Gentle Dental Chula Vista

I had an appointment scheduled for my 2 kids at this location for over a month. We went in the morning and as soon as we walked in no smile or acknowledgement. Just sign in. Then I told them I had filled out the form for one of my kids just last night and this receptionist with long black hair and glasses just had the most rude attitude about everything. We wasted our time here because they then told us they couldn't even see us because we aren't assigned to them. We understood but there is just a nicer way to be towards a family of 4 with 2 little kids as new patients. We arent even showing up with medical or anything for such a rude dismissive attitude. I had considered taking myself and my husband here for our own dental work because we have great insurance coverage. But after this absolutely not! This location and company lost 4 new possible patients that could of made them money just because of the unprofessional rude behavior 😒 and ow has left a sour taste in my mouth. That lady with the glasses and black hair needs to be fired.

If I could give no stars I would , I had schedule this appointment back in August for me and my 1 year old and for a doctors appointment I had to reschedule. They told me they do accept blue shield promise insurance and that they do see 1 year olds "I was referred by her pediatrician " i rescheduled her visit for Jan 2 2026. Once I arrived at the clinic , the lady in the front desk stated they didn’t have a doctor in the clinic on fridays. She said my daughter wasn’t in the system and that anyways they didn’t see patients that "young ". I reassured her my daughter was in the system by following to provide her the automatic messages sent from their clinic to confirm my daughter’s appointment. She then said "oh yes never mind she is in my system " but there’s no doctor in and like I said we don’t see patients that young. Why schedule appointments in person with them when they don’t reassure the customer that they don’t do service to certain ages and make them waste their time.

Doctors and staff are always friendly, kind and know what they are doing, but these two times I’ve gone I had to wait more than 50 minutes past my scheduled appointment. I understand delays can happen, but the wait times have been consistent and make it difficult to plan my day. I hope the office can improve scheduling or communication so patients know what to expect. Thank you.

Our family recently moved from Texas and we’re looking for a new dentist in California that accepts our insurance. I sent my 19-year-old daughter, alone, to Gentle Dental in Chula Vista for a routine cleaning since I had to work. Before her appointment, I saw their October Special advertised online — offering a FREE Oral-B iO Powerbrush + hygiene products OR take-home whitening for a year. However, after her cleaning, she didn’t receive anything at all — not even a regular toothbrush like most offices provide after a cleaning. She said the cleaning was okay. She gets her two cleanings every year since she was able to so she knows exactly how things are supposed to go. This experience was disappointing and felt misleading. If an office promotes a special, they should honor it or at least explain the terms upfront. Because of this, we won’t be sending our daughter back and will be looking for another dental office that keeps its word and values new patients. But I must add the first point of contact for new patients were very kind and friendly. They did their job.

Great appointment today. Arrived a little early and got in right away. Dental assistant and hygienist were friendly and efficient. Nice experience and no delays…definitely an A+!

Came in to do a simple cleaning. I had an x-ray of my teeth done and the dentist came to see me and said my teeth looked great and nothing needed to be done other than the cleaning. He recommended a "Deep cleaning" because since I had just given birth, the hormonal changes messes up with the mouth and tartar build up. Minutes later, another lady came in saying I had to pay $240 for that deep cleaning. I told her I just wanted a normal cleaning covered by my insurance and she said I couldn’t do that because the doctor didn’t recommend that. They refused service to a patient! So I wasted 50 minutes of my life and left without a cleaning! Easy to say I’m not coming back and neither is my wife and daughter.

Absolutely horrendous front desk staff and doctor (the one today, Dr King). The front desk were HORRIBLE three years ago when I started coming. The clinical staff (long gone due to high turnover) begged me to call corporate to give my feedback about the receptionists because they ALWAYS had complaints from patients. I decided to give them a chance. Things seemed to resolve, so I assume they had a good talking to. They've been fine the last two years. (One of the women involved who was very rude at the time was Jean, and she was involved in today's madness as well.) But for 2 yrs, they did seem to improve their attitude, and the rest of the staff was fine so I kept going to them. Today, they were AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES late seeing me. The receptionist (Laura) was apologetic but she just kept saying the doctor is coming, the doctor is coming, and giving me excuses that didn't actually excuse them. TWO patients who arrived after me were seen by their hygienists. (I needed a hygienist, my procedure was similar to theirs, just a cleaning, and there was no reason they couldn't reallocate accordingly). They told me I was seeing the doctor because the "doctor was helping out" with cleanings due to short staffing. I understand clinics running behind, even an hour. But I hit my breaking point when, after FINALLY being called to the back, I was told, AGAIN, "We'll start with the polishing, then the doctor will be in for the cleaning". I asked why the polishing first, was this just another delay tactic. The young lady who was settling me into the chair ignored me. I asked her again. Again, I was ignored. The doctor, Dr. King, finally came in and from the beginning was extremely rude. He didn't introduce himself, and aggressively asked me, "What's wrong, why are you upset?!" I explained I'd been waiting over an hour and that it seemed like they were just creating more delay tactics instead of addressing my questions. I asked if they were just trying to keep me busy with a 3-second "polishing" while I waited on the doctor AGAIN. The doctor stared at me gruffly and said, "Honestly, yes. We do that sometimes." I asked him how a 3-second "polishing" was supposed to advance my appointment, or were they just trying to appease me while the made me wait AGAIN. At that point, a nice young assistant, Jair, came in and reasoned with me, introduced himself, answered my question (turns out polishing isn't just the 3-second top-off at the end like I thought). I said thanks for explaining, now I understand. Jair is the only good guy in this story. Thanks, Jair. I asked the doctor if we could get started now, and he accused ME of not wanting to engage with him!!! After he addressed me sarcastically, didn't introduce himself, told me they were creating more strategic delays etc. I told him I'd already been waiting over an hour, that my appt was at 2:00 and it was now almost 3:30. Instead of apologizing, he scoffed: "Two o'clock? No way!" I lost my patience at this point: Rather than apologize, now you don't believe me about my appt time??? What a JERK. The receptionists, Laura and Jean (Jean might be an office manager) came back to reschedule me. I said that wasn't necessary, we could get started. They told me they had other patients. I was like, what? Am I not also your patient? They said, no you need to keep your voice down because we have other patients (I wasn't yelling btw. They were probably just embarrassed because other patients could tell there was a disagreement, but I was by no means being abusive, just standing up for myself). They said Dr King didn't feel comfortable working on me today, and I said fine, I don't feel comfortable with ANY of you. Their front office has ALWAYS been awful, and if now their clinicians are jerks, I'm outta there. So I'm changing dentists after 3 years. PS - I'm told Dr King is their only doctor now, I guess the good ones all leave this clinic and I can see why. PPS - every good employee I've seen there has seemed unhappy. Awful GlassDoor ratings. Truly toxic office.