dental assistant

dental office manager

dental office assistant

dental hygienist

administrative assistant

Smile Design Dentistry

This was the first corporate company I've ever worked for since I had always been in private practice previously. If you had any complaints about supplies or instruments, you were told that you were in a low-performing office and the budget wouldn't support new instruments or supplies. So you make do with what you have like cavitron tips way past their ineffective dates (short working tips =water goes everywhere) or instruments with broken tips. Many offices only have 4 instrument sets per hygienist or less when they break.

When you're new, they will pressure you to go to whatever office you can make the most production at and will even cancel your patients at the office you usually drive to. Even if you're traveling over an hour away, they do not pay for travel, they know you want the income by being able to work for the day. 

I was transferred to a few offices during my 2 and a half years there and you are always the last to know. They would usually call on a Friday to let you know you'll be working someplace new starting Monday from here on out. 

At any corporation, it depends on what locations you worked in, some of the offices I was in were great, with positive and nice managers and great co-workers and others suffered from lazy employees, absent or unprofessional managers and low morale. At most offices, you get a lunch, sometimes even an hour (at the slow offices). You will work a 9-hour day since lunch is clocked out time but that seems to be the norm in Florida. At most offices, you get an hour per patient, but that includes developing treatment plans, intra-oral camera exams, full-mouth probing (by yourself), full mouth x-rays and explaining treatment plans and insurance to patients, once all of that is done, you usually have 30 minutes or so for actual treatment. You will be judged on how fast you can go in providing treatment (too slow =incompetent) and running behind will bring the manager to your room. 

In one of the worst offices, the doctors' schedules look like something out of a nightmare. Doctors run behind every day and will also make you run behind waiting for them. Not enough instruments with 3-4 hygienists working daily and while they have 2 autoclaves, one breaks down constantly. Since the administration takes care of treatment plans and finances, you no longer get 60 mins but 40-50 mins instead. I went from 8 patients a day to 11-12 (sometimes they will throw one in a 15 min slot), no lunch is scheduled so you can leave earlier, but no breaks will make you crazy with the crazy prophy mill pace. Manager was unprofessional, sometimes shouting F-words at the employees when she was frustrated which was almost daily. High pressure sales happen constantly and patients get upset frequently. Since it is a high-production office, all complaints are swept under the rug unless something affected production, and sometimes you get written up for complaining. In the span of one month, 3 employees had quit or been fired. The main doctor had everyone work on Christmas Eve so they didn't miss out on production. Conversely, the co-workers were some of the best I've had and were the only reason I continued going to the office. After working for the company for 2 and a half years, I was let go during the week of Christmas and the day after my birthday (which I worked). The incompetent manager didn't even know I was scheduled in another one of their offices the very next day. (Which I still went and worked in since they had no notice to cancel patients.)

For the 2 years prior to the nightmare office, most of the offices were run very similar to most offices. This company gives a lot of autonomy to hygienists which is something I enjoyed but on the same note, everything will always be your fault if you make mistakes.

-Higher ups & office level Unorganized -Providers & Assistants unprepared for patients -Have seen shady Hiring/Firing process -Not receiving bonus for the month if you don’t work the following month (for example I worked the month of May but not June bc I resigned, however if bonus was made in May I don’t receive credit for my hard work ) - Higher ups take an exponential amount of time to respond to an important question & then everyone has a different answer - Call center & Insurance team needs better training ; they do not have attention to detail(but yet it’s preached at the office level) - Handbook not matching what is verbally told by higher up to OM( For I.e. we were told by our office manager a 30 day request for doc apts & time off , however the handbook says two weeks) Also , they told my OM I would have to work the rest of June in order for me to get paid for my eligible PTO .. however the handbook does not state that .. so I ended up leaving with out receiving the PTO money I earned . - Being criticized for making mistakes when there was no extra help to me ( we needed a third person & for a year we never received a permanent person ) - Having too answer multiple lines , sometimes resulting in a patient being on hold for way too long ..& in some cases, the pt ended hanging up. - Doing the best I could/ while doing a great job .. but still not being enough .

Smile Design is an amazing place to work. Please, do not buy into these negative reviews. They have changed their PTO policy. Health insurance is expensive in general, so I can’t see how that is justified as a complaint, and management means well- even if they say no to good ideas, no one is perfect. You gotta stay on them for what you want but in what company is that not true? At the end of the day they’re good people who want to see this company grow. And Smile design has a lot of room for growth. They can’t be expected to get everything right from day one. But in my 4 years here they have improved dramatically. Again, don’t buy into the negativity. I also do not appreciate the personal insults towards our VP and regional managers. They couldn’t be more respectful to me. Gossipers? Not fair. And simply not true. I hope anyone reading this can see I am not writing this to pat anyone on the back, but to be objective. No company is perfect guys. But here, if you work hard and you try your best, show up on time, and treat the patients right- you will be rewarded and that’s all you can ask for.

