Kool Smiles
Reviews and Complaints

I called at 3:25pm on Wednesday Aug 14th for an emergency visit THAT DAY, as my daughter just had the filling of her previously filled tooth*2 months earlier) fall out. My daughter has Autism and has VERY different sensory responses than the neurotypical person. When I called I explained that the previously filled tooth filling came out I explained that my daughter has Autism and her sensory responses are more heithened than in other people and that it was a MUST that we get this refilled TAT DAY. On the phone they said "can you get here by 4pm? I replied yes. We got there by 3:44 pm AND were SAT til AFTER 4pm! Finally took daughter for xray, they only LOOKED at the tooth, and would not fill the tooth s, saying that they don't do any work other than xrays and cleaning after 4pm! WTF? My kid is Special Needs! I specfically stated on phone we needed filled THAT DAY, why bring us down from 20 min away (speeding mind you to get there by 4pm) only to NOT do what we can there for? We didn't NEED an xray, I knew what the problem was! I had the filling that fell out WITH me and showed them!. Seriosly? So now I have to do the same thing again today at 1pm where she will get the tooth filled. They also used to have convenient (for patrons) EVENIN hours and weekends, what happned to those? Switching from Kool Smiles to it's new Name "Porter Dental" recently has only made this dental practice WORSE! "Flexible hrs" my arse! When they say flexible they mean for THEMSELVES not the patients!
Ugh, after today, I'm finding a new pediatric Dental firm

i had to have 2 teeth pulled & i was told my insurance would cover it. I get there & after 30 minutes of waiting they finally tell me the price of it & i expressed how when i was there May 6th that they said it was covered. The lady at the front then told me that "A Dental Assistant probably told you the price, I'm sorry & we are training them on that now." I then asked for something for the pain & got told to take over the counter meds... NEVER AGAIN!
1. a dental assistant shouldn't be discussing any type of pricing.
2. Over the counter meds don't work for the pain!
3. The procedure should have been done for the cost they said since it was their mess up..

Contacted corporate & got no response.. called to speak to the office manager at the Colonial Heights location & he was no help either...

This is the review I left weeks ago but never heard a thing. This place doesnt even deserve the 1 star that I have to give them to be able to leave a review! I BEG OF YOU, DONT TAKE YOUR CHILD HERE! This place has literally changed my child, my mother, and myself for the rest of our lives. I wouldnt put my pets through the trauma that my child endured here! The only thing that was halfway ok here was the one dentist was kind. The nurses and helpers were heartless, mean, and rude. My daughter is only 3 years old this was her first time at the dentist and she was trying to be brave, she was trying to talk with the lady at first and the lady paid not one bit of attention to her. She was physically held down by multiple adults and treated like a rag doll. Her tooth the abscessed and needed to be pulled but they dont do sedation at this location. I begged for them to try to get her into a place that could sedate her but the only place they would refer us to is 45mins away and when I asked if they would call them for me and see how soon they could see her they refused to help me out with that. My option was to take my baby home with an antibiotic and a badly infected tooth that was causing her horrible pain, she couldn't even eat. Or to have it pulled there in the office and have her tied down. I felt helpless I was scared of the infection and the horror she had already endured and I said to get it pulled. I paid for the nitrous but they didnt even give any to her. They told my mom and I that neither of us could stay in the room, I literally begged like a dog for one of us to stay. The dentist agreed to let my mom stay with my daughter but the nurse was very cruel when telling us the rules. She said dont speak to the patient dont come near her dont try to talk and there can be no communication to the outside she was backed literally into the corner being threatened that if she made one peep she would be out. They strapped my thing 3 year old baby to a papoose board put socks on her hands and literally velcroed her down from the neck down! As I waited in the hallway I could here her gut wrenching screams and pleas for help. It plays in my head over and over again. Now my child is mentally and emotionally scared for the rest of her life and so am I for that matter. I honestly didnt even realize that this was going on. I have never experienced something so horrifying in my life it is absolutely INHUMANE! They even put blinder glasses on her, she thought she was blind! Never again! Now even when I mention the doctor the dentist anything she loses it. She fell and skinned her knee a couple days later and youd have thought she cut it off she is terrified to get hurt now. I am not exaggerating when I say this has literally changed the course of our lives. This type of treatment should not be allowed how can we let our children be treated this way. Not to mention the cleanliness of the office was ridiculous. I could write a book and still never be able to tell it all and express the pain I felt in my soul. I hope this helps someone out there to never have to go through this hell with their baby! Since I called asking for an antibiotic and was told no. Also now for any other dental work my kid has to be put under. Not to mention the cost I am worried for her overall health. She has been diagnosed with PTSD because of this. I say this every day THEY BROKE MY BABY!

