Altavista Dental

This place always goes above and beyond for my kiddos. We are so thankful to have a dentist office we trust to take care of my kids. The hygienist is super sweet and always remembers my kids. She makes sure they feel comfortable every step of the process.

Altavista dental is one of the best dentist I’ve ever been to, me and my kids love it here. Not only are they a dentist but they take the time to get to know their patients and they are very friendly and consistent with their appointments. They take their time and they are adequate with doing a great job on their patients. Thank you Altavista dental for all you do…

I’ve been there twice so far and nothing but good words to say! They were both very gentle when examining and cleaning my teeth. Everyone that I had come into contact with at the office was polite and professional.

My husband and I both go to Altavista Dental. We love Dr, Fields and his staff. He & his team have done an excellent job with both of us. Kudo's to the Altavista Dental Team!

My Granddaughter went today and she loved the dentist and the staff. She told me they were so nice

Very professional

I had to ask for a vest during my XRAY and it's so unbearably cold in the building that I begged to keep it on so that I didn't turn into a pop-sickle.

I found the staff to be very friendly and pleasant, which certainly helps during a dental visit if you have anxiety. They were forward and proactive with dental tips and asked questions, which I feel is very necessary for any physician and unfortunately something missing from a number of health care facilities these days.

The dentist told me my teeth were lovely which does not discourage a good review. Cheeeeeeeese!

From the outside it appears to be a nice brick dentist office but that changes as soon as you reach the front door. Its dirty and looks like it was kicked in. The waiting area and seating is dank and smells terrible. OMG The door to go back into the treatment area has a sign that says something like "No Weapons or Firearms Past this Point". They requested I pay before I receive treatment. The treatment area had been updated at some point but some of the equipment is old and yellowing. (Nothing like looking up and seeing dirty equipment...ewww)
I was shocked by the lack of maintenance and upkeep of the facility. At least they could put a fresh coat of paint and an air freshener in there. As I sat in the smelly waiting room I almost got up in left but then they called my name.
I give 2 stars only because I feel sorry for some of the staff as they were nice and professional.

I am sharing this on behalf of my father who does not use the internet. The following is his experience he relayed to me and asked me to post for him.

Six months...its been six months, two fittings, and I left without my replacement partial. I was essentially told they were not going to fix it after being promised they would not stop until it was perfect at my consult and first follow up visit.

The first fitting was canceled when they called me to tell me that someone knocked the partial off the shelf and all the teeth popped off so it needed to be sent back for repair. Finally made it in for the first fitting once it came back in and immediately knew it didn't feel right. The teeth were sticking out to far pushing my lip out and I was talking funny. The doctor told me to give it some time to "settle" and come back in and they would make adjustments if needed. She said they would keep at it until it fit properly and I was happy.

I went home and tried my best. I couldn't eat with it. I couldn't talk with it. I couldn't even drink with it in hardly. It didn't fit properly...it was not aligned correctly with my mouth and jaw. I couldn't bite a sandwich, I couldn't eat cereal, I couldn't even drink coffee because it wasn't aligned properly.

I came back in today (14 Mar 2024) and tried to explain that to the doctor all of the issues and was immediately shut down. Was told they were not going to do anything else to it. I said well you said you would fix it until it was right and it's not right. She told me yes it was that I just have to give it time...and then proceeds to say the most abhorrent ableist and on the verge of discriminating thing you can say to a handicap person. You have to give it time, they are not going to be perfect and fit exactly right no matter what I do without breaking it in...its like your artificial leg there. You didn't just get up and start walking with that as soon as they gave it to you have to let it break in. Besides, we did three fittings already.

Excuse me? I used to make artificial legs for a living and if they are made correctly and molded correctly, and adjustments made as the client says they are needed because something doesn't fit correctly....then yes they most certainly do. (Not to mention this is not my first partial, there is no breaking in period they didn't remove teeth...I needed a new one because my old one was over ten years old and it cracked) and this is only the second fitting today, the first was canceled when someone broke it.

She of course denied this, and said nobody broke it. I said then why did your receptionist call and tell me that and cancel the appointment? She had no answer. She kept refusing to fix the partial saying nothing was wrong with it and said she would refund me my out of pocket payment and insurance payments to my insurance.

So...you better believe I'm going to call my insurance company and make sure they are aware this horrible practice and even worse customer service.

Don't waste your time, money, energy, or sanity by going here. And if you have a handicap....beware...the doctor will use it to compare the fact that it is the same as getting used to a replacement partial.

I would leave a zero if I could this is the worst dentist I’ve ever seen. My son was having excruciating pain and they did nothing. Told him to go to a neurologist (for his teeth?). Neurologists don’t CT the mouth so we ended up taking him to an oral surgeon. Oral surgeons only pull teeth now referred to periodontist. Talk about the run a round. Thee office is filthy and should have health department shut them down permanently. You don’t clean dogs ears and then put your hands in someone’s mouth. Gross

Not surprised to see all the negative reviews. I used to be a patient. I had a appointment on a Tuesday and called on a Friday and left a message to cancel my appointment. Altavista Dental said it wasn’t enough time for them and told me, that my family could not come back

If I could give no stars I would. They did not take any consideration for a new patient getting a procedure done and being scared. Not to mention there staff are extremely rude. also don’t try and reschedule your appointment because they will deny you asking. This place is extremely unprofessional and not a good environment all around. Not to mention I feel as if the staff has a thing against “teenagers”. I just don’t think this is a place to continue going especially since they also treat PETS???? At the same place ????? Ear cleanings for dogs!?? Ummm no thank you.

