Gentle Dental North Fresno

dental hygienist is friendly, its a good dentist office but the girls at the front desk r either lazy or dumb lol. I've been going here for years and they always say my insurance covers something and it doesn't. Every time w a new procedure something always happens. My dad has had insurance issues w this place as well. Not sure if I would get any work done here besides a basic cleaning🥱

The staff are all very courteous and friendly. Ellen, the dental hygienist is great and thorough. She always gives you tips to improve the your dental hygiene.

Erica, is impossible to work with! Handed over my insurance card to determine what my out of pocket expense would be for an initial consult and cleaning. They have a surprise billing practice apparently, because I couldn't get a straight answer. Who likes surprise billings? Chosing another office. If you like surprise billing, this might be the place for you.

Dr. Mallela is great! I would follow him to another practice if he was leaving this one. He seems very overworked, but has always been kind, good humored, and very concerned about my comfort. As a personal touch he called me at home each day I visited for a crown procedure. Love his bedside manner and perfectionism. He didn't like how a crown came back from the lab and ordered a new one.
However the office has gone with a billing service that is worse than grade school. My flex spending account relies on detailed statements and prior to their new billing service everything was great. I don't know who makes the decisions regarding billing services but everyone at the office seems disinterested or equally upset about them as I am. Even my flex spending administrators don't understand the bills.

The first bill I received from this office was a fourth notice where the oldest procedures was less than 30 days old. At the time I wasn't even concerned about the amount. I had a crown, my wife had a crown, I owed something and the amount at the bottom wasn't crazy. However my flex spending insurance guys sent me an email stating that amounts in brackets are generally credits or negative like a payment. The bottom line of the bill was $633. The flex spending guy said subtracting out the brackets they would reimburse me for only $435. He was puzzled if there was another page and I should send it if I wanted to be covered for the $633.

I ran the math myself and sure enough even if I added instead of subtracted there was no way the 633 figure should have existed. Also I noted that they didn't bill my insurance company for one of the procedures as there was an evident by the "expected from your insurance" colum totaling zero; where my wife had the same procedure with the same code and somehow they expected some payment from the insurance.

Long story longer, the staff assured me the bill was in some error. They would look at it and get back to me in a couple of days. Nine days from the date of the first bill, I get a "we sent you to collections" bill. I went to the office the next business day. After six hours at their office I got the office manager to assure me that I had not been sent to collections yet, the computer at the billing company she doesn't control, and I got her to agree that the maximum I would pay is what the math yielded on the bill ($435). I believe she did eventually get the remainder adjusted even though a couple of weeks later I got a non threatening bill for $198. This bill showed my payment and a few procedures my children had done at full insurance coverage. Should the math be done on this bill I should have had a credit of $435. Without enough time in my holiday schedule to spend down at their office and no threat of collections on this bill I decided to wait. Then I get another bill a couple of weeks later showing I owed $62. This bill actually had good math. It looked a little complicated with bracket amounts and not, but the guys at the billing office must have moved up to second grade by now; adding and subtracting on the same page. This also marked the end of all the pending procedures my family was having (remember I really like Dr. Mallela). I went in to pay the bill today and cancel the routine appointments coming up. I mentioned why and they stole a half hour of my life trying to explain the only good bill I had no complaint over. They did a good job of it... making me think the kinks might be out of the billing service.

It wasn't enough to keep my family as a customer. I received two threatening letters and no direct apology. The office staff did look into it but I wouldn't know that specifically as they never directly communicated with me about the specific fixes. They would only talk to me as I stood and refused to leave for six hours. The blame was constantly shifted to the billing billing company, which is an excuse not an apology. They did perform apologetically, but their performance isn't proof to the credit reporting agencies should their computers still be all steam ahead.

This is the WORSE dentist location I have been to. I HIGHLY recommend to go somewhere else. The have the WORSE customer service ever. I had an appointment which at the time the billing rep wasn't there so they advised they'll call me or for me to call them back to discuss what services I will need and cost for them. They NEVER called me back. So I called them MANY times and was advised every time the billing rep wasn't there and they'll call me back. Which they NEVER did. So I gave up after many calls to them and two months of there horrible and unprofessionalism. I'm DONE with them. As a patient shouldn't have to make all these attempts to get in touch with them and they should keep to their commitment to follow up. This place is NOT gentle so they should not even have this word as part of their business name. AVOID this place!

All of the staff are very nice and professional. The Doctors explain everything in detail and assist you in important decisions. This is a great place for those who a hesitant to go to the dentist and those who enjoy it.

My experience at Gentle Dental in Fresno has been and continues to be horrific. Presently, I am in a dispute with Gentle Dental because of bad advice given to me for services not needed. Example, crown when I only needed a filling after a re-root canal and charged $500 over what my dental insurance says I should have been charged. Plus, wanting to crown seven of my teeth when only two needed treatments. Not to mention, instead of porcelain filling the dentist advised crowns because two of my back teeth might get cavities in the future. If that's not crazy enough, I was given gas to relax me before my treatment, instead I became ill. So, instead of stopping they tried it a second time!!!

Not sure why the rating is 3.2... my experience here was excellent, from the front desk to Dr. Mallela and all the staff in between. They made me feel welcome, comfortable and the procedures went very well. They charged me exactly what they quoted me. I'm glad I found such a good dentist in the area.

I feel like I was sold a cheap car after coming here. While I was in the chair, the dentist suggested something "better" for my teeth and I agreed. They didn't tell me it wasn't covered by my insurance! I discussed this matter with JESSICA, the service coordinator and she apologized and was going to help me take care if it. I called her several times because I hadn't heard anything and had not received a bill until several months later when I received one bill that said PAST DUE. I called her several times and left messages....never heard back. Now i just received a letter from a collection agency! This place is such a RIP OFF! Of course I will contest this. It seems unethical to be "upsold" something that isn't covered by your insurance WHILE you are in the chair with your mouth open!! So wrong.

I love my hygienist Ellen. I've been going to her awhile new. She's very thorough, knowledgeable, and explains the processes well. She truly cares about making sure the job is done right