Hawaii Pacific Dental Group

(Full disclosure: I’m in dental supply sales and this office is one of my clients.) With that said… got my teeth whitened and was VERY pleased with the results! Everyone was pleasant and professional. From Abigail at the front desk, to Bobbie the assistant, to Danielle the hygienist, to Dr. Patel himself, I was treated like I was their only patient even though there were others in the office at the same time. And from my observations visiting them for work every week or so for the last six-​months, they treat every patient with that kind of commitment to a positive patient experience. My teeth are a couple of shades whiter, and I’m looking forward to getting my at-​home kit to keep these pearly whites shiny!

During my last trip to Hawaii, my front bridge broke. Dr Patel and his team replaced it with the cool 3D printer machine in one visit. I can’t believe how happy I am with the results! Far better than my last one and he is awesome with the needle, didn’t feel a thing! Thanks Dr. Patel!

I’ve been going to Dr. Patel for several years. He’s always friendly, courteous, engaging and professional and has a very reassuring way about him. He’s put in several crowns and I’ve never had any problems with them. And his staff members are equally friendly and professional. I don’t enjoy going to the dentist, but Dr. Patel and his staff provide top-​notch service!

I went in for cleaning @ Hawaii Pacific about a month ago. Everybody was very nice greeting me and I got a good vibe from their staff. They seem to always be smiling, which is nice since its a dentist office! Sharon did my cleaning and she was great! She really seemed to take her time and do a thorough job. My teeth felt so clean and smooth after and it didn’t even hurt! When Dr. Patel came in for my exam, he really seems to want to get to know me and asked me a lot of questions about myself. VERY comforting and he seems like a gentle person, very passionate for his job also. After my clean bill of health, I grabbed my goodie bag and was on my way. I’ll definitely be back! :)

This place may be for the people who want a dentist that talks well and to achieve the «looks» of their teeth… but not for the ones who care about their long-​term health of teeth. My two porcelain crowns he put quickly fell off. One while eating vegetable and the other while flossing. (Well to be fair, he re-​glued the one fell off within a year free.) Don’t be fooled by his smile, slick talk, advanced graphic machine or polite bedside manner… better to go to the dentists with good reputation among the locals… which I do now and very happy. :) I don’t like to judge him without knowing much about him, but I got an impression Dr. Patel’s practice is very much driven by money… not his sincere care. He would perform some treatments without consulting me, and that made me very angry, also.

I chipped my tooth on some ice (ouch!) during my Hawaiian vacation and needed to see a dentist right away. The hotel concierge recommended Dr. Patel’s office which was really close to where we were staying. The staff managed to squeeze me in the same day. I’m so glad I found Dr. Patel — he was able to repair the tooth quickly and get me out of spending any more time at the dentist — it wasn’t exactly on my vacation to-​do list! He’s a true professional and I wish I had a dentist like this back on the mainland!

After the little girl (in the news) died while at a dentists office I was hesitant to take my 3 year old to ANY dentist! But my son had 4 total cavities that were visible so I had to take him. Dr. Patel made my son so comfortable that he was able to do his fillings with just a topical numbing cream! NO SHOTS. He spaced out the visits and my son was excited to go back each time. He is incredible with children and I liked him so much that he is now our family dentist. I also loved our hygienist and read someone else’s review about pain during a cleaning. I know from experience that if your teeth are not well cared for, the gums are more sensitive! When I was pregnant my gums were super sensitive and cleanings hurt!

I recently had my routine cleaning at Dr Patel’s office. The staff and new management are great! Everyone in the office is super friendly and very knowledgeable. I’m usually a very nervous patient but during my teeth cleaning experience I never felt more comfortable and taken care of. The assistants and hygienist were able to answer all of my questions and very clear on how to take better care of my teeth. I also like that they have nitrous available to help take the edge off if I need it while getting my cavities filled. Dr. Patel is a great doctor and I will highly recommend this office to all my friends and family.

