Safari Smiles Dental - Sonora, California

Edwin Casillas

As a proud Sonora local, I am super happy to say that I proudly recommend Safari Smiles Pediatric Dental to everyone in Tuolumne County. Many of my childhood memories consist of check-ups at this exceptional clinic. The child-friendly environment, along with a captivating game room, added an extra layer of excitement to my visits there. My favorite part was always receiving a coin after each appointment, which my siblings and I eagerly exchanged at "The Tower" for cool prizes—our personal favorite being the bouncy balls.

Dr. French and his team are not only professionals in their work, but also give off a genuine warmth that left a lasting impression on my family. Their compassionate approach significantly impacted my youngest sibling, who initially found dental visits challenging. Dr. French and his team consistently displayed kindness and patience, always reassuring her. Thanks to the team, she now attends check-ups effortlessly. Dr. French and his team are much more than dentists, they are compassionate people that genuinely want to make a positive impact in the community.

Safari Smiles Pediatric Dental has exceeded my expectations. I wholeheartedly love and recommend this establishment. I'm very confident that the clinic's legacy is in secure hands, as Dr. French's son, Dr. Chris M French, has joined the team. With the expertise of Dr. Chris M French, the future of Safari Smiles will be bright, no doubt about it.

I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Dr. French and the entire team for their amazing work that has left a positive mark on the community.

Gary Rigsby

My kids love Dr French and his dental office! We appreciate the many ways he gives back to the local community. Highly recommended!

Toni Walburn (Toni Lee)

This was the only dentist in this area that accepted state Medicaid, The catch was you have to pay cash and they will file the Medicaid for you, so that Medicaid will reimburse you. Newsflash if you’re on Medicaid chances are you can’t afford the stuff to begin with. So the conclusion I have drawn from this is the doctor doesn’t care about the patients. His main concern is getting paid, not really a person I like to associate myself with. Greed, disgusting greed is going to be the downfall of this country.

Angela Isbell

I love this dentist and staff!! My child is special needs and the dentist talks to him and treats him with total respect. He is working with my child and taking small steps to build a bond with him and hopefully make my child more comfortable about going to the dentist. I appreciate him and the staff for having patience with him and I don't want the dentist to ever retire!! If your child is terrified about going to the dentist I highly recommend giving this dentist a chance because we have been everywhere and no one compares.

Asjia Miller

My son is a little over two and had to have some cavities filled under general anesthesia, one filling fell out within 24 hours and another within the first week. At the 2.5 week mark another filling started coming out. I went back and Doctor French offered to pay for in office sedation and he would just pull the teeth out no charge! …..It was a nightmare of an experience and I ended up having to go to a specialist in Folsom and put him under sedation again and they had to fix ever single thing that was done by DR FRENCH . That dentist telling me they couldn’t believe what was done and how they left his teeth. Utter shock. They were able to save all but one of his teeth, there wasn’t enough tooth to put a white crown on. ( because of the drilling and the filling done by Dr French )The whole experience has been very difficult and emotional. It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Go somewhere else! There were other treatment options that he didn’t tell me about because he doesn’t do that treatment. ( or didn’t want to) Save your babies, go to a dentist that cares and keeps up with technology and treatments and uses top of the line products. It kills me inside to see my son smile knowing if I had chosen a different dentist he would still have all his teeth.

DB

Absolutely would not recommend treatment at this location. This facility refers to their patients or the patients guardians as "customers" rather than patients or guardians of the patient. I have never been to a healthcare of dental facility where the term "customer" was used. In addition to that, the dentist at this facility does not seem confident in his ability to decide which treatment is best and he is not good at answering questions. He doesn't actually listen to the concerns of the parents, he just kinda says what he thinks and brushes you off, which is very disconcerting when your child is in pain and want 100% confidence they're in good hands.

When researching possible treatment options for our child, nearly every website recommended the same things. However, the Dentist at Safari Smiles recommended something completely different. On top of that online it states that:

"if it is only a small chip on your child’s tooth your pediatric may recommend doing a resin filling. Probably the most common, simple, and INEXPENSIVE route for a chipped tooth is bonding. This process consists of applying or bonding a composite resin to your tooth's surface to fill in the chip area."

However when asking about what I read online he said "well if thats what ya want that's what we'll do"...but "just so you know its very EXPENSIVE." So what multiple dental websites say online and what the dentist here says completely contradict eachother.

To top it off, this facility unlike many others, does not provide you with a preauthorization ahead of time so you know exactly what procedure is recommended, what your insurance will pay and any oit of pocket expense. They only offered to provide one literally seconds before the scheduled appointment time, which is completely unacceptable.

Lastly I must comment on what I witnessed this morning and I can't make this up. I saw the dentist literally roll up to the facility 5 minutes before our scheduled appointment time, how unprofessional is that? Then when checking into the facility there was no front desk staff even though it was time for our child's appointment there was a sign displayed saying staff was in a meeting. When the lady finally appeared 5 minutes past our appointment time, there was no good morning, how are you guys doing this morning or an apology about them running late. Instead just a very blunt and cold "we'll be with you in a minute." When voicing our very reasonable concerns the lady at the front desk ended up walking away and laughing, not taking our concerns seriously in the slightest way.

So yes this facility has video games, balloons, stickers and lollipops for your kids, but there's MUCH more to operating a professional healthcare / dental facility than just giving the kids gifts. The dentist themself should be professional, well spoken, and more than anything instill confidence in the parents than they know what they're doing. It shouldn't be "well if thats what you want, that's what we'll do."

Overall again would absolutely not recommend this facility if you want to be respected, treated with dignity and most of all know your child is in good hands.

Autumn Amick

My kids have been going here for years and this place is truly the best! My daughter had major trauma from another dentist office and Safari Smile made her feel comfortable going to the dentist again! Love the staff and the comfortable environment!

Kevin Diamond

Great honest people and the kids actually look forward to coming here!