Perfect Smiles California's Online Review Report Card

My son started ortho with Perfect Smiles and I couldn’t be more happy with the results. Dr Garate & his staff are amazing!! Would recommend this office.

I’ve been a patient of Perfect Smiles CA and Dr. Garate for many years now, I recently completed treatment and I couldn’t be happier with the experience. I received several services, including crowns, partial dentures, routine cleanings. The quality of the work is truly exceptional. This office has a commitment with patient comfort, affordability and care. They offer excellent payment plans that made my treatment manageable, and the staff is incredibly accommodating, always making sure I felt comfortable and at ease during every visit. Dr. Garate and the entire team are professional, highly skilled, and genuinely caring. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a top-tier dental practice!

Does not take MediCal/ DentiCal.

Everyone is very friendly here and they always have my mouth feeling super clean!

I saw the stellar reviews on Google and decided to schedule an appointment for a cleaning. Here is my personal experience with this service. I believe Dr. David Garate is a very capable dentist however I think there is a practice to overbook his services to the extent of causing extensive delays to his patients. I originally scheduled a routine cleaning but was advised to get a deep cleaning. I inquired about braces and was told I needed a frenectomy before the braces were put on. I followed through with the regular cleaning, the deep cleaning, and the frenectomy. This process took several weeks to complete. Several times I was made to wait to get my procedures started as a hurried Dr. Garate was busy finishing work on previous clients. In one particular instance, once my procedure started, he was so frazzled that he numbed the wrong side of my mouth with the numbing needle. As you can imagine, this is a very painful experience which involves stabbing you in the nerve of your gums with a long needle and injecting the numbing solution. He apologized profusely for doing this. He gave me some Starbucks gift cards in an attempt to make amends however the insult remains. This should have never happened and was completely unprofessional, avoidable and unacceptable. However the most traumatic experience came during the frenectomy. Dr. Garate applied the numbing gel to my gums and let it sit less than 60 seconds before jabbing me with the numbing needle. As it was previously explained to me by one of his assistants, they leave the gel on for far much longer in order to help ease the pain of jabbing you with the numbing needle. Dr. Garate wasted no such time and I felt EVERYTHING. Then came the procedure of the frenectomy, which uses a laser to cut through the muscle tissue in between the front of your two front teeth and behind it. It is literally burning your flesh. When giving post-op instructions for the pain once the numbness wore off, Dr. Garate told me to simply take Ibuprofen. Mind you, I just had the inside of my mouth burned for over 30 minutes. When I tell you this was some of the most excruciating pain I've ever felt in my 48 years on this planet once the numbness wore off...it brought me to tears over several days. I lost 5 pounds due to my inability to eat comfortably due to the pain. I had to call in to be seen way in advance of my scheduled follow up to get relief. Once seen, Dr. Garate halfway admonished me for taking over the counter pain relief remedies such as Orajel when he left me to my own devices as he could only think to suggest Ibuprofen in the aftermath of the frenectomy. Ibuprofen could not touch the pain that ensued from the burn wounds to my inner mouth after this procedure. He then filled stronger pain relief medications on my behalf to my local pharmacist and provided vitamin E pills from the office that he instructed to burst and rub on the area. My question is this, he obviously has done this procedure numerous times in the past. Why not anticipate the pain level and provide prescriptions at the conclusion of the procedure? If not that, why not instruct on the Vitamin E remedy in the least? Why send a burn victim home with dreams of Ibuprofen? Why put a valued patient through this painful ordeal unnecessarily? What amount of Starbucks gift cards could Perfect Smiles distribute to me to make up for what they put me through???

I saw the stellar reviews on Google and decided to schedule an appointment for a cleaning. Here is my personal experience with this service. I believe Dr. David Garate is a very capable dentist however I think there is a practice to overbook his services to the extent of causing extensive delays to his patients. I originally scheduled a routine cleaning but was advised to get a deep cleaning. I inquired about braces and was told I needed a frenectomy before the braces were put on. I followed through with the regular cleaning, the deep cleaning, and the frenectomy. This process took several weeks to complete. Several times I was made to wait to get my procedures started as a hurried Dr. Garate was busy finishing work on previous clients. In one particular instance, once my procedure started, he was so frazzled that he numbed the wrong side of my mouth with the numbing needle. As you can imagine, this is a very painful experience which involves stabbing you in the nerve of your gums with a long needle and injecting the numbing solution. He apologized profusely for doing this. He gave me some Starbucks gift cards in an attempt to make amends however the insult remains. This should have never happened and was completely unprofessional, avoidable and unacceptable. However the most traumatic experience came during the frenectomy. Dr. Garate applied the numbing gel to my gums and let it sit less than 60 seconds before jabbing me with the numbing needle. As it was previously explained to me by one of his assistants, they leave the gel on for far much longer in order to help ease the pain of jabbing you with the numbing needle. Dr. Garate wasted no such time and I felt EVERYTHING. Then came the procedure of the frenectomy, which uses a laser to cut through the muscle tissue in between the front of your two front teeth and behind it. It is literally burning your flesh. When giving post-op instructions for the pain once the numbness wore off, Dr. Garate told me to simply take Ibuprofen. Mind you, I just had the inside of my mouth burned for over 30 minutes. When I tell you this was some of the most excruciating pain I've ever felt in my 48 years on this planet once the numbness wore off...it brought me to tears over several days. I lost 5 pounds due to my inability to eat comfortably due to the pain. I had to call in to be seen way in advance of my scheduled follow up to get relief. Once seen, Dr. Garate halfway admonished me for taking over the counter pain relief remedies such as Orajel when he left me to my own devices as he could only think to suggest Ibuprofen in the aftermath of the frenectomy. Ibuprofen could not touch the pain that ensued from the burn wounds to my inner mouth after this procedure. He then filled stronger pain relief medications on my behalf to my local pharmacist and provided vitamin E pills from the office that he instructed to burst and rub on the area. My question is this, he obviously has done this procedure numerous times in the past. Why not anticipate the pain level and provide prescriptions at the conclusion of the procedure? If not that, why not instruct on the Vitamin E remedy in the least? Why send a burn victim home with dreams of Ibuprofen? Why put a valued patient through this painful ordeal unnecessarily? What amount of Starbucks gift cards could Perfect Smiles distribute to me to make up for what they put me through???

Since my first visit everyone at Perfect Smiles has provided the best care. Dr Garate ensures I am always informed on the best decisions regarding the health of my teeth! No pressure to do unnecessary treatments. The best dental care experiences, I would highly recommend Perfect Smiles!

We have been coming here since 2022 and we absolutely love hpw friendly everyone is. My daughter does not like anything to do with medical but she likes coming here. I have nothing but good things to say!!

I had an emergency dental procedure that Dr. Garate and his team handled with such great care that I would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for a great dentist experience!

I have been a patient for 2 years and never had a complaint. The staff is professional, friendly, and always make me feel comfortable. Prices are fair and the office is clean and well maintained. Appointments are easy to schedule and the wait time most of the time is not long (a few exceptions I had experienced but it wasn’t a problem for me at the moment). The dentist explains everything clearly and makes sure I feel at ease during treatments. I highly recommend this office to anyone looking for quality dental care.