Elegant Smiles

I have never been to this office before until today !
I was very disappointed with my visits, there was no parking what so ever. I had to park two blocks away from the place. The facility was very dirty looking and very creepy. I felt like I was in a saw movie !
After having a FMX taken the dds came in and probed my gums and did not even document the numbers to keep record of my gum pockets .
Little did she know I work in a dental office myself and know the procedures that would have been made but they didn’t even do anything right .
ELEGANT SMILES? More like RATCHET SMILES .
This place sucks !

I really hate to write bad reviews, but I really do feel concerned that people will be treated poorly and have lots of mistakes made here with their tooth repair. I was supposed to go back in for work TWICE for mistakes made by the dentist. I had a nightmare about this place from all the anxiety I felt about them messing my teeth up again, and so decided not to return for the second time. The first time, the tooth was sealed improperly and I overheard the dentist yelling at the hygienist and knocking the little light thing out of her hand, saying she was sealing the tooth from the wrong side and if hadn’t happened the first time, I wouldn’t have had to have the work done again. The second time, the dentist made giant gaps between all my teeth that were filled and food got stuck in them and made my gums hurt. The staff told me to just chew on one side of my mouth until I could come back. Also, they scolded me on not following up on work that they’d never informed me I needed to have done. I really hope that the staff here get better training and support so that the clients aren’t yelled at and given bad dental work.

NO STARS. Matter of fact. NEGATIVE 5 stars for this terrible place. Long storey short all of the staff are unprofessional and lazy. The office is dirty and equipment is falling apart. If you book your appt for 7:30am you still will not get seen until 8:30am if you’re lucky. The dental assistant does not know or explain any of the process or what she is doing to you. She barely greated me, pointed me into a room, and did not say anything. Eventually I thought I should sit in the chair. She didn’t even put the napkin around me neck until after she already started to work on me. She said, «open up» and started pushing around in my mouth, no explination at all. I asked her what we were doing next and she says she’ll be right back. She comes back, sticks something in my mouth and then tells me to bit down. Past experience this was the hard thing you bit on for xray. So I bite down. She starts YELLING AT ME «BIT DOWN STRAIGHT! BITE DOWN NORMALLY! NO NO NO!!» I’m surprised and now putty is all over my lips and mouth. She does a prayer motion and leaves the room. I wish she woulda warned me that she was trying to take a cast mold of my tooth then I wouldve been prepared and known what to expect and could have done a better job. The admin staff do not know anything about prices and crown options and treated me like an alien when I asked them for a break down of costs and expenses. Then they litterally kicked me out when I didn’t have $ 400 to pay for a crown. They tried to charge me $ 800 for a gold crown… the new place I just made appt with has experience and has quoted me $ 180. The people at Elegant Smiles could did not even know how to find out how much or what kind of crowns I could get. The other new place quickly was able to tell me different crown options over the phone and quote. Not to mention the staff at Elegant Smiles was all sick that day and stood in the hall complaining about being sick! and here I am with my mouth all open for them! Gross. Everytime I came here they just want to retake a bunch of unnecessary xrays. I was so upset and dissastified I filed a formal complaint with my insurance co to make sure they did not charge me for anything that day. Oh and I wont even get into the «Specialist» office next door who yelled out «we dont have the right equipment, get the torch» — he was not kidding either! Yeah! No Bueno. I have to say he numbed the hell out of me, I couldn’t feel my face for the entire day and night but I was extremely sore for weeks after. Back to Elegant Smiles, I warn everyone, DO NOT GO HERE! They do not know what they are doing and the place is falling apart. Now I just need to correspond with them to get my crappy records from them to the new place. Everytime I call, after I tell them my name, they get an attitude. Wish me luck!

