Gentle Dental Panama, Bakersfield CA

Took our 19 m/o here. Evidently dentist doesn't have experience with children but interestingly took our appt anyway. Performed a partial exam until his assistant stated they had other patients (referring to our crying daughter), concluding our appt. The net result was a cursory exam and a waste of our time. I'd suggest to the practice to not even book appts with children if provider and staff aren't trained to work with pediatric patients.

I've been going to the Gentle Dental on Panama for many, many years and I have never had an issue with anyone. I've had problems with my teeth and always received the proper care. I have anxiety especially when getting shots and never once were they horrible. The dentists and assistants are great! My favorite are Venessa and Rosie. They are very kind to me. I don't know the rest but everyone is friendly!

It was my first time here and I was charged $180 for 1 cavity.

They told me they were in network for me and then charged me 30 dollars for a fluoride varnish and 60 dollars for 'desensitizing' (not even sure what this is but I've never had a dentists put any numbing cream on my tooth or gums and then charge me for it. Pretty shifty and ridiculous. They had me sign a form that covered the plan to do my 1 cavity and I did not realize that somewhere on that form in small print stated these ridiculously petty and underhanded charges would also be billed to me. I did not ever request for fluoride varnish on my teeth after a cleaning but they did it anyway and then stuck it on the paper I was asked to sign so I cannot say I did not consent to it.
To top it off, the customer service and patient attention was awful as I was sitting there for about 25 to 30 minutes in the chair without any knowledge of where the doctor or nurse had gone off to.
They lowered to chair frequently without ever informing me first, and then professional environment was very lacking.

I feel fully financially skimmed and manipulated. As a young adult I am still trying to figure out most of these but I do know that an in network single cavity should not be more than $100 let alone almost $200. Because they could not charge the full amount, I was given sly little charges added on. They informed me of everything they were doing as they went. They did not ask and then proceed. And at the very end of it all I realized they just coincidentally 'forgot' to mention what was and wasn't covered by my provider.

I've never felt the urge to avoid a business before now, I can't even trust them to tell me if I actually needed the cavity work that was done.

Very pleased with the dental work. I've had a total of 4 crowns done here. 2 done on the last visit and no issues.

First time there yesterday. Had to have a filling and a chipped tooth fixed. Great dentist and staff! No
complaints. I am really pleased!

I guess I should have trusted the 1 star reviews cause I am very disappointed in the service I got at Gentle dental. I chipped my tooth on 4/20 and was in horrible pain. They got me a consult on 4/21 and told me I needed a root canal. The receptionist told me the DR won’t be there til 5/3 and I would have to wait to then to get my procedure done. I asked my boss to move my schedule so I can have 5/3 & 5/4 off to recover. I went to my appointment at 12pm which I had an appointment card for and they told me I didn’t have an appointment at all on any day and they had no appointments to see me today. And even if I went home to get my appointment card it wouldn’t matter cause there is no slots available. I wish I would have never agreed to wait over 2 weeks in daily pain just to be told I never got an appointment booked. I am having to go somewhere else and redo the whole thing now. I am not big on leaving reviews like this but I already have dental anxiety and I hope it helps someone’s choice in the future.

Here is the scam: the location has a provider number. Dentists also have a provider number, which should match location they work from. This office uses the provider number but scheduled dentists with a different provider number, working at one of the other locations. The insurance pays the dentists who are contracted (and or location) a monthly amount based on how many enrollees they have under that number. The problem is the dentists take that but do not schedule ANY appointments at the location, which allows the other dentists to charge out of pocket. By doing this, dentists at one location get the monthly payment from insurance and also get to charge out of pocket at the other location, which does not list them as team member or schedule them to treat insured patients. It’s called insurance fraud and malpractice. They will let you get root canals from a specialist that allegedly has the number, and then refuse to schedule you with doctors with the provider number unless you pay lots of money, putting and leaving you at risk with half finished hollow teeth subject to infection or loss, and use that condition to extort payments for seeing non contracted dentists, because your providers (dentists) do not take appointments at the location because they are listed for two locations and only work from the one that insurance doesn’t work for because patients are assigned to the other. Double dipping. I’m gonna bring the law down on this gig and sue the corporate office and insurance company. I’m going to be wealthy soon. Wow I can’t believe I figured out their scam. But now I have proof and law enforcement and licensing offices are gonna be brought it and notified. I imagine the attorney I am consulting will be excited that he will be able to retire after the litigation. Thanks gentle dental, for the opportunity to sue for a large amount of damages and for the impending settlement that is sure to be offered to me but which I may reject. No thanks for the lying, endangerment, false charges, stress, and unfinished dental work. Done.

