Beachside Dental - Santa Barbara, California

Adarm P.

This practice at Beachside Dental, Cliff Drive, in Santa Barbara, is dishonest and greedy for money. The initial intake Xray procedure was extremely painful and long (never had a painful experience getting X-rays before), and they refused to do the cleaning service I asked for without X-rays (I don’t like being exposed to unnecessary radiation). But that’s not even my beef, I would have given a 3-4 star review if they weren’t so unethical.

I previously went to a different office religiously for cleanings and check ups, always with a clean bill of health and no issues. The team always remarks on how amazing my teeth are.
When I switched to Beachside, they tried to upsell and convince me I needed my "crooked" wisdom teeth pulled (previous dentist showed me X-rays and said: "wisdom teeth don't come in any straighter than yours"), 3 fillings and "possibly a crown, as you don't have much healthy tooth left on one cavity".

I was aghast, so I got a second opinion, and was told none of the work recommended by Beachside Dental was necessary.

How DHMOs work: they pay Beachside Dental a stipend every month to provide cleanings and basic service to DHMO customers.

How Beachside Dental works: They are so greedy for more money than they are contracted for, they create a list of unnecessary work in order to charge extra to the client AND the insurance. All the services they told me I needed would have cost me over $1K out of pocket, and they would have collected even more from insurance.

Since I had my X-rays sent over for the second opinion, Beachside Dental then refused to even provide cleanings for me, because at that point they knew their scam was up and they would fleece no extra cash from this mark. They said "We're not going to work in your mouth when some other dentist is working in it." I told them no services were needed other than cleaning, and they responded "We're not going to discuss it.". So they still get their money from the DHMO, but they don't provide services to me who is paying the DHMO.

It is recommended anyone who has had similar issues file complaints with BBB, your insurance company, post a negative Yelp review, and do everything you can to prevent them from continuing these disgustingly dishonest practices. You can see many other negative reviews from previous locations already. I found many other reviews describing experiences like mine where they actually got charged thousands of dollars for unnecessary work.

Response to business' response: This is not your former disgruntled employee. I understand that you probably have a multitude of people who are upset with your practice both internally and as customers, but your accusations are unfounded. I feel sorry for your worker being falsely accused and reported, but my experience as a customer has nothing to do with her. (also, my original review was early December, before you say you fired your employee). I am adding a photo showing my confirmed appointment as a customer.

Leslie S.

I had my first appointment at Beachside Dental and I was incredibly impressed with the entire staff. Gaby the receptionist was very friendly and extremely helpful in answering all of my questions. Raquel the dental assistant who has 35 years of experience was fantastic and also very friendly. Dr. Peters was very knowledgeable, thorough and kind. If you’re looking for a new dentist, I would highly recommend this group.

Victor F.

Dr. Peters and his staff have been expertly seeing to my dental needs since he opened his practice in Santa Barbara years ago. I always look forward to my visits, always treated not just respectfully, but personally, with real friendless and precision care. Having had a parent who was a D.D.S. with a very good reputation in San Diego, I know what it feels like to be well treated, and I'd say I know a thing or two about how a dental practice is run. There are offices in this town that make you feel like a cash register. Not Dr. Brian Peters and his staff! I cannot recommend Beachside Dental more highly.

tina A.

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Peters for over 7 years. Early on, things seemed great. He did a full mouth reconstruction for me (over $50,000) and I was really pleased. However, I’ve had multiple crowns come off and break off. I’ve been told by other dentists that those teeth should not have been saved. I’ve had 3 top and 3 bottom partials in 5 years, either because they break or a tooth with a root canal crumbles & I have to have a whole new partial. I had to have 2 teeth extracted in October 2022 and got dry socket. They were out of dry socket putty so he just said it’ll be fine. The newest partial took 6 months to get & doesn’t fit properly. His office has been closed for well over a month with no info. We paid $5500 for dental work for my husband in December, the work still hasn’t been done & I just learned they billed my insurance for over $11k for the work that hasn’t been done. Bank of the west filed a civil suit against him last week for approx $500,000 for defaulting on a line of credit. If you have money or dental appliances on order, sorry but I don’t think you’ll be getting either back.

Perri W.

The staff is nice but idk, kind of a weird vibe from the dentist and he also told me I had 6 cavities and then I went to another spot and they confirmed only 1 while the rest was staining. Felt a bit taken advantage of since I only had an hmo plan. I ended up going to mountain and sea dental ever since this place and like it waaay better.

Lewis G.

Have always been happy with the dental care here. I first came to Dr. Peters several years ago when he ran his former clinic on Mission St. I was a brand new patient calling with an emergency. Not only did they bring me in right away but they treated the problem with great professionalism and care. I immediately became a regular patient and have had multiple procedures completed by Dr. Peters since. I highly recommend Dr. Peters and the staff at Beachside Dental.

Linda K.

If you are looking for a new dentist in Santa Barbara go to Dr. Bryan W.W. Peters at Beachside Dental. Seriously, you’ll never find a better, more competent, more caring dentist in the world. With such gentle kindness and compassion he performs extremely impeccable dental care for every procedure. The results? My smile is more beautiful than I ever imagined it could be. And the staff are wonderful, willing, friendly and helpful in every way. Thank you Dr. Peters and Beachside Dental for your amazing work!

Alyssa J.

Travel nurse here who has been to plenty of dentists across the country and this was the first dentist who didn’t try to get me to get pointless services that have been offered to me before. Said my teeth look good and wants to see me in 6 months. Easy scheduling and friendly staff.