Amir Salimpour, DDS

Do not expect much from this dentist office. For example:
1. Do not expect a full service, 9 – 5 office. The Seattle Office is some kind of spin off from the Renton office. Dentists and even receptionists are not there every day from what I can tell. This makes things difficult if you need something ASAP. Be prepared to hear, «Can you drive to the Renton office instead?»
2. Do not expect them to work with any special needs you may have. For example, they have no way of dealing with patients that have anxiety. They do not offer any anti-​anxiety prescriptions for procedures or have the option of gas available at their office.
3. Do not expect them to schedule you correctly. Out of my 3 appointments, 0 were scheduled correctly. One was scheduled for the wrong day, one was somehow not scheduled at all, and the other, when I called the day before to confirm the appointment they said they needed to reschedule and pushed my filling out 2 more weeks (good thing I wasn’t in too much pain).
4. Do not expect to be able to get a hold of anyone or get a phone call returned. Out of 4 messages left either on the answering machine or for the dentist, my calls were returned 0 times. Also, there was one time their phones were down for 3 entire days. No answering machine, no nothing. There was no way to reach the Seattle Office at all.
5. Do not expect to be reminded for an appointment. It was hard for me to tell if they actually have a reminder system because of all the scheduling mistakes, but I never received any kind of appointment reminder. Seemed like I was the one responsible for reminding them.
I didn’t have much opportunity to actually interact with the dentist, but believe me, it can not be worth the hassle.

After my health insurance changed I was assigned to Dr. Salimpour. I read the only review on Unilocal which was posted back in 2010 and thought I wouldn’t let a single negative review and unreturned phone call stop me from giving Salimpour a shot. I wish I’d listened.
When I called to make my appointment I was greeted by a woman who stated, «Hello, who is this?» I apologized thinking I had the wrong number and explained I was trying to reach Salimpour. «Oh, how about you give me your number and I can have someone from his office call you right back.» «ooookay.» The woman who called me back called me from the Seattle Office (which apparently only operates on Mondays, FYI) and she was extremely friendly and professional, accordingly, I let the first snafu go.
When I arrived, I was astonished at how dark and dead the office felt, but I let it go because after all, it was only occupied once a week.
The problems started with the x-​ray machine which, as is typical in most office, is operated by the hygienist. Salimpour has an x-​ray machine that uses a large plastic unit instead of the typical small flexible bite wings. This large plastic unit has a four foot cord that runs from the plastic piece inside your mouth into a port on a nearby computer. I’d never seen a corded bite wing, but it seemed like a reasonable alternative to the one I was accustomed to for a dentist to have. Well, it seemed reasonable for about 10 seconds. You see, the problem with corded objects in an office setting is they pose a trip hazard. When people have to walk around the patient and there are hanging cords running from large objects in patients mouths to computers across the room problems are bound occur and oh did they. After the first x-​ray the hygienist repositioned the plastic unit and while attempting to leave the room tripped over the cord, the cord which was connected to the large plastic unit in my mouth, the large plastic unit which I was biting on to as instructed. The whole unit was ripped out of my mouth nearly taking several of my teeth, which had previously been surgically reimplanted, with it. After several moments of pain, astonishment that this type of mistake had just occurred at the one place responsible for my oral health, and awkwardness as the hygienist struggled to apologize (which turned out to be a simple «Oh, I’m sorry» and then a quick exit of the room). I told her it was fine and really tried to let it go.
The dentist came back in and made no mention of the incident that had just occurred and performed a full initial exam, with no problems other than a lack of confidence in what she was saying. She then explained that the hygienist would polish my teeth and then she would come clean them. The hygienist began to polish my teeth but never stopped the polisher from spinning when she took it out of my mouth, which had the effect of causing tooth polish to fly all over my face, tie, and slacks before I headed to work. I asked for a rag and tried to let it go as I dabbed polish for 3 – 4 minutes.
The dentist came back and cleaned my teeth. Now, I’m no dentist, but there seems to be a logical or physics-​based problem with polishing first and descaling second. Yet, when I inquired with the dentist (not Salimpour) she said it didn’t matter what order they did it in. My subsequent second opinion seems to disagree.
When I walked to the front counter, the incredibly friendly secretary asked me to make another appointment. I told her, that I didn’t think I would be doing that and asked for a comment card, she responded first by saying they don’t have comment cards and second with a rather dismissive and curt «well, goodbye.» Indeed.

Maybe Dr. Salimpour is a decent dentist– though I wouldn’t know because after leaving three phone messages and never being called back, I gave up and tried another dentist. I rarely take the time to post negative reviews but wanted to save others the frustration of being blown off by this office which is either sorely understaffed or takes little pride in customer service. If they can’t even call back, I’m not sure I’d want them to touch my teeth…