Fraudulent charges are certain from this office, even after a costumer has won one or more grievances

Waste of time! Thanks for not helping. I scheduled for a cleaning for them to tell me there was no more time left and I have to reschedule. I only filled paper work and x rays for almost 2 hours, To just be told that I had to come back. This was a horrible experience. I wished they still had the wible location available! This place on panama they don’t care to help.

Gentle Dental truly is the “Payless” dental office in the business. I had an appointment today for teeth cleaning only to find out after waiting for an hour that the hygienist called in sick today. I asked why no one bothered to call me at home as I had to skip other things just for this appointment I had waited on for 6 months.

However, this is not the first time but in fact the 3rd time. Once, was at the Gental Dental office on Wible Rd. What also bugs me is that they always insist on doing X-rays every 6 months. The office on Wible literally told me they would not clean my teeth unless I submitted to X-rays because they needed to know what kind of cleaning I needed. Since I refused to submit to X-rays, I had to transfer to the office on Panama Lane.

It doesn’t matter what office I go to, their “policy “ is to have all patients submit to X-rays every 6 months, even though the American Dental Association suggests once every 2-3 years if the person doesn’t have any major dental issues. This dental business makes me feel like I’m going to a Jiffy Lube and Tune. I go in for a lube job and end up having to pay for new brakes and new tires along with new fan belts. I think I’m not going to renew my insurance for this company. I think I’ll just pay cash for my teeth cleaning at my old dentist’s office.

It happen to me twice made an appointment for orthodontist I confirmed by a call and text that i received. I showed up one office was closed and the other one in panama ln said to me i have no appointment she can’t take me in
I showed her proof my confirmation
She blame it on call center

If I could give this office a 0 star I would. I’ve never been so enraged from a dental office before. My first appointment went smoothly and I had an extraction appointment scheduled for the following month and they quoted me about $500. The next month came and I was called a few days before saying they had to reschedule for three weeks. I made multiple calls for weeks trying to figure out what my exact out of pocket costs would be. Every person I spoke to was unprofessional and would never answer my question apparently only one person name Judy in the office knew and she was always out of the office or “too busy” to answer my calls. Finally I get to speak to a manager and she also had no answer for me. I finally spoke to a Vanessa and she quoted me over $2000. When I ask for an explanation of the charges she became frustrated and started speaking to me like a child. I informed her that I would look for another place because I was very unhappy with the overall experience and she told me “good luck. ” I do not recommend to get a procedure here at all!

Went 2 weeks in a row beacuse my teeth hurt really bad they did nothing but look they did X-rays and said nothing I went to a different dentist and found out I had bad wisdom teeth thanks general dental for almost killing me

I've been waiting for my mouth to fully heal to give my final review. I chose to use Gentle Dental after my health insurance changed because my sister recommended them. Little did I know the absurdity I was getting myself into. I needed a wisdom tooth extracted and I just wanted it out. Never going back there again.

My initial appointment was rescheduled because they failed to tell me prior that their provider wasn’t contracted with my insurance. It wasn't until the morning of my appointment I received a call stating that I was not going to be able to be seen! I was so irritated and in pain! The person I spoke with was very apologetic and just as confused as me as to why they didn't tell me this sooner. She told me their Rosedale location can see me the following Monday and they do take my insurance. I said fine. I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding another dentist and waiting another whole month to be seen just for an initial appointment.

When scheduling my oral surgery, they failed to give me my out of pockets costs. They couldn’t even give me an estimate. I knew the out-of-pocket costs to be put to sleep would be expensive on top of what insurance would cover. And I was frustrated leaving the office not even having an idea of the cost. I waited for a call the next few days and never got one. I started calling multiple times and leaving SEVERAL messages every week prior to my surgery until I eventually got a call back with the information.

I would've given 1 star, but they did take care of me when I finally was able to get my oral surgery done and over with.

Over the phone with the staff horrible experience told them specifaclly what was wrong still didnt answer my question about wether or not should i be concern about told me that they needed to make an appointment even though i told them bout my question regarding or not i should be concern for the fact that i have a sharp disturbing pain in my chipped tooth where i have bad pain of throbbing

The woman was too lazy to look at my son's record to see when he was due back for a cleaning. Took a month and a half for my appointment and when I showed up, they failed at honoring my appointment. I won't be back. Horrible care.

There phone calls don’t go through. Incompetent staff regarding insurance coverage. Just a badly ran business. YALL SHOULD FIX YOUR PHONES. Losing customers and getting bad reviews.

Wouldn’t suggest this dentist to anyone, constantly changing doctors and never have availability, very slow and wait time is always longer then expected.