I went back I. March for a tooth he sat for hr in waitj g room they then took me to back roo. A d sat for another half hr they finally took a xray then I sat for another half hr. Finally dentist comes over shows me xray says I need to teeth pulled. Made me a appointment for 5 weeks later and gave me antibiotics and pain med for two weeks and I said I have to wait this long and this is all the medication I get. And she smiled and said it should be okay I am in terrible pain that's why I am here. So now she gives me my appointment and says see you in 5 weeks. We'll 5weeks now I go back to get teeth pulled and get there 15 minutes early she hands me forms again to fill out. I fill out and sit down. She calls me back up laughing to her other secretary not looking at me and says oh the dentist that's suppose to pull your teeth isn't here. Then says hold on so I sit back down and she calls me back up and laughs again and says oh he is here today so you can ha e your teeth pulled and it's a hr drive to get to Kool smiles from where I live. So she tells me sit down and wait. So ten minutes later she calls me back up and says how are you paying today and I say excuse me you have not told me anything about a price and they both laugh as I feel humility she says I need 248.00 and I say you never told me I needed to bring any money and you never explained what my insurance covered and didn't cover. And again they laugh and she says well no money then we can't pull your teeth. I am just dumbfounded that they never said a word about any of this at my first appointment. So now We drove a hour for nothing I am in severe pain and she tells me when you have money come back what kind of place does this.

This is the 3 time now that I have made a 6 month appointment on a Saturday & they gave me a day during the week when my kids are in school. This is ridiculous! I'm ready to find a new dentist for my family! All I want is to schedule a Saturday for all 3 kids first thing in the am. The office told me the next available one is in March & my kids 6 month checkup is Jan 17th. If this is resolved then we will try one last time then we will go else where.

Let's start with the 50 voice, text and email reminders. The scheduling of incorrect appointments, the lack of communication regarding fees, the 45-minute wait to see a doctor, the lack of compassion working on a child and assessing their pain threshold, the piss poor apologies. What a nightmare. Is this really the service provided to low income individuals? Shame on you.

Lafayette, LA
Won't let parents in the back to comfort a crying child. THIS IS WHY KIDS HATE THE DENTIST! How are people with nobody to babysit their other children supposed to SAFELY bring their child to regular dental checkups? I don't trust these people to treat my child like a person. They have no compassion or empathy for children. It's like a factory NOT a caring, kid friendly dentist office.

I am being charged for x-rays/panos for my son Mitchel McCaslin. I was told x-rays would be uncompted by Dr. Sharma. I used to work for Kool Smiles and x-rays & panos were necessary for wisdom teeth removal, but were uncompted. Even if someone came in with a lot of pain, co-pays were taken then uncompted. I spoke with both office's & manager Kathy Ancell. She told me it would be removed and nothing has changed. It is now on my credit report as a negative mark for $84. PLEASE REMOVE ASAP!

I cannot stand this place every since the second time my children came here for just dental cleanings about a year ago every time we have to go back it feels like hell. And now that my daughter sees the orthodontist it's 2x the hell becuase we have to go back more often. Every appointment they are running an hour behind and the staff is clueless or not compassionate to the customers concerns. And instead of letting me transfer to another location they are saying we would have to start treatment all over again, that's [censored] the same dr.s go to different locations. This company takes full advantage and beyond of Medicaid patients and the costs. I'm not taking my kids back there for anymore dental exams it not worth the time I'm losing from work or that my children is losing from school, and damn sure not worth the stress every time.

On Saturday Oct. 6th, 2018 I had an appointment for my son @ 11.00 AM. I recieved a call two day beforehand for appointment confirmation and I did confirm the appointment. I headed to the location and the front desk employee told me your appointment was cancelled.. I told her, i did confirm it on October 4th and she said I will see if we can squeeze him in. I waited 20 minutes and headed back to here, "just give me one second I will finish the current patient and get back to you", she replied. Then I waited another 20 minutes and went back to her. The lady said please write your son's name phone number, appointment time, what number called you on Oct. 4th, etc. and I will talk to the manager. I did that then I waited 10 minutes without any response then I left because of the time waste.

I had one issue before when I had an appointment with my two same sons and they gave me a wrong Kool smile location. I went to that location and it was closed and I made a call to the customer service who told me the appointment is on but the location is different. I drove to the new location and arrived 14 mins later and guess what "sorry sir you are late 15 minutes and we can not work with your son on his crown". I accepted that and my son had left.

With this two situations I called the customer service on Oct. 6 and cancelled all of my sons future appointments and change my service provider because this is not professional at all and also dis-respectable to customers time.