1÷21÷16 — Went in for my bi-​annual exam/​check-​up at 8:30am. Before leaving, I spoke to Marla/​Marly at the front desk regarding a quote for future treatments — she told me she would get in touch with my insurance company first for pricing, then will call me within an hour with the quote. I did not hear back from her.
1÷27÷16 — I called the office and spoke to Anna, she said she would email me the quote that day; I did not receive an email or call.
1÷29÷16 — I called the office, no one answered, I left a voicemail, and I mentioned in the voicemail that it was very important for someone to call me back, no return call.
2÷2÷16 — I called the office and spoke to Lady, she said someone will get back to me regarding the quote; I did not receive a return call. I also asked her to have Dr. Exconde call me, no return call from Dr. Exconde.
2÷10÷16 — At this point, it’s been 20 days since my last office visit on 1÷21÷16, and 20 days I’ve been waiting for a quote/​call/​email…
2÷10÷16 — I called this morning at 10am, no one answer, I left a voicemail, mentioned it was very important for someone to call me back, no return call.
2÷10÷16 — I called back today at 4:19pm, Anna answered. I asked her why I haven’t received any return calls and why has no one been answering the office phone a majority of the time… her reason/​excuse was there was new staff. I asked her why does it seem like there is no concern for the well-​being of patients, she did not have an answer. She did not appear to be concerned that I was upset that my phone calls have been ignored/​unanswered, and that I have been waiting for information from your office so I can move forward with my dental treatments. In fact Anna told me that if I was unhappy with the service or lack thereof, that I can call my insurance company and ask to switch dental offices.
I asked her who her supervisor was; she said she was the office manager. I asked her who her supervisor was again, she said the owner. I asked for the owner’s name, she hesitated, so I asked her again. Again, she danced around it, so I asked her again. She mumbled his name, so I had to ask her to spell it out for me so I can write it down correctly. I was finally learned the owner’s name is Dr. Brent Lin. I asked for his phone number, she said she is not able to give out his personal information. I asked her how was I to get in touch with him then… She said SHE would email him for me. I asked her why I would trust she would do that for me, and how could I believe that she would get in touch with him to make a complaint about herself, as well as other staff members. At this point I was livid, disappointed, confused as to what I was experiencing. I asked her for her full name so I would have it available when/​if I got the chance to make a complaint myself… Anna Azalos. I asked her if she was happy with how the office was handling patients. She asked me, «Why? Are you taking a survey now?». I asked her again, she hung up on me.
I only chose to go to this office because I have HMO Dental and dental listings are very limited for HMO. This office hasn’t always been the best but at least I was able to get done what I needed to get done. Regardless, someone always got back to me in the past within a timely manner. Within this last visit and my recent phone calls, I did notice the people at the front reception desk have changed. Did not see a familiar face or hear a name from the old staff. My last visit was 7 months ago for my bi-​annual check-​up and at that time, the old staff was still there, and Suzie was still the office manager. Not sure what’s going on, but it’s definitely not good. I’ve been going to this office for approximately 6+ years, and this is ridiculous and extremely disappointing.

I’m relatively young and don’t have much experience finding or going to dentists for major work. To me, this place seems relatively standard.
My first appointment (half mouth cleaning) was with a younger man dentist (don’t remember his name). I did not like him at all– very rough and kind of snarky. After that all of my appointments have been with an older woman (don’t know her name either). She’s wonderful and it feels like my mom is doing my dental work.
However, this place recommended I remove all four wisdom teeth at the oral surgeon next door. Luckily, their schedule did not fit with mine so I found another dentist to get a consult. They did a fancy high tech panoramic X-​ray of my mouth and told me all four wisdom teeth grew in perfectly straight. Three of them were healthy and the fourth had a cavity that should be taken out –easily without surgery. So, like everyone else, I would recommend getting a second opinion about wisdom teeth extraction.

I brought my daughter here and won’t be returning. The woman who gave her x-​rays took FOREVER (partially because she stopped to chat with a co-​worker part way through.) My daughter is small and the heavy lead apron hurt her little body. She’s now scared of getting x-​rays. After the dentist checked her out, he said he’d refer her to a pediatric dentist but didn’t talk to me at all about what he found. Then we were told to wait in the room and we ended up stuck there for far too long surrounded by that awful dentist smell before we finally just walked back to the waiting room to sit down. I think we were forgotten there.
Getting our referral to peds was another nightmare. Granted it wasn’t the most straightforward case, but referrals are a part of their job so I expect them to figure it out. After 2 days of calling them and being promised they’d call me back (to no avail), I finally just went in and stood there until they figured out how to help me. It took over an hour of standing there to get my referral — I had to feed the meter.
In short: lack of training, lack of bedside manner, lack of respect for people in a vulnerable moment.

Dr. Fathi is a joke. The office is not professional. I saw expired surgical medicine dated ⁸⁄₂₀₁₃ on 9÷1÷15 in prep tray. Dr. Fathi recommends subpar dental procedures to the underserved community in which she works rather than get more dental expertise.

