dental assistant

dental hygienist

patient care coordinator

general office administrator

dental office manager

Western Dental Services

Western Dental has completely changed their structure.  Their whole focus is ensuring customers get the service they need and deserve in a timely manner, and ensuring that they are satisfied. 

The corporate office is constantly seeking out new patients.  They are in charge of booking most of the new patients.  The office flow is extremely fast paced since the book is almost always completely booked.  Their doctors are rarely not working on a patient.   The patient care coordinator has to be extremely cordial.  They have to keep a close eye on the appointment book since they are the first impression.  Make sure all of the insurance benefits are checked. 

There is heavy interaction between the patient care coordinator and the patient.  The patient care coordinator is basically in charge of helping the patient say yes to the treatment.  We were in charge of making the patient feel comfortable and help them understand why they need the treatment and the possible consequences of not getting it done.

I learned to be extremely patient.  Most people have a lot of anxiety about the dentist.  The treatment is very nerve wrecking, but everyone is also very concerned about the financial aspect.  Everyone is terrified of getting ripped off.  So you have to be extremely detailed and thorough in your explication of the treatment and the cost, and you have to have patience because patients get upset very often due to the treatment costs.  I learned about insurance billing, creating electronic charts. I learned about digital x-rays, and of course dental codes.

Management is very secluded.  They have their own office.  They are very in touch with the corporate office and developing plans to improve production and collection.  Developing strategies to expand the clients and also reaching out to patients who initially rejected the treatment to attempt to convince them to come back.  

Co-workers are all very professional.  Most coworkers have some training in front office, or some experience at least.  Everyone must be good at multitasking and have a lot of patience.

The hardest part of the job was scheduling.  Evidently the corporate office is extremely concerned with productivity, and they are constantly booking new patients.  Which causes overcrowding of patients, and it is sometimes difficult to get patients seen in a timely fashion.  Also, when emergency appointments are scheduled on the weekends, it is sometimes difficult to get a thorough benefit rundown of the patient's insurance causing discrepencies in treatment quotes which quite often creates frustration with patients.

The most enjoyable part of the job is to see a satisfied customer.  Patients go in embarrased to smile due to chipped teeth in the front, or they are in severe pain, and after they get treatment they walk out of the office a completely different person.  That is very rewarding.

I liked working for this company's TA department. I had a great manager who really supported my career goals. The company brought in a director who was also really great and I believe if I stayed, who would have helped me in my succession planning. I went on maternity leave a short while after she was onboarded and I had every intentions of coming back to my old role at the company which in the end, I decided not to come back. It was a hard decision because I really felt that WDS brought in a great leader who could have been instrumental in my career. As I had time to think about my future career plans, and looking outside of the TA department, the company as a whole outter layer of WDS which were the dental office locations did not have a good reputation. It was hard to effectively implement my recruiting tools and pipeline talent. Most candidates I wanted to consider to place into these offices would not entertain the idea if they were already established in their careers so it was hard getting great talent when the talent I had to choose from were new in their career and using WDS as a footstool to move into other capacities somewhere else. The pay was not as competitive as other companies in the same function and the extended benefits were just average. Also, for the TA function, I was at a point in my career where I wanted the future opportunity to be able work from home or the office and the WDS TA department was not set up to even have this as a possibility. There are some talented people in that department with an aray of personalities and although I could agree to disagree with some of them, I have to look back and smile at all of their beautiful personalities. It's nice being able to look at LinkedIn and see some of my peers move up into higher roles. Coordinators who are now recruiters, my once peers who are now in upper management. For those reading this, I can say that you would be happy working at the corporate office. I can't say it's true for all of the departments but for WDS's Human Resources Talent Acquisition team, there is evidently opportunities for succession.

You can get away with just about anything but you will not be terminated for your actions.  You are considered cheap labor so they rather keep you than to actually search for qualified people to replace you.

Company ownership has a high turnover rate and it seems as if WDS gets "bought" over every other year.  This year, we were told that the California Teachers Union is one of the few investors.  That explains why many of us at the corporate level received a laughable, to no raise. 

Management is inexperienced and has no idea as to how to approach employees.  Also, management likes to constantly play musical chairs with employees as they move and shuffle departments around all the time.  At least this keeps the lack luster IT department extremely busy.  Management is rarely seen, unless when they "clique" up together and head out to lunch. 

