Rahimi Ike, DMD

I wish I had read these reviews prior to having my kids see him, let alone myself. Seemed to be a nice guy… does free dentistry in 3^rd world countries, but charges the public here twice or more what other dentists charge. I went for a check up, asked if he could remove my braces, on four teeth. He made a big deal about it, saying it would be hard to do without breaking a tooth. Wanted me to pay $ 600 out of my pocket before even scheduling it. Wanted me to have 4 periodontal treatments at a cost of $ 280 each visit to me, plus the 80% my insurance pays. I had to pay $ 500 up front before even scheduling the first treatment. I have been visiting the dentist since I was three years old and am not comfortable with just anyone and wasn’t feeling too sure about this guy. Last week I had a toothache and went to Dr. Hillendahl on Missouri Flat Rd. he removed my braces at no cost and did it in about 5 seconds. He used a tool that just cut them off. So I went to Dr. Hillendahl, New West Dental, to have my teeth cleaned and my quote for the periodontal treatments were $ 125 per visit at 3 treatments, not four, due day of treatment. The greed in this world is running rampant! Dr. Rahimi advertises that he does free dental in 3^rd world countries, but it seems the American public pays for that at a time that the average American needs every penny they make and spend.

Today was my first visit at this office. I did not see the dentist but received a cleaning from the Hygienist, who was amazing. The office was beautiful, clean and spacious. All of the equipment was state of the art. I am a Registered Dental Assistant so I have been in quite a few offices and know when I see a good one. I received the new patient special which was $ 89, very affordable and worth it. The front office staff was very friendly and I didn’t have to wait to be seen. I received a tour of the office and was very impressed. I felt welcomed, not rushed or like an inconvenience, which unfortunately happens at too many offices. It is a great location, only 3 minutes from Hwy 50, off of Placerville Dr. I would highly recommend this office!

Based on their own limited experience few people have any way to tell a good dentist from a bad one. Chances are that even a terrible dentist is going to get it right most of the time. We go by personality.
Dr. Rahimi is a likeable guy and seems to be competent. He has digital x-​ray equipment and graduated from a good dental school – both encouraging signs. My biggest problem is his unrelenting self promotion. We first went to Dr. Rahimi without seeing any of his ads, or never would have started in the first place. In the past, you could find the best dentist in town by picking the one who had the smallest yellow pages advertisement, or none at all. Traditionally, real professionals simply didn’t advertise and to a certain extent I think that’s still true.
«Voted Best Dentist» — for the most part, everybody is happy with their dentist (often because they don’t know any better), so the biggest practice in town will usually be voted «best».

We no longer see Dr. Rahimi:
By going there, I feel like we’re endorsing all that advertising. Would you pick your lawyer from a billboard ad? If so, maybe Ike’s your man.
High turnover. In my experience, the best professionals keep both their patients and their employees happy and they stick around year after year. We seldom saw the same hygienist twice.
Questionable results. My wife thinks he caused some mild facial paralysis and refuses to get in his chair again. I can’t verify that, but my own experience has also been unsatisfactory.
I once timed an exam. It took six minutes, including greetings and superficial chit chat. This is not a big problem, because the real examination was done by the hygienist, but it’s pretty expensive chit chat.

Honestly, I can’t even be comfortable with giving this guy one star. I will give you a few of the problems I encountered. I used to work for Dr. Rahimi and was looking forward to work in the dental field as I was thinking I wanted to take the route of becoming a dental assistant one day. I worked the front desk as a receptionist. First off, he used his dog that he had adopted to make people feel like he was some great guy that had saved the dog from the shelter. I want to know how a DOG with HAIR that SHEDS ALL OVER THE OFFICE is allowed to be in a dental office where surgeries are being performed? AND I honestly could not even tell you how many times I saw the dog urinate all over the carpet in the office. Not ok. That is the LEAST of your worries when you step into the office. One event that I can not get over is one time an elderly patient needed some dental work done and so her son dropped her off for a few hours. After her procedure Dr. Rahimi came up to the front desk and swiped her credit card to pay and charged the whole entire amount she owed in one day! The problem is, he did it WITHOUT HER PERMISSION. I repeat, WITHOUT HER PERMISSION. He then went back into the room she was in and said: «I went ahead and charged the whole amount on your card today»…I was in shock. For all he knew, that could have been what she was living off of for the next few months. He took advantage of this elderly woman. One thing that struck me quite wrong was before I really knew how he was; I had my grandparents come in for a check-​up. My grandpa needed some work done and Dr. Rahimi insisted that he needed to make another appointment to get it taken care of right away. My grandparents felt like they needed to get a second opinion and so Dr. Rahimi came to me directly and told me that I needed to sell them and if I couldn’t get them to make an appointment that they would not be welcomed back… EXCUSE ME? That didn’t sit very well with my grandmother. Needless to say, my grandparents didn’t come back. He was constantly taking his employees into his office and making them cry. I think I saw every single one of his employees come out of his office one time or another crying. I knew my time would come and I soon would be one of those not-​so-​lucky employees. On a regular basis I was told how to dress, how to wear my hair, how to wear certain jewelry, etc. I am sorry but I am a lady and I know how to act and what to wear without being told. My husband was about ready to knock this guys teeth in. He took a few of us to Florida for what I though was «training» on how to sell to people. When we got there to the seminar it was by far one of the most uncomfortable situations I have encountered. It was Christian Scientology based and we would have to sit in rooms and be brainwashed. It was an odd experience to say the least. I have a fear of flying and I was having anxiety about the trip and when we got to Florida he told me to grow up. That only made me feel worse. The thing about this guy is he will make you think he is such a great guy and make you think he is so great for doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan, and he greets you with the nicest smile when he meets you, but then he will turn around and screw you over some way or another. STAY AWAY. And if you would like to know the truth about how he got his ever-​so great reputation as #1 dentist in El Dorado County, just know that he had paid for 100 copies of the Mountain Democrat and had his employees fill out the ballots. CHEATER is what he is. Go somewhere else. I am warning you. If you haven’t received any of his annoying advertisements in the mail then consider yourself lucky. People are catching on with this guy though. In this small town, it won’t take very long…