Dr. Patel and all his staff are excellent. Just got done with my cleaning here. Dr. Patel really knows what he’s talking about and he listens to what I have to say. I’m looking forward to coming back and doing the in house whitening so I can have an amazing smile. And I must say they have an amazing view from their office which really puts me at ease.

Grossly overcharged with difficulty receiving a refund~
June ’12 Dr. Patel replaced a crown. Charge for services: $ 1230.57 which I paid in full that very day. I made a follow up appt. one month later as the crown was giving me great discomfort & appeared much smaller than the previous crown. The very day of the follow up I received an Explanation of Benefits from my dental insurance stating the office submitted a charge of $ 1722.80, my obligation: $ 468.45. I called the office to question the overcharge of $ 762.12 and was told I still owed $ 62!!! When I went in for the adjustment, Dr. Patel assured me he would «look into it» and gave me the name of another dentist for a possible root canal if the adjustment did not relieve the discomfort. I still was not happy with the appearance of this new crown. I called twice again, left messages to question the overcharge. Dr. Patel finally called me and said it was still «being looked into to». That was the last communication from his office I heard (Aug. ’12). I filed a complaint through my insurance company who continually assured me I was overcharged and my portion was $ 468.45 and Dr. Patel agreed to charge that to be in the network. Six months later (Dec. 21^st) my insurance company sent me a letter stating Dr. Patel’s office would be sending me a refund of $ 762.12, minus excise tax if he choose to do so, this was between the patient and the dentist. I waited. Jan. 21, 2013 I called his office to request my refund, was put on hold, then quickly told a check would be in the mail. I did receive a refund of $ 674.15 (on Jan.25,2013 & was charged the excise tax). The crown was problem was corrected by a NEW dentist. Dr. Patel’s office left a message this past week to tell me I was due for a cleaning (which I have always done every 6 months) THEY ARE KIDDING, RIGHT??? Take this post and form your own opinion~End of story & quite a lesson learned!

I was contacted by someone from this business threatening me with persecution via libel laws. I was told that my total treatment estimate was actually $ 42,000 plus tax — not the $ 60,000 or more that I stated in my review. I was also told that my «one star review was unfair» and asked to «remove the erroneous numbers.»
I have asked the person to provide me with an e-​mail address as I kept all treatment plans and receipts on a thumb drive. This is why I’m going to revise my review to exact dollar amounts taken from the paperwork given to me by this dentist’s office.
The treatment plan I was initially given the bottom right of my mouth was for $ 23,047 with $ 1,000 to come from HDS. The second I was given had two figures on it. One was titled «Fee» or «Pat» with $ 43,873.20 underneath and the other was for «Fee 1» for $ 47,660. To me, that is approximately $ 60K for the two treatment plans. It could be I made a mistake and my treatment plan is only the second treatment plan, in which case the dentist’s approximation of about «$ 42K plus tax» is correct.
The other issue brought to my attention was that I did not pay the amounts that I stated in my review. I have a bill dated 3÷24÷11 with entries for «Comp oral eval-​new/​estab pat» for $ 63.80 and «Panoramic film» for $ 81.60. My estimates of about $ 100 were exaggerated. I also have a bill dated 1÷20÷11 with an entry for «Limited oral evaluation» for $ 44.40.
I think this pretty much covers the issue that were found with my review.

I had an extraction and a bridge done. I went back with pain from the bridge, he seemed like he didnt care, put some seal on it and now its rough! Later went to another dentist, he couldnt believe I paid as much as I did AND said it was a bad job… I would Never recommend him!