Certain "department leads" are very experienced but are too scared to ask for a fitting wage.  Other department leads were promoted for being friends with the manager.  Overall, they act professional but do not comprehend the actual job requirements and walk around as if they are an important figure.

The collections department is another area that needs revamping as a whole.  But you can not blame them for others mistakes.

Regional managers are too busy pushing financial quotas on to their office managers and do not have the time to interfere with actual escalated patient dispute or concerns. Although the company prides itself on Ultimate Patient Experience, there is no sense of customer service.

Western Dental as a whole is unethical and practices borderline fraud.  The CFO calls the shots but I suspect that no one is overlooking his actions.  The CFO is also known to be a sort of creeper and on many occasions, have overheard multiple female employees discussing how sexually inappropriate he acted towards them.

I read a lot of reviews on here and I can tell you yes it's that bad. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing half the time.  Office are focused on sales most of the time though they claim otherwise. They will always recommend the most expensive treatments plan vs lower cost options. Patients will constantly call in saying they didn't know any better because they trusted the professionals and they are right. Some offices have doctors with well known reputations to do poor quality work and when a complaint comes in about them you here "oh yes we get a lot of complaints about him or her". Really ? And they are still there.  Oh yes doctors and managers are constantly moving locations so offices are mess because of this. 

And now corporate. You have a corporate high schools is what you have.   Managers leads and supervisors are always at each other blaming the other dept for not doing their job and causing delays in theirs. They talk so much trash on each other its not even funny. You have a lot of backstabbing. This is probably because departments are always being dismantled and reassembled under a new title.  Procedures and constantly changing. Billling is questionable always check with you insurance because they do charge for things they did not do. Auditing is a joke.  If an audit is done and a refund is found for $700 dollars centralizes billing will audit it again with anything they can do make you refund all buy disappear. Mangement turn around is high. I had 2 ceos my time there.  Training sucks buy some how its your fault for not knowing.  They claim to want to provide the best UPE AKA ultimate patient experience or have 5 star service but its really the opposite.  They business practices are very questionable.   

Health insurance benefits suck if you add anyone except your self.  Dental is okay but you have to use their office and im not exaggerating when i say i would hear people at corporations say they would never take their family or themselves to our own offices.

My experience working at Western Dental revealed significant operational challenges that made it difficult to effectively manage and deliver quality patient care.

In my role managing a high-volume office, I was responsible for overseeing daily operations with little to no support from upper management. The patient load regularly ranged from 15 to 30 patients per day, creating an unsustainable pace without adequate staffing or administrative assistance. Despite the intensity of the workload, the front office was often expected to function with minimal personnel, and when staff members were absent, there was no contingency support provided.

Additionally, clinical staffing models appeared strained. It was common to operate with two doctors and only one registered dental assistant (RDA), which placed further pressure on both clinical efficiency and patient experience. These conditions created consistent bottlenecks and made it challenging to maintain smooth operations.

Concerns regarding these issues were communicated during meetings with upper management. However, feedback about staffing shortages, lack of resources, and operational inefficiencies was frequently acknowledged but not acted upon. This lack of responsiveness contributed to ongoing workplace stress and limited the ability to implement meaningful improvements.

Overall, the organization’s approach to staffing and operational support did not align with the demands placed on individual offices. For those seeking a well-supported, balanced work environment, this may not be the right fit.

The pay is good if you're a manager or higher. However the pay for anyone else is horrible. They also provide a lot of training. That's about all I can say that's positive.

The corporate office overbooks appointments and create a huge wait time for all patients. The corporate office is horrible at communication and will do everything possible to sabotage day to day operations. The doctors are straight out of school or just immigrated here (usually from Egypt) and the quality of care is pathetic. You will be required to lie to patients to sell treatment, and it makes it hard to sleep at night. I convinced so many people to get treatment done that they didn't need or that the doctor wasn't competent to do properly. They do not care about doing the work correctly, they just care about making money. 

The worst part was after I left. Finding a job has been a nightmare. Western Dental is resume poison. Every private office has heard countless stories of patients who were mishandled by Western Dental. They have a bad reputation and you will look bad by association. It took me 6 months to find a job (I have six years experience!) and each time I didn't get it it was because of my experience at Western Dental.

If you're looking to break into the industry don't go with Western Dental. There are many other companies that will hire and train you with no experience that have better reputations and will treat you better (Gentle Dental, Coast Dental, Smile Brand, Kids Care, the list goes on ..).

