Sunshine Dental Group

This office was OK, It was clean, I got an appointment fast, and the service was just OK.
The dentist didn't give me much feedback, and he was quick to be done with me. The Dental assistant was the nicest, he was a guy.
What ticked me off was the lady in charge of the insurance. She tried to have me pay 319 for a deep cleaning, then she said 200. she said if I just get the reg cleaning which they didn't even do, she said" why would you polish a dirty car , you get me?" I asked you guys aren't going to clean my teeth at all just polish she said yes and walked away. I knew she was upset she didn't get to up sell anything, but being rude because a client cant just pull 200+ the same day give no right to be that rude.
Overall . the visit was not bad but not great due to that lady, who I think was the Office Manager.

Heed my warning.

This place is really bad. I mean really, really bad.

If you're a poor working-class millennial Latino/a like myself, I get it, you'll take what you can get when you can get it. But there's got to be a limit, a standard, even for us.

I work 6 days a week, so getting an appointment on my one day off is hard enough, right?

Sunshine Dental in El Monte already soured me a little bit in 2018 when a 1.5 hour procedure turned into a 3+ hour procedure and I missed my midterm for veterinary school. The doctor kept leaving me lying there during a root canal to tend to other patients. For that reason alone, I didn't go back for years.

But this past year I thought I'd give it another shot. And for a little while, things were going okay.

But recently, I noticed that I was being seen later and later. What's the definition of an appointment again? Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes...but I have empathy. I worked in the veterinary field, I know how medical settings in any scenario can go and sometimes staff gets put way behind unexpectedly. I get it.

On 04/07/23, I had an appointment for 1:00 PM but wasn't called in to be seen until 2:00 PM. Yes, SIXTY minutes past. An hour. I waited an hour, without anyone giving me any updates whatsoever. I was irked, but I have patience.

A few weeks later I missed an appointment because I take public transportation and my bus was delayed by 40 minutes.

I rescheduled for 04/28/23 at 5:00 PM and was bombarded with multiple texts and calls to confirm. Excessive, much? I confirmed multiple times but was still getting the texts. It was obvious they were upset I missed my last appointment.

But come 04/28/23 and I'm sitting in the waiting room at 5:25 PM with no end in sight. There's someone else in the waiting room with me and he's called in before me. So how much longer? Twenty minutes? Will this be another instance where I'll be seen an hour past my appointment? I didn't bother asking, I just walked out and rescheduled for 05/12/23 at 12:00 PM through text.

That's today, and I thought it was weird that I didn't get those harassing text messages that they usually send. What a red flag that was, because I showed up at 11:30 AM today (early against my will, trust me, if I had the choice, I would've shown up at 12:15 PM). That's when they tell me that I'm not on the schedule. What?

They claim they sent me multiple texts and calls to confirm and that I supposedly ignored all of them. I have solid proof that I received no such calls, and even produced the text messages confirming for 05/12/23. Their attitude changed to apologetic pretty fast, but I still couldn't be seen. What a waste.

Upon rescheduling, the administrator had the audacity to cite my walking out on 04/28/23, saying that they "reserved" the entire hour for me that day, insinuating that my walking out wasted that hour for them. How is that possible, if I was still sitting in the waiting room at 5:25 PM and someone else had been called in before me?

So we as patients are expected to respect Sunshine Dental's time, but they can do whatever they heck they want with ours?

That doesn't sit right with me. At all.

This facility does not respect their patients. And for that alone, you need to go elsewhere. Which is already difficult enough when you can barely afford rent in this city on a 45+ hour work schedule. I'm doing my research now and I'm here to say that San Marino Dentistry looks very promising.

Thank you for dedicating the time to reading this very honest review.

My visit to this office was excellent since really don't like dentist , but I had a great experience staff was great . I really recommend this office .

The wait time was ridiculously long even with prior schedule. Ended up leaving without getting any services. Not recommending this place.

Worst experience ever! I was referred by a close relative to this dentist, I got my cleaning done and doctor suggested I needed 4 refills and a crown! She did not mention if I got refills done I would have some type of sensitivity! I ended up getting refills done and doctor didn't say much after. Bottom line I was having a difficult time when eating on the side she worked on and after 3 visits trying to figure out what was going on doctor says I would have sensitivity for 2-3 months!!!!! The assistant did most of the talk saying it's NORMAL!!!! Up to this day I can't eat on the side she worked on and on top of that I can't drink anything cold or temperature water! All they want is money instead of helping out their patients! DO NOT COME HERE!

