Pediatric Dental Safari — Local services in Houston

• BEWARESCAMBEWARESCAMBEWARE* I visited this office earlier this year and immediately fell in love with the esthetics, very decorative decor. Don’t let that fool you. When the dentist arrived, her demeanor screamed controlling narcissist and prejudice. She shot my 8 yr. old daughter with the numbing injection and immediately began the procedure without letting the numbing agent take affect (at least 10 minutes). Then had the nerve to act surprised that my daughter was in pain. I was apprehensive to schedule the follow-up treatment but proceeded anyway. The dentist now required the $59 deposit for the nitrous on the next visit considering how much pain she inflicted on my child by not allowing the numbing agent to take affect before beginning the procedure. I paid the $59 fee in advance.

I called earlier last month to schedule an appointment for 11/10/23 and was told I would need to pay a $59 deposit in order to schedule. I advised the lady I had already paid that fee in advance. She put me on hold and returned to the call confirming that in fact the fee had been paid and proceeded to schedule the appointment. I arrived on time for my appointment 11/10/23 and was presented another $59 fee for Nitrous. Once again, I advised this fee had already been paid. She went to the back and sometime later returned to the front with another lady telling me that my previously paid $59 fee was forfeited due to me rescheduling a prior appointment. At this point I am furious! This business had at least 3 opportunities to make me aware of this policy and never said a thing until I scheduled time-off from work and arrived at the appointment.

1st Opportunity- When they took my initial payment, they could have advised of this policy then. 2nd Opportunity- When I so-called rescheduled the 9/5 appointment they could have said, “You know by rescheduling this will forfeit your deposit”? And I would have never rescheduled. 3rd Opportunity- When I scheduled appointment for today. Instead of scheduling the appointment I should have been made aware then that my $59 deposit was forfeited and I was required to pay additional $59 fee.

They could not produce any documentation where I signed off or was made aware of this policy. This is obviously a scam to take advantage of patients. They not once acknowledged their lack of communication/documentation that ignited this misunderstanding from the beginning. Simply no empathy or understanding was expressed in this matter.

At this point I’m calling the police because I was clearly a victim of theft. The officer advised this was a civil suit and there was nothing she could do. She also advised that someone from Dental Safari had called in on me stating I refused to leave (but I was never asked to leave). Once again, painting a picture of an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN. Had the officer not been as kind as she was to give me the common courtesy of a phone call before arriving, this could have ended up with another black person dead by the hands of a law enforcer. The audacity of it all!

At this point it’s not about the $59 but the principle/ integrity of the business. Dental Safari would rather lose around $1000 they would have made for the visit that day verses waiving the additional $59 Nitrous fee that had already been paid. That goes to show what business etiquette they have. Not only that, my child was traumatized having to endure the confusion that transpired during the visit. When we got home, she immediately went to her bank and tried to offer me money to make it all better. Of course, I didn’t take it but my poor baby.

KARMA IS REAL! To anyone who I dealt with on that day at Dental Safari personally, indirectly or whomever just stood by and quietly and watched this theft occur, KARMA will be your greatest lesson. When you’re having a bad day and it seems like everything is going wrong, remember what you did to an innocent patient that once patronized your business...

The majority of reviews on here are positive and I can see why. The environment is generally friendly, the practice is organized and clean and there are plenty of games and fun activities to keep children entertained while they wait to be called back for their appointment. My daughter has done well here overall probably better when she was a baby but soon after she turned one she started hating anytime she had to go to the dentist, to no fault of the dentists who work here, she just does not like it and has a very difficult time letting them do an exam on her. Based on all of the positive things that I stated about this dental office and the fact that my daughter has been coming her for almost 2 years I was extremely surprised today by the way the dentist and her assistants treated me. As soon as my daughter went to the back she started to cry and I let the assistant know that she has been having a hard time lately with doctors as she broke her leg in June (keep in mind what I also said before about her not liking having a dental exam done) the assistant naturally asked me what happened and I let her know that she fell off my bed. After I did this she started asking a lot more questions that I quite frankly found to be irrelevant to the health of my daughters teeth. She asked about a rash on my daughters arm which I let her know was contact dermatitis and that she also has eczema, like I said irrelevant. My daughter said before her exam that she wanted cookies and juice to which the assistant told her coldly that she should not be having cookies and juice at all just milk and water. I understand that but am not against giving my child juice every now and then and feel the way she responded was a bit passive aggressive. When she was getting ready to start brushing her teeth my daughter had a meltdown because like I said two times before she does not like having a dental exam done at all. The lady then noticed that my daughter was covering her ears and asked me about it and I let her know she recently started doing it when she got her cast taken off as they had to use a saw and the loud noise scared her. My daughter goes to her pediatrician regularly and she has let me know that this is something completely normal for young children to do especially when they are in situations which make them nervous or scared and you would think someone who works with children regularly would know this. My daughter was so upset the assistant had to get two other ladies to brush her teeth and they did a great job, one sang to her to calm her down while the other one brushed her teeth. Next came the dentist to do the exam of her teeth and the first thing she asks me was how my daughter broke her leg so I also let her know that she fell off the bed to which she replied to me that her daughter has fallen off the bed before and never broke her leg then asked me if my bed was high off the ground. I was completely shocked. I’m not sure what she was trying to insinuate but her response was extremely unprofessional and tactless. I don’t know if she knows but when your child breaks a bone a social worker from the hospital will come and do a thorough interview with you to make sure your child is not in any danger whatsoever, this is standard protocol for certain injuries that children can get. My daughter was born prematurely and goes to a handful of specialists, developmental doctors and general pediatricians and not one of them has ever tried to insinuate something about my daughters leg break since it happened. I can not believe that from all 3 of the orthopedists my daughter has seen not one of them ever said anything as disrespectful as this DENTIST did. When even the slightest injury happens to your child it is heart breaking and soul crushing, I wish that type of pain on no one and am devastated and left to wonder why this doctor and some of her staff judged me so harshly and made me...

Great booking experience and wonderful dental hygienist. The dentist's skill and ability to comfort my daughter during her fillings was also incredible. My complaint comes from the dentist herself and the lack of communication in what work needed to be done and how it would be done, as well as dishonesty in what needed to be done.

My daughter had her teeth cleaned and Xrays taken, and we were told she needed 6 fillings. When I asked the dentist to show me the fillings needed on the Xrays, she could only show me two, but stated that the others were necessary as well. I explained calmly that without insurance, we would likely only do the two visible cavities and that we would likely get a second opinion. As a daughter of a dentist, I know that cavities are identified by the tool sticking in the enamel of the tooth OR by being visible on an Xray. The dentist could show me neither of those things with the other four fillings she was recommending. At the time of the appointment, I asked if we would need gas or if we could attempt without and supplement only if needed, and I was told yes.

After a second consult, I called back to schedule the two fillings for the cavities visible on the Xray. When I arrived, the dentist asked why we weren't filling the third cavity she recommended, and I told her that unless she could show me the tool stuck to it, I would not proceed. She also impatiently asked why we weren't doing gas when a shot would be part of the experience, and I shared with her no one told me a shot would be part of the process. We of course did the gas in the end. I wanted my daughter to be comfortable.

Long story, short, the lack of communication, the expectation of the parent to proceed unquestioningly with the recommended fillings and anesthesia without any explanation or discussion, and the recommendation of unnecessary fillings (thus pain and $$) make me unable to recommend this dentist or practice.

We will be moving to another dentist...