Loma Linda University School of Dentistry

Don’t go here to get your dental procedures done! They let 2^nd and 3^rd year dental students work in your teeth. The faculty that checks in are unfriendly and unassuring. Also these people are crooks!!! Before I came in for a filling they said my insurance would cover the costs. I still kept getting billed for it though! I finally went to them and they were like «oh you got a special filling that isn’t covered by insurance.» wtf. Had I been told that from the start i would have never went there.
Run people run!!! They are thieves!

After 10 years of no/​bad dental insurance, we finally were able to get some work done. Knew husband would need most of his teeth pulled and dentures at this point. Called regular dentist offices are were quoted upwards $ 10,000 — for him alone, and most of them didn’t want to give him temps to wait for swelling to go down — pull teeth ($ 80 — $ 250 per tooth at regular dentists) and slap in «permanent» dentures. After research, I knew this was wrong. It took about 3 months of vigilance to get him in as a new patient. Took about 4 – 5 months for me. One needs to go in with PATIENCE. It’s a SCHOOL. Time in the chair will be longer due to student work and professor/​instructors hovering over every action — but that is a GOOD and REASSURING thing. What is the work we’ve BOTH had done so far? Numerous cavity fillings, 3 crowns (those, alone, would have been $ 2,400 at regular dentist), scalings, cleanings, 1 root canal, and interim dentures. Out of pocket so far? $ 2,443. Just got his permanent dentures today and expect to out-​of-​pocket about $ 1,000 more. The graduate students are terrific, the office staff is great, and the professors are fabulous! It’s been about 10 months from initial assessments to all of our work completed. Saving an estimated $ 7,800 on my husband and $ 3,900 on me. Yeah… it’s worth the drive and time.

For the student dentist who did my care, YOU were OUTSTANDING!!! Very caring, very thorough, you LISTENED to me and put my fears to rest! Thank you for that young man, your going to be an amazing dentist! Hopefully I can find you in a year when you officially graduate! NOW, the professor over looking… While he was very nice, he doesn’t know his medications! I asked for some norco 10/​325, as the IBU 800 wasn’t effective. He said no problem, and finally after going thru a list of prescriptions on his computer for about a solid 5 minutes came back with oxycodone 10mg! I asked «This is hydrocodone-​acetaminophen?» He said «You know this medication?» I said «absolutely, it was given to my mom after a big surgery!» He went on to say yes this is 4x stronger than norco 10mg!!! Why on earth would you prescribe me something I didn’t ask for without talking to me about it first? I have health issues, a slow beating heart is one of my big ones, I’ve never taken anything so strong before and can only imagine the way it would have affected me! I have (up to that point) never even had norco, but I have been dealing with this tooth problem for 5 years, and this was the worst experience with this tooth by far. Ok, so with that said the diagnosis was the roots of my upper teeth are actually in my sinus cavity and will require an oral surgeon to extract them. Then here comes the professor again saying i don’t need an oral surgeon he can do it. I have been to several dentist over the last 5 years and all have said I need an oral surgeon. I wasn’t about to let this professor (who doesn’t know norco from oxycodone) pull my tooth, going against every other dentist I’ve seen! I felt like a guinea pig to him. I have to go back to their Oral surgeon department… anyone have any similar experiences with a root in the sinus cavity being extracted, and had their extraction performed here with and oral surgeon? I’d greatly appreciate your replies :)

I love this place! My providers are caring and treat me like a person not a number. Have been to many of their clinic locations and have had a good experience at each.

They make you wait 6 – 8 hours to see doctors to have oral surgery, they say it’s like urgent care medical care kind of place and I think it sucks because urgent care medical place moves a whole lot faster and you are in and out in 2 – 3 hours when you go see a medical doctor at urgent care.

Thank you for the awesome way in which you handle your prayer requests! I am thankful and pleasantly comforted by your staff during a family health issue. You went out of you way to comfort and assure a healing end to our situation. Thank you kindly. God Bless.

I absolutely love this place! If you’re interested in a great dentist at a VERY affordable price you must come here. I’ve only had great experiences from the girls at the desk to the entire staff. the dentist are 3^rd & 4^th year students…
Their very detailed because their learning off of your dental issues. Every process and procedures are approved and overlooked by a attending Professor. Because of my health issues, this is my only options to get any dental work done.
If you’re a high– risk patient, I highly recommend this dental school.

Started treatment & then they were suppose to call me for an appointment to continue my implants. Six months went by no call. I finally called them & they said I had to wait some more for a experience Dr to observe the procedure. I don’t feel comfortable with their inexperience, poor follow up, & very expensive prices

5 year wait period! Is very much a clinic setting! Dirty and there are tons of people! Wouldn’t see us which I’m now glad knowing what know now. A nurse said patients can sometimes wait 24 to 48 hours in the waiting room before being seen. Reminds me of the medi-​cal offices! Stay away if you can. Not the cleanest facility at Llu. And very outdated.

