Advocate Dental of Palatine

I was completely appalled by the customer service I received at Advocate Dental in Palatine. At 9:47 AM, I called to ask if there were any same-day cancellation appointments available for a cleaning. They happened to have an opening, so I accepted it. However, by 10:12 AM—less than 30 minutes later—I realized a scheduling conflict with work would make it impossible for me to attend. I called back immediately to let them know. Instead of receiving understanding or even basic courtesy, the representative sounded irritated from the moment she answered the phone, as though helping patients was an inconvenience. She then informed me that I would be charged a cancellation fee because I hadn’t provided 24 hours’ notice. How does that make any sense when the appointment itself was only scheduled less than 30 minutes earlier? There was literally no way to provide 24 hours’ notice for an appointment that didn’t exist 30 minutes before. Applying that policy in this situation is unreasonable and demonstrates a complete lack of common sense or customer care. This interaction was enough for me to immediately end any future business with this office. Customer service starts with the front desk, and Advocate Dental in Palatine should seriously invest in coaching and training their staff on professionalism, empathy, and treating patients with respect. I ended up contacting Fox Valley Dental Spa afterward, and they were genuinely shocked when I explained what had happened. The difference in customer service was night and day. At Fox Valley Dental Spa, the staff actually sounded happy to help, friendly, and welcoming—exactly what you would expect from a healthcare provider. Because of this experience, I will be recommending that my friends, family, and members of my community avoid Advocate Dental in Palatine and choose Fox Valley Dental Spa instead. It’s refreshing to speak with people who genuinely want to help rather than making you feel like you’re an inconvenience.

I visited Advocate Dental of Palatine for my regular dental cleaning and check up. I was served by Agata who thoroughly x-rayed and cleaned my teeth. She explained all through the process what she was doing. She showed me the x-rays and photos of my teeth to point out defects that she saw. She did an excellent job. I was then seen by Dr Sam who also reviewed the x-rays and explained needed treatments. His explanation was clear and understandable. I will proceed with the treatment plan as discussed. I highly recommend this practice. I should point out that I have been visiting this office for over 22 years having started when the sole practitioner was Dr George Skoog.

Be very careful if you visit this office. I specifically asked whether they accepted my insurance before making the appointment and was told they did. I came in for a routine cleaning that should have been covered by my insurance. The office also performed X-rays and had a doctor examine me, without discussing any additional costs or coverage issues. A week later, I received a bill for approximately $260. After contacting my insurance company, I learned that the doctor who examined me was out of network and that the X-rays were not covered because similar X-rays had already been taken recently. What is most frustrating is that the office had access to my insurance information and treatment history, yet no one informed me that these services could result in significant charges. Had I been told in advance, I could have declined them. This experience felt misleading and left me with unexpected expenses for what I believed was a routine preventive visit. Patients deserve clear information about coverage and costs before treatment is provided.

I went in to get my teeth cleaned. I brush and floss once a day but I'm really prone to cavities and I had a few months before that I was not flossing as often. I was still brushing daily. I came in and they started my dental cleaning, it hurt so they stopped and said the doctor has to look at my teeth before they can do a dental cleaning. Then they looked at my teeth, found a cavity, and told me I had to get it filled and they would only do that because they didn't have time to do what I scheduled. I asked if I could just get my teeth cleaned and they said no because I had a cavity. They wouldn't do any X-rays even though my insurance covers random ones to check for cavities. Whatever, the doctor and staff were good at their jobs so I got the filling and left. Now I tried to call to see what the aftercare was and they pinged me to voicemail. I'm stuck not knowing if I can eat, when I can eat, WHAT I can eat 😭 The time right before this they filled my tooth even though the last doctor a few weeks before said there was no cavity, I was in pain so I trusted them, and they made the tooth really uneven so I was not having a good bite and lopsided until I came back. They also said that visit would be 24$ and told me it's doubled in price when I came back. Another time my boyfriend was getting his regular cleaning and since he didn't want his X-rays at that time they made him sign a bunch of forms for some reason. Doctors are good but it seems like they don't have time for their patients or are weird about their practices because every single time we went not normal stuff kept happening. Wish I noticed sooner.

So I had a dental concern and decided to use an app I was recommended online, Zocdoc I think it was called.. made an appointment with them and then I saw reviews say to call and make sure they take your insurance plan so I did just that and doubled down to make sure by calling. I called and the lady was really nice and said that the system didn’t even have me set for whatever date the app told me, so I made an appointment with them over the phone. I do regret being soo uninformed about all this from start to finish with how things work, anyways I walked in on the day of my appointment on time, two ladies were at the reception I was told that I didn’t need to fill much of anything out so I assumed whatever I filled on the app they must of got even if I did cancel the appointment with the app since according to them it never went through.. but they said I was the guy who canceled and then confirmed the appointment or whatever was the punchline in all that confusion with the app. so moving forward I sat down and waited like 20 minutes till I was finally told to walk in and lay back on this chair where they took bite X-rays and despite my main issue I spoke to them about, they started topics on my wisdom teeth and so on skipping introductions and so on, and I said I’ll want that (wisdom teeth) taken care of later but for now I wanted to check out the tooth I had a concern with most, I accepted their recommendation on the step to remove it fully, and I asked that they use as much of my insurance as possible before I paid the rest out of pocket, they agreed and so I also asked for an implant, not a bridge, not a crown, not anything else. After the Dentist had spoken to the receptionist, took a few minutes and so on before I could then walk back to the receptionist desk where they could explain after some estimates that I requested before further treatment. The older receptionist, told me I would pay this and that and this.. but all for a bridge rather than an implant that I was hoping to go for even after the Dentist told me there was a 2nd professional at this location that could help me further with that, but this lady did not talk about this zed person or any implant options besides the bridge.. she also shifted in mood from when I first spoke to her so I didn’t feel comfortable with all of this, felt like there wasn’t enough transparency or there for care for my situation despite me being willing to fork over the payments just fine. Well I knew it was going to cost something after I reached out to another dental facility and went with them instead, but oh my god did they try to nail my insurance for as much as possible, honestly never coming back yikes. The dentist, despite the lack of introduction didn’t rub me the wrong way, but everyone else just gave me a red flag and I guess I don’t even feel comfortable discussing anything with the reception ever again besides payment for that one day and that one day alone.. what I hoped was just the Xray and sure maybe the time I took and estimates.. but not all the extras that felt meditated on for further charges on that bill my insurance settled on. Oh well, just not coming back and that’s that.

They kept constantly contacting me about coming in for a cleaning since it's been a while. As in calling me nonstop and sending emails. i finally answered and asked them if my insurance was still good and would still cover my services (i wasn't sure because i recently quit my job but thought i was still possibly covered for a little while). She pretended to check and even put me on hold and said it still was good and would cover. So i made an appointment, a few days later the day of my appointment something told me to call my insurance and double check. of course the insurance had expired.. so i called the office back and told them my insurance was in fact not active anymore when she told me it still was. They proceeded to charge me a $50 cancellation fee. They were going to see me and do all this cleaning etc just to charge me later. she knew the insurance wasn't active anymore. Now i'm getting non stop invoices to pay the fee.