Dientes Community Dental Care, Capitola Road 1500 Capitola Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95062

"I saw Dr. Salih February 21st. I warned them they would be overwhelmed by my medication list and my list of health conditions. They assured me they wouldn't. After giving them my medication list, one of the dental assistants returned to ask which ones I took "most often" even though I listed how many times a day I took each one. I said I take all of them every day. She looked confused & left. A few minutes later, she returned & asked "how many of these do you take daily?" I said "all of them" She said "You really take all of these every day?" I said yes, she left. A few minutes later, she returned, asked "Are you sure you take all of these every day?" And put the list in my hands. I said yes. She left. I started feeling like a medical anomaly, in the worst way. Then the dentist came in, glanced at my teeth, said to the dental assistant "We're going to have to take out most of these" & left without saying anything to me. She came back a few minutes later, introduced herself & started going through my health conditions & medical history. She asked multiple times if I really had all those conditions, & if a doctor had diagnosed me with every one of them. I was now feeling like a freak, because of how many times I was incredulously asked if my meds or health conditions/history were actually accurate. The dentist started doing a detailed inspection of my teeth. As the dentist was telling the dental assistant about each of my teeth, the dental assistant multiple times said something along the lines of "Really? That one has that too?" Then when the dentist was done, she & the dental assistants were talking about my teeth, literally behind my back, at no time talking to me about my teeth. Then the dentist left. The dental assistant stayed in the room for a moment to remove the bib thing. I took a sip of water, sat back up, & said "sorry, my mouth was dry" she said "that's because of all the medications you're taking" (even though it was dry because of how long they made me keep my mouth open) She promptly left. A good 20 minutes later, the dentist came back & said in a detached way "we're going to pull 8 of your molars & the 4 front teeth on the bottom" I started crying, she asked in an annoyed voice "why are you crying?" I said "My whole life people have told me I have a beautiful smile, now-" she cut me off to say "Well what happened to it to make it this unbeautiful?" By this point I was sobbing hard enough I was hiccuping, and it caught me off guard that a dentist would tell me my current smile, basically, was ugly. So I said "well my teeth have always been crooked, but I'm talking more about-" She cut me off to say "Oh, when your adult teeth came in your smile became unbeautiful" It was a statement, not a question. Then continued "Well when I'm done with you, you'll finally have a beautiful smile" Then explained they were giving me full dentures, only leaving "possibly" 2 of my molars & my 4 front teeth on the top. 2 of them she said they were pulling just because it "might" make it easier to brush the top of an impacted tooth. I continued sobbing, she said "Now why are you crying?" I said "I'm 42 and you're talking about giving me dentures" She said in a detached way "Believe me, it hurt my heart when all of the dentists here conferred and decided that was the best course of action. But you'll finally have a good smile when I'm done with you" then left again. I honestly can't remember some of my interactions after this, I was so distraught that I was in shock. But she gave me the referral & again mentioned how I would "finally have a smile (I) could be proud of" Then, I was sent up front to schedule a follow-up. If a dentist is going to be a snob about teeth needing to be perfectly aligned, they shouldn't work at a clinic for low income people/families. I'm now terrified to see any dentist or dental surgeon, because I don't know if I can handle that level of insults & verbal attacks again. I was a puddle of sorrow when I left & I'm the most self-conscious of my teeth/smile I've been in my life."

"Had an excellent experience. Great care. Very timely with appointments. Staff was awesome! Sadly you have to be a patient next door at East Cliff to be elegible. East Cliff is pretty bad."

"Different dentists every time. Fast work bc they were closing. Insensitive to pain and discomfort. Very unhappy (santa cruz, ca office)"

"Awesome dental experience for both my boys! Thorough, gentle, and educational. Both my boys are happy to go to the dentist again! Dentist and hygienist gave great care and we are so happy to have found them."

"Great new addition to what this County needed I am super impressed by the professionalism and how super nice everyone is it is super refreshing to walk into a medical office and have everyone just be real nice"