Gentle Dental Ballard

Veloria Zhu

I had a frustrating experience with Gentle Dental regarding a fluoride treatment charge. I was not informed in advance that the fluoride would cost extra, and only after the procedure did the front desk mention a $36 charge. When I expressed my concern, they assured me it would be waived. However, I kept receiving bills for the same charge despite calling multiple times (3-4) to clarify. Each time, I was told it was resolved, yet the bill kept coming.

To make things worse, the front desk staff were rude, cutting me off mid-sentence and showing no willingness to help. I asked to speak to a manager, but was repeatedly told he was “busy. ” I understand that mistakes happen, but poor communication and dismissive customer service make for a terrible patient experience. Transparency in pricing and respectful communication should be a priority. I wouldn’t recommend this location unless you confirm all costs upfront and are prepared for potential billing headaches.

update 04/02/2024: it has been almost a year and I am still getting the bill. The manager called me and left me a message that it will be cleared but I still got a bill that stated that I will be sent to collections. I did not receive instructions on how to even pay the bill.

April 3, 2025

Kathryn Yuu

My first dentist appointment here was great. But now, I’m never coming back here. After coming up with a treatment plan, I booked an appointment for June 9 at 1pm to work on the right side of my mouth and on June 16 at 1pm to work on the left side of my mouth. I take leave from work to attend my appointment today to find the dentist is not in, and my appointments apparently no longer existed. I did not get any notifications. I even asked when I booked the appointment if I will receive any email confirmation or if I should save it in my phone at the time.

The receptionist asked if I had pain in my mouth and I said yes that is why I’m here to get my teeth fixed. Then she says the next available appointment is not until July. I am not waiting until July after already waiting for 3 weeks. This is ridiculous, and I now need to wait to find a competent dental office to receive care.

June 10, 2025

Matt Perrone

Gentle Dental is a dentist office chain that has services such as dentistry and orthodontics. This location is in Ballard on 15th, right next to Taco Bell. Parking here can be a pain, with only a handful of spots in front and constant cars coming in and out of Taco Bell. Inside they have a waiting room before you go in to see the dentist, and wait times are hit or miss here - I've waited close to a half hour sometimes after my appointment time, but sometimes it's a minute or two. The dental professionals are really nice and good at what they do, quick and informative with fun personalities. The front desk, however, is mostly the complete opposite. I've met two of them that are really bad at their job, have no personality, are rude and condescending, complete know it all's, and are always right no matter the situation. Pricing here is ok, especially if you have insurance, but be warned that they are known for improper and inaccurate billing. Don't just pay a bill you get from them because it could just be them fishing for extra money because of a mistake they made.

Overall if they fixed the office attitude, answered the phone, got back to you when they said they would, and we're more organized in their paperwork, this could be a 4 star dentist. But, it's not. They tried to bill me for over 2 and a half years for something I paid for. I showed them receipts and charges on my bank account 9 total times. Their receptionist team kept saying they will take care of it, but each month I'd get a letter in the mail and an email saying I owed money. Every office visit was the same answer, we will take care of it. After calling their head office multiple times, only to get their voicemail each of the 6 times I tried, I got an office manager who finally looked into it and said they never billed my insurance and we're trying to bill me instead. They removed the charge after 2 and a half years. That's wild.

The home office never got back to me either, 6 voicemails total. The worst part was how rude some of the receptionists were, telling me flat out that I'm wrong and I need to pay the bill or else. Being short with me, cutting me off mid sentence because they think they know it all and are right, then responding in a condescending way like I need help understanding how being billed for a service works. When you try to explain it to these receptionists, it's just an uphill battle the whole time. I'd just avoid this place all together if you're looking for a new dentist, it's not worth the headache, and you'll probably have some sort of problem at some point so it's best to just find a different one. And before they respond with the generic message - no, I don't want to contact you at a phone number that you won't answer and won't call me back. I've already been through this and your team hasn't even returned a call so don't waste your breath.

June 20, 2025

Tracy Pham

I have had such a terrible experience with this dental office and I would never wish the headache that I experienced there on others. I am warning others to not give this dental office your business or time. My first appointment went fine, though not great. My real issues began after the appointment. They were not able to bill my insurance properly for that first appointment. I contacted my insurance and they were able to cover all of my fees in April of 2025. However, I kept getting sent bills up until June 5th 2025. I called the office a total of THIRTEEN TIMES and left FOUR VOICEMAILS in order to get this billing situation sorted, as I was worried this would be sent to collections. Two weeks later, they still had not gotten back to me.

There has not been a single time that they have answered the phone. The only time I've gotten a real person is when I pressed "1" saying that I was a new patient instead of pressing "2" for returning patient. I have also called the central office and they have left two emails and a voicemail on my behalf, saying that the Ballard office would get back to me on a specific day, which was a Monday. They never got back to me. Eventually, I just decided to come in person and talk to the receptionist directly, and the situation is still yet to be sorted. When I came in person on a Friday, I also asked to cancel my appointment for the following Tuesday. The receptionist said that she canceled my appointment for me, but I got another appointment reminder on Sunday. Because so many of their systems are automated, I cannot tell if this is a fluke in their system or not, but I will not be accepting or paying any no-show fees. The dismissive service of Gentle Dental is completely unacceptable and very frustrating.

The fact that you can only get a real person when you are a first-time patient is indicative that they are trying to lure in new patients, but will not provide much care to the existing ones. Based on other reviews, this is not an uncommon experience. The dentistry work is nowhere near skilled enough to justify this level of incompetence and carelessness on the part of the billing/accounting/scheduling, or pretty much every other aspect of this business. A comment under bad reviews telling people to call such and such number does not indicate any level of care either, given that when I and other customers have tried to call, we are only directed to voicemail. No matter who you are or where you come from, everyone deserves better care than this. Please do not accept this unethical, disorganized, sorry excuse for a dentist as a care provider. EDIT: Just so everyone knows, Gentle Dental has left this phone number for me to call and I have yet again, only gotten their voicemail after calling twice during business hours. I'm pretty positive that this was an automated response and it does not at all seem like they actually care about mending things.

June 17, 2025