I’m being generous with an extra star. Only because one of the staff is exceptionally nice. This place is not what a dental office should be. Dr Rahimi should be ashamed. The front desk talks to people like a kindergarten teacher would to a class of 5 year olds. Demeaning and truly pathetic. Anyone who is so proud of being «voted #1» as a professional as to print it on business cards and to display this assumed fact is an embarrassedment to the profession.
Unilocal is almost always spot on. This is no exception. Again.. two stars is being generous.

AVOID! This is not what a dental experience should be. Dr. Rahimi pressures you to prepay with cash for multiple procedures. He unnecessarily sedated me to eliminate the pain instead of just being gentle. I understand it can be uncomfortable, but he took no care to avoid constant pinching. I would rather have a root canal (recently did to fix his filling) from a good dentist than a filling from him. His smile should have been been my first warning. However, the rest of the staff is great.

My husband and I went in to get a new dentist since we had just moved to the area and his sign said that they have been voted by the local newspaper as #1 dentist in 2010 and 2011 so we decided to go there.
The ONLY reason I will even give one star is because the staff was sooooo nice.
I got in, Xrays, pictures, and then the exam by Dr. Rahimi. Granted I did need a couple fillings and I was aware of this, but he gave me this ‘treatement plan’ statement that totaled almost $ 6,000! My jaw almost hit the floor.
In my plan… a pulled tooth, about 8 cavities, and a cap along with being sedated for an extra $ 500.
WHAT?! So I said ok … what can get done this year… he says everything must get done right away… right away huh? But my insurance only covers up to $ 1500 so what can we do now and then next year I will continue with? Nothing he says it all has to be done now, we can’t risk it.
Keep in mind this goes on for about 30 minutes. He makes me cry. In the end he tells me we can do the left side first then the other next year and I’ll give you 5% off for paying up front when you make your appointment today. The girls up front have a couple companies you can apply with to able to afford all these procedures.
He tells me this around the end of our conversation:
And, «I feel like you are questioning my years of experience,» he tells me. Well yea, I am now. So I went onto his website… he graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 2003. I’m sorry but that is nothing compaired to Dr. Boozer in Cameron Park… my old dentist… about 23 years experience for him and 50 + that his own father did while being a dentist as well.
Huh. So I go home… stress some more… get angry. And my wonderful husband says… why don’t we just go back to Dr. Boozer where we are comfortable and doesn’t pressure us to do things we don’t need done. I talk to my coworkers who tell me to get a 2^nd opinion!
OK OK… so I went back to Dr. Boozer. Where he tells me the tooth that Dr. Rahimi wanted to pull out only needs a filling and the rest is history. And as far as the rush to get things done… I could do my filling one at a time or I could do multiple… not all at once cause my mouth is going to decay in a day.
Dr. Rahimi is a sham. I realize that he might help others but be cautious of what you do with him AND go get a 2^nd opinion!

This guy is a QUACK!!! He is always telling patients they need work done «right this minute», leading them to believe that if they don’t, things will get really bad quickly. He seems to like to pressure senior citizens into trying to get dental work done, the same way… likes to get patients to open new credit accounts, so he can do the work, that day! LOSER! Why is he allowed to have a dog in his office, running around? I’m not sure that is legal and would think it would be a health code violation… gross! Don’t walk… but RUN from this freak!

NOTE: Dr. Larsen no longer runs this practice, it’s now called Placerville Dental Care, run by Ike Rahimi, D.M.D. Hopefully Unilocal will update this soon.
It’s weird to give 5 stars to a dentist, since I HATE going to the dentist more than about anything. But I have to say that this practice has impressed me.
I hadn’t gone to the dentist in over 6 years (– I know, I know, stupid of me), and was dreading it. I finally bit the bullet in the new year, and looked around for one in my area. I had a recommendation from a friend, and it turns out that my insurance covered him as well, so I made the appointment.
Well, I definitely need some work, after so long, and I’ve now had two of the projected 5 visits (!) I will need to get it done. Dr. Rahimi and his friendly staff have made this as easy and painless as possible, and have a really good way of keeping you occupied/​distracted so that the time passes more quicly. Plus dental technology keeps getting better, making everything faster. Digital x-​rays that you can see immediately, better cleaning/​scaling equipment, etc.
They never made me feel bad for having put off dental work for so long — they just explained where things were now and talked about options to fix stuff.
Appointments were easily made, and the doctor runs on time, which is a bonus.
Also, it was interesting to talk to Dr. Rahimi about his recent volunteer work setting up a dental clinic in Afghanistan. Very cool!
I highly recommend Dr. Rahimi of Placerville Dental Care.