I started as a patient of a 4^th year dental student. He was AWESOME. Yes the appointments are time consuming but remember you are being checked my MULTIPLE professionals with YEARS and YEARS of experience. As someone who has spent years of their life in a dental chair, I was very impressed with how the Dr’s explained everything thoroughly. I am also a patient at the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic. Again great Dr’s. I couldn’t be more happy with my results thus far!

I trust that most people write Unilocal reviews as a result of some poor component of execution on the part of the school of dentistry. In my case, I may be as much or more to blame than them. However, there is still a rub to my experience.
A little less than 10 weeks after I contacted them, they scheduled an appointment for me. They emphasized that I would need to bring payment of $ 21 and a photo I.D. I requested that they look at an overview of my needs/​expectations, dental records (including X-​rays), to be sent to them via email for a pre-​screen. The work I need performed includes extraction of teeth, bone grafts, placement of implants, … leading up to obtaining dentures that are anchored with the studs. I did not wish to arrive only to be told that my needs could not be met.
Having traveled for over two hours, I arrived, only to discover that I left my wallet home. No money and no photo I.D. The young lady who greeted me was most courteous. I asked which of the two components (money, or I.D.) carried the most «weight, to which she responded that it was the payment.
At that point I requested to speak to her manager. She gracefully accommodated me. A few moments later the manager appeared at the window. I proposed that I could call my wife to provide a credit card number for the payment, at which point I was informed that would not be sufficient. There had to be a photo I.D. to prove that I am in fact a mammal, and that I was not out to steal someone’s identity. I did have a folder with my dental records, and argued that where I had waited 9+ weeks for the appointment and had shown up at the appointed time.. . it was highly improbable that I was going to steal someone’s identity. The manager responded yet again that it was their policy.
Not a good first impression. If they are so rigid at the front end, I can only assume that the entire process is the same. I backed out. Even if they had accepted me and performed the examination, there is certainly no assurance that they would be able to attend to my needs. Let me emphasize that when one calls their dentist and they speak with a receptionist, the receptionist usually requests information as to the nature of the visit. It makes sense to me that a school of dentistry would function on that same premise. Obviously not so.
When policy is more important than the people served, that is pretty un-​Christ like. Where Loma Linda U is a Christian based school, I have to admit that I hold them to a higher standard. I recall a few groups of folk at the time of Christ that were inflexible.

Have been taking my 3 kids here for about 15 years now. (sadly my older kids are now too old to be seen there, but I’m pretty sure they would come in if they still could!) The staff and students in the Children’s Clinic have always been wonderful. The students change over the years as they graduate and move on, but most all of the staff have remained. They are all very helpful and kind and very nice to the kids and parents. The clinic is full of stuffed animals and also have TVs in the ceiling. It’s a happy, positive environment and everyone wants the kids to feel at ease. My kids actually look forward to their check ups! How often can you say that about kids and dentists?! Highly recommend!

If I could give their front office less than one star I most certainly would.. .
They seemed kind at first, which they probably are, but there was a terrible and stressful setback regarding my credit card being «denied» when my bank statement showed a charge by L.L.U. One of the front desk woman told me I needed to call MY bank and work it out with them, when in turn, it was the front desk attendant who was at fault. Or their machinery?
Yes…this is a petty cause for complaining, but as a patient, one could only imagine what the business is like when the first impression I have of them is their terribly skilled staff, I know the uni trains future dental workers, but what I want to know, is are they training their office workers as well???. .. ½ star.

I would give this dentistry school (Entrance #4)1000 stars if I could for the amazing work they did on my son’s teeth. My son has a high threshold of pain and never complained about his teeth. Once I had noticed the issues, a lot of damage had been done. He becomes extremely anxious around any medical professionals so his dentist referred us to this school. It was supposed to be a 2 month wait but they had a few cancellations and we were able to get an appointment the next day.
There are many things that were carefully explained to us that were beyond the school’s control such as lack of space in the waiting room and the extreme temperature of the air conditioning. Many attempts have been made to resolve this, but to no avail currently. So remember to bring blankets and heavy jackets or ask for a blanket because the wait times for the appointments are very unpredictable. This is due to the need for the school to squeeze in multiple appointments in order to keep their door open. There are many special needs patients in the morning and most of the patients are fasting. It is not uncommon to witness outbursts from the patients and frustration from parents/​caregivers.
With all that being said-​there are very few places I have been to where I have experienced extremely patient and accommodating staff from the initial phone call all the way up to the afterhours care line. It was a blessing to have Dr. Nygard as my son’s anesthesiologist and Dr. Jessica Kim as his dentist. We were informed that for this department, the dentists are either residents or the instructing dentist from the school. Their extra patience and care on my son was beyond amazing and they went out of their way to put me at ease regarding my son’s teeth. They had surgery after surgery nonstop that day but took the extra time to tailor the treatment plan to where my son could still retain his beautiful smile. Nurse Terry took care of the discharge and was very gentle with my son when he was coming out of anesthesia.
My son developed a fever the next evening and I was able to call the after hours line and was relieved that Dr. Nygard was the resident on call. Eventhough I am certain he was tired after a long day, he still took more time to explain the details and encouraged me to call again if the fever worsened. I took the opportunity to thank him for taking such great care of my son.
My prayers were answered once again and the blessings continue.