OK, so my new dentist said NONE of the work this guy recommend was necessary, and also unlike this place you can book a procedure with your regular cleaning.
If you go to the dentist every 6 mths and you all of a sudden need a lot of work, especially after having just regular stuff with the much missed Dr. Salman, you might want to consider a second opinion. Some of the dentists listed below offer free second opinions.
Further more when my new dentist requested my digital Xrays they were told it would take 7 days to get them, via e mail!, and a signed release (which i understand) that they would fax over to the new dentist-​well of course that never happened, (like they don’t want any one reviewing their work)
If you have delta dental USA plan there are a number of other dentists that have great reviews 4+ stars, and you could well do better than this dentist–
And when you decide to go to another dentist, if you have had Xrays in the past 12 mths or so, go to the office and sign the release and get them before you go to the new dentist, it will save you a few bucks with the new dentist.
I hate to rant buts Its so disappointing when you lose faith in a medical professional, Had others not reported the same thing after Dr Salman left, and (experienced it myself), I’d have a mouth full of unnecessary work. But thanks to Unilocal I’ve now found a professional dentist who is focused on their patients best interests.

I was referred by my regular dentist to have oral surgery next door to Elegant Smiles. I had 3 wisdom teeth extracted. Post surgery I was sent to Elegant Smiles for a follow up appointment to see how I was healing. As I laid in the chair waiting, Dr Salek and maybe the receptionist or nurse stood behind my chair and had a not so hushed exchange laughing about a patient who had called to complain that she felt Dr. Salek was rude to her. He snickered and said indignant, «I wasn’t rude.»
Although I thought it was unprofessional to talk in ear shot of me (I had teeth extracted not my hearing!) it wasn’t a big deal.
However, once Dr. Salek came to check in with me I found him to be condescending, arrogant and curt. He had the nerve to suggest that maybe I was exaggerating the level of pain I was trying to describe to him.
The irony in all of this is his obvious lack of self awareness! Before I interacted with him he was denying a patient’s complaint about his rudeness then was actually very rude to me!
Not a good first impression. Check yourself Dr. Salek. You may be a competent dentist but your interpersonal skills obviously need to be fine tuned.

I’ve been going to Elegant Smiles since 2011 and am very happy with their service.
The front staff are always friendly, respectful and very professional. Dr Fathi and Dr Salek are highly qualified and exceptional dentists and I feel well taken care of. Over the years, I’ve been to many dentists in the Bay Area. Elegant Smiles is the first dental practice with whom I feel completely satisfied. Don’t believe the negative reviews. I recommend this practice very highly!

I finally found a dental office who would accept both insurances I carry and I even drove out from Napa. It was not worth my time. I was told I needed a root canal, even though I was in no pain. I went ahead and decided to have the procedure done. They recommended the specialist next door and I made the appointment with the office insuring me that my insurance coverage would work with the specialist aswell. I ended up with a bill over $ 200 without any knowledge why. When I contacted the office, they had no record and insisted I figure it out with my insurance company.
As far as the exam and cavities filled at this location: I’m pretty sensitive and I can’t say the dentist put me at ease. I guess I’ll be on the search for a new dentist.

When I was there, I had my 2 month old baby with me. The two gentlemen who work the front desk were kindly dealing with a client who was upset about a charge. They were both professional and explained the situation the best they could. The client was upset and left, but they handled this situation well.
Then, Dr. Marshall started yelling at the two men, using profanity and berating them in front of me and my baby. At one point, when he dropped the F bomb, I stood up and said, ‘EXCUSE ME!!!’ He completely ignored me, finished his sentence and stormed off. The two men apologized profusely about the situation and explained that he was ‘just like that’ and they ‘were used to it.’ That’s no way to do business and I will never go back. They lost three client’s that day. Me, my husband and my baby when he is older. There are only two dentist’s in Oakland that takes my insurance so now I have to drive to the City for my dentist and it is well worth it.

I was mostly comfortable with this place until my dentist (Dr. Salman) left. I have been a customer for more than 5 – 10 visits and over five years. My last appointment I had to leave work early for my 2-​month scheduled cleaning. When I got there I was told that all appointments were cancelled as their computer server had been down for around 9 days already. I count understand why 1) after that many days this server issue had not been resolved, 2) why they had not called me to tell me my appointment would be cancelled (they said all of their patient information was on their computer system), 3) why they so matter of factly did not have an apology ready or some form of reimbursement for getting off of work early or paying my gasoline to travel there as I work in Hayward, 4) and if l am more disappointed that after two weeks they have not tried calling me to reschedule my appointment or to apologize. I will not be returning to this location nor do I recommend anyone else go to a place so unprofessional.