Avoid this place like the plague. They don't understand the concept of an appointment.

This is the last Dentist Office you should even consider. The office/manager/estimate provider is not to be trusted in any price she quotes you.....and you will have a hard time trying to her to put it in writing too. I have dental insurance and they always were adding things that wasn't listed in my plan to get extra money for things that were already covered in my plan. Just beware.....unless you have agreed to pay their prices....they won't call or write you back. I caught this lady red handed and reported her to my dental insurance plan as to the racket she was playing trying to extra money that I didn't need to play.
Lucky for me....I found a great dentist office, follows my dental plan and pricing and no complaints for service...not to mention great dentists and oral surgeons all in 1 office.

I have been a patient there for about 3 years already and after putting in a good word for them to have my boyfriend go with them. After the 3rd appointment they didn't have the courtesy to let him know ahead of time the the dentist we requested wasn't going to be there. The date of the appt we arrived 10 minutes ahead of time and we didn't walk through the doors until 8:10 and to also add up they didn't even have a dentist show up until 5 minutes before 9.
We were understanding with that, it happens. What really got me upset was in the meantime while waiting we asked to get a copy of the X-rays which they gave me a very hard time. I understand if they charge a fee to make duplicates, that's fine. When we asked if he can take a picture of his own X-rays the excuses they gave us were ridiculous. The 1st excuse was it was considered a HIPPA violation. I couldn't understand how that was a violation if the own patient was taking a picture of his own X-rays plus providing letter with him stating he was taking a picture of them so they can have in record. After that the girl stayed that's what my manager told me, when asked to speak with the manager she told me she was coming in a few minutes, she didn't end up coming in until a few minutes before 9 (for which is when a dentist finally came and he was gonna be seen, and hour later) we decided not to be seen at the end.
Once I spoke with the manager she no longer mentioned the HIPPA violation part (excuse) now the new excuse (2nd excuse) was that it's in the policy that they can't let patients take pictures of there X-rays so I asked her to show me where in those words stated a patient can't do that. She didn't even know where it was because she herself in the moment in-front of both of us was looking for it. When she couldn't find it she told me "it use to say that but now it doesn't" what kind of answer is that? She then told me here's the policy so you can read it yourself and I again told her no I didn't ask you to give me the policy I asked you to show me. She kept insisting here's the policy, I took the damn policy I did read it afterwards and it didn't stated on there anything about no pictures.
So I told her once again I still don't understand why you can't let him take a picture of his own X-rays her final and last excuse was we don't allow that and we never have. She at this point I could tell was annoyed and fed up to the point where she stated that if I wasn't given her attitude she could have helped me better. Excuse me? I had/have the right to have been upset and for her to say that and speak to a patient of theirs like that is unacceptable.
After this experience I will never be going back there again. They have lost 2 patients now.

The new people running this place are not what they used to be. The main lady (i think the manager the one who is dating the tatted guy) is so rude and gave me attitude because I didn't want to pull one of my wisdom teeth out. I wanted to do both at once because I explained to her that it's hard for me to get time off of work and I speak all day at work. It just felt like they were insisting on pulling it out because they wanted to get paid for it. Then I had my cousin go too when she needed a root canal they wanted to charge her $1000. She went somewhere else and they got it done for under $300. They just seem money hungry. The doctor doesn't even really introduce himself he just starts looking in your mouth. Not to mention all the water damage and popcorn ceiling they have. The only semi decent person there is the receptionist.

This is the WORST dental office I have ever been to. PLEASSSSEEEEEEEE DO NOT GO, I WORN YOU!

The two women there that do the financing have no clue what they're doing. They start off by charging you $400-800 over their contacted fees for services. So you have to wait 2 months after the insurance sends you claim forms to find out what you really owed them, which turned out to be only $200, and now you have to go back to their office to demand a refund.

Trust me, this was just one of the scenarios I experienced.
If I could give them 0 stars, I would've. They also charge you for a copy of teeth x-rays for 45$ and when you leave the office they don't give out any free toothbrushes, educate you on teethcleaning, or aftercare. The actually have a hand written sign that says that toothbrushes are $1 each!!

Another thing, I got my wisdom teeth removed here. The Dentist did not not take any infection control precautions when removing my teeth. Nor did he change his lab coat about blood splattered on his coat. During the weak of healing, I received a canker sore on the roof of my mouth about a 1/4 in diameter. It was pussing and sore, and since then I've had scarring.

I DO NOT RECCOMMEND THIS OFFICE, IT NEEDS TOTAL SHUT DOWN!