dentist, I never got them. They also desperately need to update the technologies they use. Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about dentistry, and I’m sure the devices are expensive, but the x-​ray machine looked older than I am, and I was shown VHS — yes, VHS — videos for patient education stuff. From the other dentists I’ve been to, I know there’s more advanced dental technologies out there.
My advice — try somewhere else. Giving two stars because although I don’t think they’re great, I did at least feel that they were clinically competent. These days though, it takes more than that — clinical competency should be a given.

I’m actually writing this review while I wait for the receptionist to call me back, to try to make what will be my final appointment there.
Whenever I call to (try to) make an appointment, the staff puts me on permanent hold. You have to hang up and keep calling back until they take pity on you and take a callback number to finally take an appointment.
Have to agree with the other posts about upselling dental services. I’ve never had teeth whitening pushed so much and so often during one dental visit in my life! Made me feel self-​conscious or something.

I was expecting substandard care from a DMO provider, but this was just silly.
They lost my records twice. Once is understandable, but how can you waste 40 minutes searching for a file and then later that same day file the records incorrectly again? And all the while, both times, I was left sitting in the waiting room and then in the exam room thinking, «Why don’t you let me help you look? I’m very good with the alphabet.»
The extensive waiting was followed by rushed dental work that didn’t inspire much confidence. I feel stupid for going back after the first bad experience, but I never thought the same thing would happen twice.
I needed a lot of work and only paid about $ 200 out of pocket for several fillings, but I would never go back there.

I found Dr. Korol through 1−800-dentist and I’m really glad I did. I had a need for a dentist, an orthodontist and an oral surgeon and this place has all of them in one location– incredibly easy! They work together and you don’t have the headache of filling out the same forms a trillion times! The appointments are open– you don’t have to make them months in advance and she’s very gentle. Dr. Korol is great, but what really makes me excited about this place is Dr. Robert Nudera. He’s the orthodontist and he’s incredibly hot (read: tall, fit, blond, young 30-​ish and an f-​ing Doctor!) I’m married, but every appointment I would be racking my brain for ways to hook him up with my luckiest girlfriend… I never did and I still regret it. So, I recommend this place for all your services in a timely manner or if you’re in the market for an attractive guy to put his hands in your mouth!

Wow. I had the worst experience here.
I chose this office as I have been looking for a dentist closer to home, and we’re getting new insurance at work that they accept. I should have known this place was trouble several months ago. I called on a weekday to make an appointment, and got voice mail. Voice mail… at a medical office. Well, I was calling during «lunch», (again…WTF???) so I left a message. I never received a call back.
Fast forward to last week. I call to confirm that they accept my plan. I get that blasted voice mail… again. I call back later, and get a reasonably snotty lady, who was able to answer my question. I called yesterday for an appointment, and the demeanor was not much better. I arrive 10 minutes early for my appointment today, as I know I’ll have to fill out new patient paperwork. Not only does the only lady behind the desk several feet away not greet me, she doesn’t even look in my direction. There was nobody else on the waiting room at this point, so it’s not as if she was swamped. So I sign in and sit down. She decides to acknowledge me about 20 minutes later and gives me my paperwork… which I was hardly able to even start before I got called back to see the dentist. Then I was shuffled around between 3 rooms due to a broken chair and an occupied x-​ray room. Quite unorganized. But I could live with all of that! I could have even possibly given 3 – 4 starts despite these various pre-​appointment issues. I’m fairly understanding and reasonable. The problem was. the dentist! I won’t name him. He was the most pompous jerk of a dentist… in the history of dentists. Long story short… he wouldn’t help me with my 2 painful teeth. He downplayed my pain after I disclosed that it was intermittent and controlled with Advil. When I asked how my x-​rays looked, he answered,“like you have holes in your teeth”. Thanks, Einstein! I’m not there because I have nothing better to do!!! I’m there because I’ve waited until I’m in pain and miserable… and can’t take it anymore. Yes… I have horrible dental issues. That’s why I’m there… but he can’t help me but to refer me to a specialist… and tell me to avoid hot and cold beverages, sweets, and to drink with a straw pointed away from the teeth and continue popping Advil’s like no tomorrow. Just carry on with life in pain and holes. What kind of help is that??? I’ve NEVER had a dentist not make some attempt to resolve the problem… even if only temporary. The best part??? When he asked me if I had a history of drug abuse… namely meth! Huh? I know my teeth are worn, but, as I had explained to this genius, I am missing a lot of teeth as he must have observed during the exam. I’m forced to eat with my front teeth as a result, so they’re excessively worn. But he was so disgusted with me, he had to go to the meth question. I think this guy just likes to spend his days doing prissy teeth whitenings and call it a day. He didn’t want to get his hands dirty. I could have even accepted that he didn’t have enough time to work on me right then… but reschedule me for a longer appointment soon. But this guy just wanted me out of there… and after all of his useless, condescending bullshit… I couldn’t wait to get out of there!
On a brighter note, the waiting area is pleasant and spacious, which made an excellent (but deceiving) first impression. As for the exam rooms, if you like privacy, I don’t recommend this office. While it’s all shiny, new, and modern looking, the exam rooms are not rooms. They’re separated by walls that aren’t to the ceiling or even connected to walls. They’re like over sized cubicles, for lack of a better description. In other words, you clearly hear all the drilling, suction, and conversation rihgt next to you… and they’re close together. I didn’t care for that.
I thought about trying another dentist there. They have maybe 6 or so. But I was so turned-​off, I don’t think I’ll be back… so the search goes on!
Update: It’s April 22^nd. My appointment was on ²⁄₂₇. Just today I received a statement… the only correspondence I’ve had from them since. There is a small late fee. But what is worse… it looks as if they never sumbitted it to my insurance! They’re asking for the full amount! Hope they can still process the claim, as the company I work for changed insurance companies ³⁄₁. I won’t pay them a dime until they get something from my insurance. F-​ing crooks.