Advanced Dental

Long wait time and inattentive front office staff made this a frustrating dental experience.

Buyer beware! I purchased a Groupon voucher for a 1-​hour Zoom teeth whitening treatment at Advanced Dental. I wish I would have looked for some reviews before I purchased the voucher. I will never make that mistake again. First of all, it took a long time for me to get an appointment at a date and time that would work for me, and then when that day came, they called and cancelled on me at the last minute, saying that I should never have been booked at that date and time to begin with, because the person who does that procedure doesn’t even work that late. I found it hard to believe that no one noticed that when they looked at the schedule beforehand and called to confirm the appointment a couple of days earlier. By then I had seen a Google review from someone who had the same experience and now I was very leery. When I was once again having difficulty getting in a convenient time, I ended up having to book an appointment which caused me to miss more work than I would gave liked, but I didn’t want to wait any longer than he already had, so I did it. As it was, I was told that they were making an exception for me and having the person who does the whitening come in earlier time in order to accommodate me. I thought it was odd that supposedly only one person did that procedure, but when I went in for the appointment it was the doctor himself who came in to do it. He started warning me about sensitivity from the whitening gel, so I asked if the gel but they were using was hydrogen peroxide based, or carbamide peroxide based. (I’m in the dental products sales industry, so I know that there are only two types of whitening products). The doctor could not answer my question though, and actually picked up the box of product and started reading. That set off alarms in my head. I found it extremely alarming that the doctor wouldn’t know what kind of product he was using. Yet he made claims that he is been doing this procedure for a long time. He then started talking about the risks involved, which could include white stains or streaks left on the teeth. When I said I had never heard of that issue with whitening, he said «oh don’t worry, that’s only with people who’ve done the at home whitening with trays». I told him that I had done the at home whitening trays, and couldn’t see what that had to do with the in office whitening treatment leaving permanent marks on my teeth. He didn’t seem to know how to answer any of my questions. It bothered me that if the supposed risks were true (and not just a factor of him not knowing what he was doing and trying to cover himself before doing the procedure in case he messed it up), that I wasn’t advised of any risks before the appointment. I just had a bad gut feeling about this, so I told him I was not interested in doing something that could end up causing a problem with my teeth, and he proceeded to backpedal, saying it wasn’t that much of a risk, and trying to get me to stay and do the procedure. I decided not to go through with it, and I have a feeling that I made a very wise decision. To the credit of Groupon, they did reimburse me for the procedure since I did not go through with it. I do not recommend trying your luck at this dental office though.