Seriously, how did he get so many good reviews on the dentist review website?
I would never think about reviewing a dentist on here, but the masses need to know.
So to the office of Dr. Patel~
First of all, how many times do I need to tell you my name is not Kim? How long have all of you went to school and you can’t read ‘first name’ and ‘last name’ correctly? Why am I going to want to go to a dentist & hygienist if they don’t even take the time to learn my name. My name is one syllable. It’s easy. If you need help learning it, ask me. It rhymes with rage (which is what I feel when I am writing you this).
Secondly~ you need to thoroughly check my insurance policies before drafting me an outline of what I need to pay. I shouldn’t be the one telling you I have a hold on my insurance. YOU should do that. It’s your job. Or is that your way of tricking me into paying full price? I don’t like surprises.
Third~ I don’t care that you work on models and politicians, you are trying to steal my money. How is it possible that you charge $ 600 more for the same procedure? I did my homework. You are the most expensive. It would make sense if it was just slightly more or if you were performing some magical treatment on me, but you aren’t.
Fourth~ I haven’t had a cleaning that was painful since I was in elementary (when everything to me was painful). The goal isn’t to see how much you can dig into my gums and how much pain you want to see me go through.
Fifth~ Your office etiquette is horrible, and so is your office. I don’t want to be cleaning my teeth and look to my right to see you drilling some holes into some man. I don’t want to be sitting next to you while you fill out forms on the computer for another patient and while you check your e-​mail.
Ugh. You have utterly poisoned my experience there. I guess the reason for me to go there was so I can appreciate dentists who actually care about their patients & not increasing their bank account.
—-
UPDATE: My old dentist called me on my cell phone to tell me she understands I need a change but she will welcome me back anytime and will work with me on payments. *Sigh* I feel even worse for «cheating.» Why did I ever stray!!!

I don’t like having cavities done in silver or any cheap materials since fillings are meant to be temporary. I wanted one to be permanent … preferably last me more than a decade or longer. Gold alloy filling is supposedly the best — contracts and expands in your teeth when subject to heat or cold.
Gold alloy filling cost me nearly $ 1K to get (insurance does not cover it, so I paid out-​of-​pocket).
I don’t buy designer Louis Vuitton bags, get facials every month, or even mani-​pedis.
I spend my money on stuff that’s important to me, my health & well-​being.
Like expensive fillings.
Wahines can walk around with their $ 800 LV purses at Ala Moana to show off. people will probably assume you bought a knock-​off from eBay. Doesn’t impress people.
I simply open my damn mouth, point to my filling & I can impress a dozen people in less den da time it takes to say «Shazam!»
But, anyways, previous dentist stopped accepting HDS; forced to stop seeing him. Researched all on da Internet looking for someone trustworthy, down-​to-​earth, and knew their technological shiznits. I ended up with Dr. Patel.
He assured me that a ceramic filling done with some high-​tech machine would fit perfectly into my tooth (drilled out my cavity, took a sonar device & scanned my tooth sans-​cavity, machine creates a 3-​D enamel filling that’ll be bonded with my natural enamel), would be sealed with some high-​tech heating gun thingy, would be superior to my gold filling previously done by another dentist.
Assured me it was the latest-​greatest-​bestest-​will-​turn-​your-​crap-​into-​gold type of thing.
BOLLOCKS!
Bad enough was when he didn’t want to give me additional anesthesia while drilling my friggen tooth & hitting a nerve despite 3, not 1 or 2, but TREE (like apple tree!) attempts to raise my left hand to get some pain meds cuz I can feel da drill hitting a nerve. It wasn’t some minor pain either. Keeps telling me to, «Wait, just a lil’ more … just a lil more …» Brah, I’m ½ Korean & I’m from da Big Island, you keep telling me dat, I’m gonna karate-​chop your ass back into …“
But I digress …
Because of that, I tried to find another dentist to see. Found one a few months later. New dentist discovers that my expensive ceramic inlay/​filling has chipped … not to mention, there’s a friggen cavity growing on da same damn tooth dat got da $ 800+ filling!!!
FLOCK MY LIFE.
Suffice to say, avoid my $ 800 mistake & avoid seeing this seemingly sadistic arsehole who can’t even do an excellent job on a really, really expensive filling. (If a patient is in pain, who cares if you’re nearly finished doing a feeling! It’s imperative you take care to ease your patient’s pain and suffering.) You can’t get dat sh! t right, I don’t even want you cleaning my damn teeth!