Dr. Sarah Salman was my dentist at this clinic & I was very happy with her. She has moved. I asked them where I could find her and they wouldn’t tell me. They didn’t even tell me her name had changed. After much searching I finally located her. Then I had a hard time trying to get my records transferred to her new office. It took 20 minutes for them to find a barely-​legible release of records form, they charged me $ 37, and they told me it would take a week.
In case you are also having a hard time finding her, Dr. Salman’s new name is Dr. Sarah Baldwin. Here is her new phone number, etc:
3645 Grand Ave
Ste103
Oakland, CA 94 610
b/​t Weldon Ave & Davidson Way in Grand Lake, Lower Hills
Phone number (510) 251‑1962

Update. Eh, I can see the upselling issue others talk about. It never ceases to amaze me how comfortable other people are with spending my money. She did a good job with the actual «dentisty» part of it, but I’m honestly probably not going back becaase I didn’t like how she kept pushing procedures on me afterwards in the follow up. I do not feel comfortable receiving medical care from someone who is clearly considering the financial benefits of services.
Also, when I expressed that to her she suggested I get a second opinion from the place next door where they clearly have financial ties. This felt very shady to me.
SECOND UPDATE: Did you notice the suggestion below by the business for me to TAKE OUT CREDIT to return to their facility? That is ridiculous. As an aside, I have enough money to pay for these things, I choose not to support places that pressure me into spending excessive amounts for unnecessary procedures.

RUNAWAY!
I had a couple of visits here and for every visit i had a NEW cavity which i wondered, how could that be if i take really good care of my teeth? To have them fixed it was $ 300 per tooth so i said ok i guess. Over the next 2 – 3 visits i think they must of done 2 or 3 cavities and the last visit they said i had 2 more cavities and my wisdom tooth MUST come out. I said NOPE! that’s too much money and i highly doubt i could have these many cavities in such a short period of time. so i took my money elsewhere and found another dentist in down town Oakland. After looking at my x-​rays he claimed i had NO cavities at all and my wisdom tooth was at a place that wouldn’t bother me nor mess my teeth up! I asked him to double check because Elegant Smiles had just told me i had 2 and the tooth MUST come out, so he checked manually and i had NONE! I asked him how much would it cost to have ALL my silver fillings replaced with White filling and he was able to replace ALL my silver fillings with white at no cost at all! He was able to put everything into my insurance!
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME HERE! They will ROB you of your money by telling you, you need work done that you really don’t need.

I like these guys. I’ve been going there for about two years and I’ve probably been at least four times. I’ve never had a problem with my bill or insurance. Once I had to wait like an hour and a half and that was annoying but it turned out to be because the patient ahead of me got really difficult and it hasn’t happened since. There’s only one dentist there, Dr Salman. The lady who did my cleaning today (I assume she was a hygienist but I didn’t get her name) was really gentle and friendly, and Dr Salman is really friendly as well. I feel like everybody knows what they’re doing. They do x-​rays every time and I don’t know if that’s normal, but I figure why not, it doesn’t cost me anything. They send out nice little postcards to remind me of my next appointment and the front desk staff are friendly too. The place is clean and professional. Dr Salman bugs me to floss just like she should. :) She’s also pretty gentle with her tools, I’ve never been hurt or felt really uncomfortable.
It’s also kind of handy because they have a relationship with the dental surgeon next door, so you can go back and forth between the two really easily if you need any more involved work.

Bait and switch be cautious .
1– Wife had appointment, when she went ther it was not with the Dentist mentioned
2 — she has teeth in perfect conditon just needed periodic cleaning
3 — they refused to do the cleaning as covered by the insurance ???
4 — instead wanted her to have another one at some $ 140
5 — wanted to take x-​rays when she does not need anyb ???
and the list goes on, I like to knowv if the staff working on patient is actually licensed to give medical advice and do dentistry work …

My only advice to anyone considering this Dentist, kill yourself first, as you will not have to leave with the conscequences.

This place is a true RIP OFF!!!
My son and I had appointment here. We were seen and got a very long list of things that needed to be done which rounded off to be over 10,000 dollars each. My son was 18yrs old and had been going to the dentist for a very long, but I change me dental plan because I thought that would be better so save on my premium but NOT!!! They said my son had cavities on all his teeth, mind you he just had his brace taken off less than a year prior to this visit. He need a deep gum tissue cleaning blah blah blah, the list went on. They only want your OUT OF POCKET MONEY!!!
Took my son to another more established dentist office and all he needs is a tooth pulled and a cleaning… Go figure!!!
I will never go to this fake ass, only cater to one race of people place again.

It was my first time at this clinic and I saw Dr. Salman for a deep cleaning. You could tell she had a passion for dentistry and helping patients. She was very kind and patient and made sure I understood everything regarding the procedures.
Like Tina N., I did not have problems involving unnecessary or frivolous procedures being offered or any upselling. The doctor was quite helpful and made me feel like I was being treated honestly and respectfully and that is all I can ask for from any dentist — that they treat their patients with the utmost respect and kindness and to acknowledge the wishes and respects of their patients.