Today my daughter had a cleaning appointment at your Kool Smiles in Norfolk Virginia on East little creek. We arrived 20 mins early for a 9 am appointment. Too be seen 40 mins later is so unprofessional and it continues too happen ever time I come here. There has too be a better way for them too do their job. It's 9:48 rite now this is crazy. Worst

I was making an appointment with the patient coordinator at the little creek location and her and I were looking for a time that would be best for my daughter to be seen. The patient coordinator had a headset in her ear and while me and her was talking she took a phone call on me and started talking to the person in her ear which I thought she was talking to me at first, which had me confused she didn't say excuse me, she was very rude and she wasn't polite and I told her ma'am I really have to go to work and I'm really late can we finish the appointment and she looked at me and said "oh no I'm not done with you" and continued her conversation on the phone her conversation took at least 10 minutes before I felt a little impatient I was trying to be nice but I never felt more disrespected in my life I need someone to do something about this lady and her professionalism I understand she has to take work via phone and in person but she should use a little bit more kind manner's by saying please hold ma'am or one moment please but I feel like she is so secure in her job she got comfortable with just doing whatever she wants and that's not right. I need someone to do something about this lady and her professionalism. she should use a little bit more kind manners by saying please hold or letting the customer that is speaking to her in person know that she is excepting a phone call instead of just starting a new conversation on top of a pre-existing one without giving me the heads up. I felt disrespected. and I need this reported because next time I go to Kool Smiles and schedule an appointment with her I want to see that she actually cares about people and I don't want to be disrespected on my daughters next appointment.

Back in my daughters July Appointment we were told two more appointments then her braces were to be taken off. Her name is Logan Burns. Today September 17 they did not take off her braces but did another adjustment instead.
I am very disappointed and upset. My daughter is heartbroken and cried on the way home. We made an appointment now for next Wednesday and I hope there will be no problem getting her braces off. I am upset as this has taken so long

We called to set up an appointment for my son to get a cavity filled. We specifically said we needed this service, and we gave the insurance information at the time of booking the appointment. The day of the appointment arrived, and we were told that the insurance coverage couldn't be confirmed due to not getting through to the company. They only tried once to verify coverage. We were also told that they had my son down for a cleaning, even though we specified that we needed a cavity filled. We were told there were no dentists there at the time, and he would need to have a cleaning before having the cavity filled. Since they were unable to verify insurance we would have had to pay out of pocket for the cleaning. The out of pocket cost for a cleaning was $200, but because the office manager wasn't there they were unable to take cash or card payments. We left. What a waste of time. The employee was rude and unprofessional. I promised my son we will never bring him here again. I will never recommend this place.

This happened in the Hampton office on August 27th from 1:45 to 2:45. I had my 3 daughters..14, 6 and 7. The 6 and 7 had never been before. I wrote a note to let them know my 6 year old was scared but she did well during X-Rays. She wanted to go first but they put the oldest first. Which then made my 6 year old nervous because time was going by to really think about what was going on. There was only a man on staff to exam the teeth and she does not do too well with men. When it was her turn she had already gotten out of the chair and I was trying to talk her back in the chair. The only thing he said..hey you wanna look at my mirror..She said no and still was crying. He just shrugged his shoulders and left. I was like WOW and this is a children's place. Anyways I'm thinking maybe he will come back but he never did and wasn't going to either. The girl then told me that she would have to go somewhere else. They didn't even try nor did they care. They just wanted me out. She really want to sit in the chair but was scared. If they had just tried she would had. They took me in a room to tell me about the other kids. When we walked out my 6 year old kept going to the room saying she wanted to sit in the chair. So she sat in the chair but this lady across the room shouted out me to come into the hallway and talk. Well I just got her in the chair was not going to leave her alone. So I told her no she could come to me because I wasn't leaving her. She proceed to tell me no you come to me out in the hallway. After a good 2 minutes of this she finally came to me and told me I need to talk my child and leave. This was a quiet zone. A QUIET ZONE! A KID PLACE HAS A QUIET ZONE!? Now also keep in mine my child has stopped crying and is sitting in the chair.
I am beyond upset! I will never bring none of my kids there ever again and will tell all my friends and family to never take their kids there if they love them. I am a hard person to upset. But I was so upset.
These people should not be in this place if they don't know how to deal with kids. It was so heartbreaking. All my kids and I were very hurt at the way my 6 year old was treated. It's like unless you like getting your teeth worked on you are not welcomed there.

Went to Kool Smiles to get teeth pulled was not told on phone I needed to pay anything upfront. Day of surgical teeth extraction I was denied service bc I had no money to pay. My teeth are severely hindering me from eating. I'm a diabetic and in bad health. My teeth are all broken below the gum line and are infected. I'm asking you to please pull my teeth and let me pay payments.

Was told by Liza that my insurance covered $1500 on my daughters braces, so I paid balance in full.Nearing the end of my daughters services they tell me I owe almost $1000 that insurance didn't pay.All because I was unaware that the $1500 wasn't paid up front, it was broken up over 2yrs and my wife no longer has that coverage.Never again Cruel Smiles