After 9 years as the Office Manager at Smile Design Dentistry, I can confidently say this has been one of the most rewarding chapters of my career. Working alongside a team that truly values patient care, professionalism, and collaboration has allowed me to grow both personally and professionally.

From day one, Smile Design Dentistry has fostered a supportive and forward-thinking environment. Leadership empowers team members to succeed, and I’ve always felt trusted, appreciated, and motivated to take initiative. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to strengthen my skills in team management, patient relations, and operational efficiency—all while helping to create a welcoming experience for every patient who walks through our doors.

I'm proud to be part of a practice where integrity, compassion, and quality care are at the core of everything we do. Looking forward to what the future holds as we continue to grow and serve our community.

Everyday was stressful due to patients being unhappy, not knowing if the Doctor wrote the higher up managers stating my co-workers and I were not doing our jobs. The higher up people told us that they would handle the Doctor they knew we were doing our jobs as the Doctor wanted but nothing was ever done. Promises were never kept. The office was more about money than patient care, it felt like we were rushing patients in and out. My co-workers were awesome! Pay was great but mine changed 3 times in a year without warning. I went from hourly to salary (got a promotion) then when on salary they suddenly changed me from salary back to hourly with no notice or reason. I was told I could still work my normal 46 hours and get overtime but then I got in trouble for that. It was stressful not knowing what was going to happen each day. I’m sure other locations are different and better to work at.

I have moved on from Smile Design Dentistry, but I believe it’s important to share my experience. During my time there, I was told by company leadership (the VP, Joe) that my contract would be updated to reflect a higher wage. Unfortunately, that adjustment was never made, and when I raised concerns about pay, my attempts to address the situation were dismissed rather than resolved.
The work environment was consistently high-stress, with expectations to do more with limited support. In addition, the team bonus structure was rarely honored, which negatively affected morale.
Overall, I did not find the workplace culture to be supportive or transparent. I have since moved on to a better fit, but I would advise future applicants to carefully evaluate whether this company aligns with their values and expectations.if Joe will lie about all this imagine what goes on behind your back 

Beware of this company unless you’re a fan of gossipy employees who will sabotage your success! Poorly skilled office manager made weekly mistakes adding up my daily production numbers, which negatively impacted my “bonus”. Spent most of my time doing the math in order to be fairly compensated. Shut down by office manager when I suggested I see more patients to help manage a busy schedule because she said she didn’t like the hectic pace that would cause- more patients put too much additional pressure on the front desk, I was told. Huh? No time to fix employee dental concerns, no uniform allowance like other practices. Regrettable waste of talent due to good doctor & support staff but needy, anxious manager always worried about “getting written up”. No yearly raises. Caught the OM name calling other employees- that was my last day.

I have worked for several dental offices, including other corporations. I have been an assistant and front desk and now an office manager. But this was the least organized and most dramatic company I’ve experienced. The Vice President of the company is a major gossiper and incredibly immature. My regional manager was too stressed out to ever get anything done properly because her work load was way too much for one person. And my office never had the right supplies to work correctly because our budget was so low. We were expected to bring in a minimum of $5000 a day even though some of the insurances they accept pay $5 for a cleaning and $300 for a crown. The entire staff was stressed and chewed out if we did not meet that goal. Their ONLY saving grace was that they did pay well and offer decent benefits (not great). I would never return. 

This company has the worst upper management. They will stab you in the back as they smile at you. You never have job security and they are never happy with how hard you work. If you are a hard worker they throw more work at you complaining you are not working hard enough. This experience was like being in an abusive relationship. You are constantly being told how wrong you are by so many different people. You have AR people speaking to you in a rude manner because they feel it is the corporate office against the clinical offices. Then you have upper management at the clinical level that micro- manage every step you make and every word you speak. I came to this company with over 22 years of experience and this was the absolute worst company I have ever working with.

Pros: The office I worked for had a great schedule work Monday to Thursday from 745 to 4, it was great.  
Cons: Overwork, no time for almost nothing, eating 10 to 15 min the most. The doctors was not nice. Manager gave me poor support and expected me to do everything with no errors, I couldn't go to her to ask for help because if so she was mad at me. I was new dental assistant at their offcie even though i have experience. However, I was understanding their rules, ways to treatment plan and their system. All the sudden for them I was not a good fit for their company and they fired me. I was in shock to get fired when I was doing very good considering I was learning their stuff and giving my 100% to meet their expectations. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Dental assistant 10 salaries reported	$20.70 per hour
Dental office manager 2 salaries reported	$55,000 per year
Dental office assistant 3 salaries reported	$19.83 per hour
Dental hygienist 2 salaries reported	$41.50 per hour
Administrative assistant 2 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour

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