Avenues Dentistry — Local services in Salt Lake City

I have been looking for a dentist in Salt Lake and chose to make an appt here because of the many good reviews. I called to schedule my appt in late July/early August and was told that they had no availability until December. I really wanted to go here so I set up an appt for Dec 4th and was put on the cancellation list in case anyone cancelled. They were good about letting me know when appts become available last minute but unfortunately I wasn't able to make them because of my schedule. When I finally went for appt on Dec 4th (more than 4 months after I made it), I arrived 10 minutes early in order to fill out paperwork as I was not sent any beforehand. My insurance and paperwork were done by 11 and then I waited to be brought back. I was waiting for 40-45 min and watched them take back 5-7 people before the receptionist finally told me that they were getting my room ready. Because I had scheduled it so far in advance, I did not know that my schedule would change and that I would need to be somewhere by 12:30. But since it was only 5 min away from the dentist office I assumed it would be fine since it gave me over an hour for the appointment and I didn't want to have to reschedule as I was afraid I would have to wait another 4 months. Anyways, I asked the receptionist how long the appointment would take as I needed to be somewhere by 12:30 and she said an hour. I asked to cancel the appointment as I would not be done til around 1 as it was almost 11:50. The only reason I was given for why my appointment was so delayed was because there were no rooms available but I had watched them bring back 5-7 people, all who had come in after me. Additionally, it was not like I had booked the day before, I had been waiting more than 4 months for this appt, so it just seemed like poor planning on their part. One of the dentists came out to see what was wrong and instead of apologizing, she made a comment about oh haha I guess this is a bad first impression. Overall, I just felt like they did not care about me or my time. I wanted to cancel but they asked me to reschedule instead, however once I left I decided to cancel it anyways as I did not care for the way they treated me and do not want to have to schedule my whole day around my appointments since they might be running an hour late every time I go to...

I went to this dentist as a new patient, I hadn’t been to the Dentist in Several years (4) since I didn’t have dental insurance until that time but I did have cleanings about once year through the local Dental school. I selected the Avenues Dentistry because I lived downtown and it seemed convenient. During my first appointment they X-rayed my teeth, the hygienist did a debriment, and didn’t even clean my teeth. She told me I had Periodontal disease. I then waited a good half an hour for the Dentist to actually see me and he named off to the hygienist a variety of things regarding my teeth that I didn’t understand because it was in terminology I couldn’t understand. After that I asked if they could go through what was wrong and I was told they would go over it at the Front Desk. The went through the list of things and I still left fairly confused I was quoted over $1900 in dental work and that was after insurance. They said I needed 2 crowns, 4 cavities, a full mouth rooting and scaling for Periodontal disease, a teeth grinding guard and a cleaning this totaled to 6 visits of treatment.

I have a close friend who is a hygienist so I had asked her to look over my X-rays, and Perio chart before I made any decisions on following the treatment plan. She suggested I get a second opinion from someone else she trusted. I am so glad I got a second opinion that Dentist looked at my X-rays and had me come in for a second opinion appointment free of charge and he said I did not have periodontal disease, I had 4 cavities and he said he would “never” crown my perfectly good teeth.

The staff was nice, the facilities were clean and renovated however I can’t help but wonder if they are doing what’s good for business rather than what’s good for the patient. I believe they have so many reviews because they send a “please review us” text after every appointment. I would urge anyone to get a 2nd opinion especially if the treatment plan seems excessive. Also telling someone they have Periodontal Disease is a pretty serious diagnosis for it to turn out that it’s a lie… I went down the rabbit hole and was VERY concerned about...

The staff is fantastic, I just had a poor experience with the actual dentist. He always seemed to be snapping at his assistants. I loved the hygienists. That actually kept me coming back for about a year and a half. Everytime I went in though, the procedures took on average 1-2 hours past the time I was told it would take. After going to a different dentist I found that some of the cavities that the Dr. had said needed to be filled actually we're quite small and could be left because it would take more of the good tooth away than it would help. I was also informed that many small surface cavities like the ones I have can actually be left and not grow for years. Dr Porter had been insisting on getting them filled ASAP.

When I went to get a crown, I was left in my chair with my tooth drilled down to a nub for two and a half hours (after I had been told that it should only take an hour to an hour and a half. The color did not match. I said something about it before he put it in, but he brushed my concern aside. A day after he put it in I realized not only was it a completely off shade, but the shape of it was completely wrong. He did not match it to the matching tooth opposite. Mind you, this tooth is one of my top teeth that show when I smile. I've had comments where people notice how different the tooth is.

I shouldn't have gone in after that, but I went back to get a few more cavities filled. Two days after the filling, I was flossing and a part of the new filling came out. It was just a shard. I went in the next business day and the Dr claimed it was fine. I told him that since the shard came out food was constantly getting stuck in there. He said it couldn't possibly be getting stuck in there because when he tried flossing in that area It was hard for the floss to go in. So again, nothing was done. I have food get stuck in that spot EVERY time I eat to the point I have to carry floss with me...