When will any of us learn that these corporately-controlled profit-churning machines only operate because of the people who are willing to exploit themselves to work there and also be seen there as patients.  In these environments, the patients and the workers are exploited in the name of profit---suits walk away with money just like suits did in the mortgage industry.

When will patients learn to understand that most dental insurance is insufficient and insufficient insurance means that insufficient practices like this will get away with doing insufficient dentistry at often still ridiculous prices. As in medical scenarios, you really need to be on your game as a consumer (and employee).  Its not easy find a good professional at a reasonable price, but again its people desperately lured in and people willing to provide services in a low-quality, low-pay atmosphere that serves to propel this shameful industry.

As someone who is evaluating a potential association with Western Dental:  IF you have other opportunities, please pursue them first and then again.  IF Western Dental is your only option, then you better be looking day and night when you aren't working at Western Dental, to find another place to work.  A place that treats employees, patients and associates the way they deserve to be.

The management is only concerned about profit.  This is the only thing they will ever be concerned with---besides a lawsuit or revealing reviews that spread the truth.

I interviewed for this job being told that it was customer service, not sales. LIES LIES LIES!! When I asked about production quota, I was told they don't have any. As soon as I'm on the floor, we're told to push orthodontic appts, and that we need a certain number of daily shows. That's a sales job.
 If that isn't bad enough, your performance is based on an overly complicated, multi-factor algorithm based on bookings, shows, graded calls, customer feedback, and "productivity". Productivity is Big Brother's score of how well you stay on the phone, because rest assured, they know of every move you make and how long it takes. "Adherence" is a score that they use a lot to ding agents. Clock in but don't sign into the phone immediately because you are signing into the other systems they need open, get dinged. Go to the bathroom a lot? Get dinged. (The bathrooms are dirty, overcrowded, and out of toilet paper half the time, anyways.) Come back from break 30 late, get dinged. You get the point. The quality score has to undergo a "matchmaking" process due to all of the systems that go into it, so accuracy can suffer.
 The offices don't know what corporate is doing and vice versa.  The offices just know corporate overbooks. Patients get caught up in the middle. WD says it listens and cares, it cares about money, and that's about it.

I recently left western dental after four years. I hated this place. This company truly does not appreciate their employees. The pay is horrible, especially for the type of work they push on you. I had to play receptionist, sales person, call center, biller, IT support.The doctors also expect you to explain the dental treatment to the patients and its like going to dental school but without the pay! Upper management has no regards for the employees below them. I was promised a bonus for upselling braces contracts and now my manager tells me that I am not eligible. This was truly upsetting!!!! This company is so unethicial and treat their patients, like they treat their employees. The only positive thing about this place is you learn about many different areas but of course they don't pay you for it. They also have no training for new hires. They teach you how to do one thing one time and then you are on your own. I saw it done to many employees and it was very unfair!! They also overwork the doctors and have no limitations on their schedules. They are constantly overbooking the appointment book. There is also a huge disconnect from the corporate office and the local offices. ALL THIS COMPANY CARE ABOUT IS MONEY!! They do not care about their patients' dental health, which is really sad. STAY AWAY!!

Western Dental is great to begin a dental front staff career however it is not a great place to stay long term. 
Upper management, such a district managers, can have a high school like mentality and pick on team members with potential just because of the blatant favoritism exhibited. 
A typical day is either one overwhelming or under. 
Depending on the county you are in there will be days that you are overbooked and understaffed, but as long as you have a strong team things like this can be overcome.
There is so much potential to grow within the company but know there can be obstacles to achieve your goals if your management has a problem with favoritism, also as side note, if you ever work for WDS, I suggest to talk to the dentist you have in office and get know what they like and dislike to make a day in office run smoothly. 
The hardest part of the job is if you are not fast paced you will learn the hard way that you need to develop multitasking skills. 
The most enjoyable part of this job is meeting great people and providers, and learning dental terminology if you are new to the dental field.


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Dental assistant 268 salaries reported	$21.96 per hour
Dental hygienist 72 salaries reported	$51.69 per hour
Patient care coordinator 69 salaries reported	$21.06 per hour
General office administrator 66 salaries reported	$20.68 per hour
Dental office manager 46 salaries reported	$27.77 per hour

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