Although most people don’t look forward to going to the dentist, I sure do because I head on down to LLU dental clinic. What a treat it is to be here.

I was referred here by my daughters dentist. She had to have teeth pulled due to breaking them. I was very nervous because I was told they needed to put her to sleep in order to do this. I put off scheduling because I was scared. She is only 3 years old. When I called to schedule, they were great. Polite, gave good information, and helped calm my fears.
They set expectations for what was to happen the day of. Told me to expect to be there for 8 hours, pack food as I can’t leave area.
They were professional, procedure went well. We were there for 6 hours. Wait room has a tv that plays kid movies and staff at desk gave kids fun toys (balls) to have. The kids were excited.
I would recommend this place. Just know that you will wait a while but their service is worth the wait.

Loved my daughters student. They got her in after braking a tooth and were so gentle and caring. The kids clinic is cute and didn’t scare her. Thank you Loma Linda!!!

Wow, FREE dental work according to that last review? Where the hell where you when I was working part time to put myself through college, AND caring for my aged parents ²⁴⁄₇ AND had NO money for dental work and yet still had to pay Loma Linda for their work at their full price?
Sigh
Back in the 1990’s i went here. Long story short, the secretary was so nice back then, one student was SO bad, shoving the needle in my gums so hard she hit bone and i literally cried while she counted to ten while injecting me with novacaine.
People, I am one tough broad, NO sissy chick, the fact she had me crying was exceptionally horrendous. NO apology.
I called the nice secretary, she patiently listened to my story, assigned me to another student. The first one did all she could to try to force me to stick with her. Uhhhh NO.
Second student was super nice. Great guy, but after spending $ 1,800 out of pocket for teeth that were not any better looking, just cleaned up and filled with one removed, the whitening kit never did a damn thing to whiten my teeth AT ALL and that was not cheap, he insisted I get a back tooth pulled.
Um, by that time, I did not want to spend more money for teeth that looked no better. Dude, I am literally starving trying to educate myself and care for my folks. He practically begged me, then offered to do it for free.
While I appreciate that, ummm. No thanks.
Oh and they made you go through this «how do you brush your teeth» deal which was fairly humiliating, treating adults as if they were naughty 6 year olds for not getting all the bad tartar!!!
Fast forward till last year:
The lovely lady who used to answer the phone was replaced by Joan Crawford in «Mommy Dearest»… (NO Wire HANGERS!!! EVERRRR!!!)…
This new secretary was SUPER rude on the phone. I asked how much a standard procedure would be and her reassuring reply was:?
«WE don’t give prices over the phone, just bring a checkbook!» she literally barked at me all grouchy, no kidding.
Uhhh really? Like a procedure you do ALL the time has mystery prices??? Yeaaahhhhhh riiiiight.
I went elsewhere, there ARE dentists all over the place willing to negotiate prices, this cattle call place is not the ONLY place for low cost dentistry.
Nice college, I appreciate the services they offer, but I wasn’t impressed with MY experiences.

I went in last year to have them take care of a filling on one of my remaining baby teeth. It has a really good root, so we decided to do a filling. As of today, I have had to get a crown to save this tooth. The filling broke and fell out. I went to a dentist that is very highly recommended and has been in business for over 20 years. He found tons of decay and said that he wondered if the filling was just temporary. It wasn’t supposed to be!
This has cost me a great deal of time and money because of a student not taking the time to clean out the decay and do it correctly. Yes, it is less expensive to use the students but in the long run, it has cost me hundreds more. Look for my dentist review to come. Go see that dentist!

WHAT ever happened to the nice genial dental school whose graduates were called «medical evangelicals???» BIG attitude problem here — the patient comes LAST.
I had a great 5 star experience here 20 years ago — now, not so much. A student dentist piddled around in my mouth for 9 months, did 2 consecutive deep cleanings I did not really need as I had had one before going to LLU then he insisted on installing a gold crown I did not need as I was the only one of his ‘clients’ who remotely seemed appropriate to work on. Once the crown was in he left, I got re-​assigned and had several later appointments screwed up badly.
ALL the serious work I really need is still undone after a YEAR and maybe $ 1000. Oh yeah, prepare for each apt. being 4 hours no matter what and lots of quasi-​legal CYA rig-​a-​marole such as antibiotic overdoses if you’ve had an OP within 2 years etc. AND for some you need to pay BEFORE procedures as some patients abscond from the chair after extractions feigning going to the bathroom and split.
This place has BARELY been worth the substantial travel, time and $$$ I’ve spent here.