Somos Dental & Orthodontics - Laveen

"Had a great experience everyone there was polite especially the girl in the front desk Elizabeth she was patient and kind willing to answer and help me with any questions I had."

"The people are great and our service is always satisfying. The front receptionist are real friendly and always helpful, especially Elizabeth she is real nice and always has a big smile on her face."

"When I arrived at Somos today for an appointment I scheduled last week, I was met with beaming smiles and thought I was in the right place. I was sadly mistaken. My experience while attending one of the locations was extremely upsetting, off putting and to be frank— extremely traumatizing. The dentist told me my gums were inflamed and the orthodontist shared with me that I would need braces (something I’d assumed and shared with them both). Given this information, you would think I would be advised against getting my teeth cleaned but I was not. And THIS is where my experience shifted. The dental technician, whom I will leave anonymous out of respect though she had none for me, belittled and invalidated every ounce of pain, flench and wince I experienced. When telling her she was hurting me, she responded “I do this cleaning on kids and I’m going as light as I can go so I don’t know why your teeth are so sensitive. And try not to move or I’m gonna stab your gums with it”. I literally had to tap my leg and disassociate in an attempt to make it through the process— but I did not make it. I sat up in the middle of it and said that was enough. The dental assistant put down her tools and said “fine. I guess we’ll just stop right there and not finish”. I asked one of the ladies in the front if I could speak with the dentist about why my teeth were responding how they were and he shared again that my gums were inflamed, and put a numbing solution on my gums, because what the tech did had inflamed my gums even more. While I understand my traumas and triggers are not for her to deal with, the response to my pain was extremely unacceptable and inhumane. I have not been to the dentist in over ten years (since I was a kid) and communicated this and the dentist shared my gums were inflamed. For there to be scraping and drilling, and to continue even after I said it hurt and then to invalidate my experience rather than seek to understand it, was a lot for me. In addition this, when I scheduled my appointment, I was told that the consultation and cleaning were free but was charged $100. Needless to say, I will never be returning to Somos, which sucks because I thought I was safe as a woman of color in this institution, but I see that does not matter in that space. As a black woman, I was already nervous to go to the dentist because historically, it’s embedded within the system to believe that black women experience no pain or have a high tolerance for it—neither of which is true. But they need to do better in making women of color, particularly black women, feel heard and believing them when they state they feel pain. In terms of restitution, I would appreciate a refund for the charged amount of $100 for the consultation and partial cleaning. I’d also suggest implementing staff training on cultural sensitivity and patient care to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future."

"My husband went in for a wisdom tooth pain for over a week was checked in got X-rays done and had the tooth extracted in less than 30 minutes. Highly recommend this place. Friendly staff and nice environment."

"Absolutely love love this place I drive an hour back n forth to be seen here Everyone that I come in contact here has always been polite, kind and always greets us with a smile. They took very good care of my son throughout his whole braces adventure the doctors and everyone has been so helpful. We greatly appreciate everyone at 35th Ave. and baseline location The whole crew is amazing and a big thank you to everyone of you!!!!!!!"