Dental Clinics-Ucla

09/12/10

crowded, overpriced, NEVER on time

by Amber5050

I'm surprised by the positive reviews. While I can't speak for the regular clinic, the orthodontic clinic is VERY poorly managed.

There is 1 person managing the entire reception area everyday. She is rude (probably because she is too busy), doesn't acknowledge you (partly because she is overwhelmed with other things) and I've NEVER (in the 1.5 yrs I had to go for ortho treatments) been taken in for my appointment at my actual appointment time (and I was on time every single time). The price is relatively about the same as private practice-- which never made sense to me considering UCLA is a public institution... unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20 and I went to UCLA because its my alma mater.

Because the orthodontists are students, they have to get their work checked by an "attending dentist" who is an older, more experience practicing dentist (presumably with a private practice of his/her own). THERE IS ONLY ONE ATTENDING DENTIST FOR ABOUT 8-10 ORTHODONTISTS! Every step of the way during each visit, I had to wait for the next step to be approved by the resident dentist who had to make his/her rounds to all the student orthodontists.

Overall, my main criticisms of the UCLA ortho dept. are that the staff is very rude, the prices are high for what they do and how they deliver the service, the orthodontists are inexperienced and must continually check with their attending physician, they are never on time (and my conversations with people in the waiting room are a testament to this), and by the way, parking isn't validated and its about a minimum of $6 each time.

DO YOUR RESEARCH! Don't assume that a public institution clinic is any cheaper than a private practice... I made this mistake and it was a $700 difference AND probably more than 30 hours of wasted time in the waiting room over the course of my treatment.