By far the worst dentist office in the area. I don’t know if the Dentist has some sort of ego problem or maybe just doesn’t know how to interact with people. The guy seems really awkward and says weird and creepy things thinking that it’s funny. When you are in the service industry no matter at what capacity your customers should always feel comfortable and secure that the work being performed isn’t a reflection of the how the employee acts around you. Be more professional

This place is absolutely horrible. I had put up with them for my cleanings despite them being unprofessional, but today is the last straw. I went in today to have fillings done. I jerked my head once and the dentist left and never came back in. I have never heard or seen such unacceptable behavior. How are you just going to leave and never come back because someone jerked their head once? You don't try again and explain calmly for your patient to be still? God bless the nice lady that helped me today because she was wonderful. I feel so sorry because the dentist is unprofessional but the ladies that work for him are very nice.

Not to mention I was suppose to get my fillings back in November, and then they had a scheduling conflict. They rescheduled for December and then once again had a scheduling conflict. I had to wait for a little over 2 months for someone to reschedule the appointment. That is after calling repeatedly and them not knowing what to do about it.

I will never ever go back to this place again. The dentist is highly unprofessional and I will be reporting him. I will recommend going somewhere else if you have to. Where the dentist will act like a professional and not have an attitude and refuse to return.

I went in for 3 fillings and left with an open nerve and a busting migraine, now let me enlighten you. The first nurse to come into the room numbed the WRONG SIDE of my mouth, I had to ask the second nurse that came by to numb the correct side because I knew it was the wrong side (this told me they had poor communication throughout the staff in the first place) but I stayed due to how bad I’ve been needing these fillings. The dentist came back and numbed the correct side with the needle numbing stuff, he was very friendly at first!! After they waited for the numbing to come about, the assistant and dentist came back. They didn’t talk me through where they were drilling or what they were doing but I tried to trust they knew what they were doing (I also knew they were in a RUSH to do my 3 fillings because I heard them say they only had 25 minutes to do it) when they started drilling I felt pain and let them know that, because who wouldn’t let your dentist know you’re feeling pain? Right? I asked for more numbing medicine. After asking for more numbing medicine the dentist told me I did not know what I was talking about and that I needed to reschedule (note: my tooth is drilled open at this point but they do not care because they have scheduled people so close together that they did not even have time in the first place to complete my appointment so when they heard they needed to numb me more , they decided to say screw me im on my own) I asked politely (with a half numb mouth so my lips would not cooperate) if we could reschedule and they proceeded to tell me to leave. I asked again to reschedule as they were BACKING ME OUT OF THE DOOR like a group of hyenas and they called THE LAW on me. The police told me they have had many complaints about this place being unprofessional and incompetent. I am honestly surprised the dentist here is allowed to have a open practice at this point. They left me with a OPEN NERVE that can rot and get food stuck in it very easily after all I did was ask for a little bit more numbing medicine, I even said if they couldn’t give me more that it was okay , I understood. They were careless and told me to leave very rudely. This is sad. I am very upset and my tooth is in a lot of pain, I am only 19 and need my smile in life, it’s a shame this dentist opened my tooth up for it to rot faster. Im traveling to charlottesville Monday to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed, I’m praying they will do better. All I have to say about this place is, I’ll probably be seeing you in court. (I have a video of them backing me out like a group of wolves and me calmly just asking to reschedule then they called the law for me recording them acting childish) it’s fine, really the ignorance here is beyond me considering even the law said they were incompetent at this dentistry. To anyone who goes here regularly, God bless you. (I wanted to add that the second young lady who numbed the CORRECT side of my mouth was extremely nice and thank you for being as kind as you were working with people as hateful as you do)

Had them fix a tooth. As soon as the sedation wore off it was really sensitive. Called and called to have them fix it to no response or answer. It's now 4 months later and the tooth they fixed is now accessed and has to be pulled. A big NO thanks to Dr. Fields and his carefree staff.

DO NOT GO HERE EVER. They can’t keep track of their own billing and what customers owe but after telling me I had a $0.00 balance the very next week I get a call from the collections agency! They had no answer as to why I was told I didn’t owe anything other than “we have some new people working”. So you mistakingly told me I had no balance, and called collections on me because you have new employees? Never in my life have I received such bad service. I got a copy of all of my record while I was there which will make my switch to a new dentist that much easier :)

I called to make my son and daughter an appointment. My daughter had been before but my son was going to be a new patient. They never answer the phone. I left a voicemail and called back the next afternoon since I had not heard back. Someone finally answered the phone and when I said what I wanted she asked if I left the voicemail the previous day and when I told her I did, she said something about a change in scheduling and that she would call me back. Never heard back. When my daughter had went before, the staff was very rude. Not good with kids at all.

I went to this dentist office today 9/21/21. And to whomever is reading this review, this was the worst public facility I've ever visited and I will never go there again. I did get there an hour early and found out my appointment was at 10:00am instead of 9:45am..Patients have to wait on their cars. It was pouring down raining and honestly I got tired of waiting so I called into the office around 9:55am to ask how much longer. I see all these other people parking and going straight inside. I calmly told the receptionist that if it was gonna be much longer I would just cancel. Well shortly this Lady named April called me back and very rudely told me that if I didn't want to wait I could go somewhere else..I was shocked when she told me to go somewhere else. She could have said it will be another 15 or 20 minutes. But she came to me with a temper and terrible attitude and I asked for the manager or her boss...she said she was the boss/ manager!!! So for that reason I am posting this situation. If anyone knows this lady... April at Altavista Dental...and how I can make a complaint ....please help me..but if you guys need a dentist please avoid this place....Amy was very nice. If I would have spoke to her I'm sure she would have been a lot more pleasant. Hang in there Amy with a boss as April I'm sure you need all the support you can get..