Manos de Cristo

I was referred to Manos de Cristo (Hands of Christ) by a government agency. It is one of several places where I looked for affordable dental care. The experience I had there was, to say the least, horrible. The lady at the front desk (Elba) was being very rude to every person in line ahead of me. I overheard her insulting the intelligence of a gentleman and heard her disrespecting another lady that was very disappointed when she found out how much money she owed to the clinic. Elba was very rude to her when she told her bluntly (raising her voice, almost yelling) that there was nothing she cold do to help her. Needless to say, I was already expecting her to yell at me as well. And sure enough, she made me feel like a beggar when I inquired about their services.
A place with such a name (Hands of Christ) should be a little more careful when hiring its employees. I’m a very religious person and was definitely expecting a more humane treatment from a non-​profit organization like this one. And I say humane because I never expected to get anything free from the clinic, but I definitely expect from any organization to treat its clients with respect, dignity, and in the case of a place called Hands of Christ, a minimum amount of empathy and compassion for the sick and poor.
There is no place for a person like Elba in a clinic that uses the name of Christ.
I got my tooth removed at a different clinic. If the front desk is already treating people like that, I don’t want to find out how the surgical procedure would be.

Thank you Dr. Sandoval, Karen and Rose for the wonderful exam and dental experience!!! I also appreciated the ladies at the front desk — they were very helpful and got me in for an appointment that worked with my schedule. I can’t say enough positive things about this team — they know their stuff and help you understand your dental needs. I’ll see you in six months for my check up!!!

The people at the front desk are Clueless !!
Someone needs to train them how to do their job !

The two receptionist are the rudest people I have ever met in my entire life. Those girls doesn’t know how to treat people in a friendly way. It is a pity because I like the doctors, but they are ruining my experience there. It had to say it, enought is enought

This place suck. The dentist are very disrespectful towards you. I mean a patient who just want help

I received exceptional care at Manos de Cristo at a fairly affordable rate. Going to the dentist is never fun but all in all, I had a great experience here.

Thank you for an awesome visit Manos de Cristo Dental Team! The receptionists were respectful and caring, the staff that saw me before the dentist were professional and kind, and a great thank you to Dr. Sandoval who fixed my tooth: when I tell people what happened and show them the work they always say «which one is it?» Thanks Dr Sandoval for giving me a tooth that looks just like the rest of my not so perfect teeth! Most stress-​free dental visit.

The front office receptionist have zero business dealing with the general public. They offer absoluty no customer service especially (Elva) she is very rude and needs to be moved for the front.

New Crown today. Thank you Dr. Sandoval and Emelda, you ROCK! See you again in a few weeks for the next tooth. Looking forward to having you repair all my teeth.

I had a tooth crumble and went to the clinic to get it checked out. They recommended a crown. Dr. Sandoval is an excellent dentist and did great work with taking care of the situation. I felt complete confidence in her competence. Her assistant Imelda was nice as well. The price was very reasonable. I would recommend this clinic.

The doctors are not really experienced but two ladies at the front desk are the worst. They are rude. You can say they hate their job by just looking at them. They ruin the entire experience for you and treat you like you are worthless.
I was standing talking to one of them to let her know that «I have an appointment right now» she didn’t even say hi, she didn’t say anything instead she started to talk on the phone for 5 minutes while I was standing there without even paying attention to me. After that she comes back and she didn’t even bother to apologize for making me stand there.
This has been happening every time, during the last two month, I have come to this place.

Boy, does this place stink and I only got a consultation. Please let me qualify the shockingly bad qualities of this dump categorically.
1) Front Staff: Nice. Not out of their way helpful, but have no complaints. When I told them i had my own X-​rays, they seemed annoyed and insisted I still needed to pay the X-​ray fee. Okay… But worse, they said that if the emailed X-​rays weren’t clear I’d have to get new X-​rays. Again, words I haven’t heard from other dental offices. The tone is starting to set.
2) Dental Nurse: She told me she had 15 years in the profession. I just don’t buy it. She seemed confused and out of ways in simply opening X-​Rays and taking some doctor notes. She appeared so lost. And AGAIN annoyed I had my own X-​rays Scanned.
3) DENTIST NOW it gets good. I had been to an expensive dentist in downtown Austin who had found 3 cavities, so I knew where I was treatment-​wise. I just decided to come here for a cheaper price. This doctor, whose name I wish I knew, magically found an EXTRA SIX CAVITIES, and 3 BABY TEETH. Again, according to this dude I have three baby teeth at 24!!! And whenever he saw these cavities to be extensive he jumped toward root canal without hesitation. I also had a broken tooth which one of the better and longer lasting treatments is a crown. He instead went for the cheaper process of bonding.
I have since moved to California and seen three other dentists all of which laughed at the idea of the baby teeth and only found the original 3 cavities. This dentist made up three baby teeth and six cavities for his own profit. These doctors were in Beverly Hills and would have had no problem taking my money at their egregious prices if applicable. Garbage treatment. I don’t know how this dentist sleeps at night.
4) Cost: You’re checking this place out because you probably heard they are cheap. Let me put you at ease, they are not. Their consultation with X-​Rays is $ 45. A good rate but nothing spectacular. Deals like that exist at most dental offices. Their filling rate seems cheap at $ 135, but most dental offices are similar rates if you drop the dental sedative layer applied to the filling. Without the sedative, most rates are similar. Overall because these charlatans find more problems with your teeth, the entire treatment will be more expensive. At my expensive California Dentist I payed $ 2600 for three fillings and a Zicronium Crown. Here I would have payed $ 2900 for seven fillings and 2 root canals (the imaginary baby teeth had to go to an Oral Surgeon.) Again more expensive, probably shoddy dentist doing shoddy work that was unnecessary.
Verdict: Just don’t go this place. You deserve honest treatment and this place will not offer you that. Let them understand their dishonest measures will lose them customers.

They are wonderful! I was dying (not literally, but it felt like it) from a toothache. They are decently priced and pretty nice. (yeah, I rhymed. Deal.)
I would recommend them if you need dental work and are in a bind.

I just want to start off by saying how absolutely traumatizing & damaging this experience has been to me and my family all because I am «poor» & have no dental insurance… HAD no insurance. This has been 4 months now to complete a root canal, that according to your office manager, the dental staff are completely qualified to do. Which I also realize I am CCing her on this too! :)
I initially went in for what I thought was cavity, turned out I needed fillings & a FEW root canals. I walk in and I am greeted with «Hola como estas? como yo puedo ayudar? «or something of the sort, I can only imagine because I have BROWN skin? I dont speak spanish, I am actually Brazilian, to me felt discriminatory. I had also come in once before just to do the X-​rays and was sent away because I had my baby & was unaware I couldn’t bring her back there with me. waste of gas, time & energy. Not to mention she was incredibly rude at the front desk AGAIN.
Then I had the full exam X-​rays offered to be done when I finally was seen (walk-​in), the dental asst. there 1^st off seemed SO put out that she now had to do more X-​rays on me than originally. After the 1^st dentist said I need to have my fillings possibly reconstructed because they were breaking off (after being pregnant, chewing ice, not seeing a dentist for almost a year…) I was ok with it, this was in september. I scheduled my next appt for October, hoping to get it all done, when I told them I would be scheduling for all of it. she sounded surprised. Unbeknownst to me, there would be MANY appts. involved for one relatively «simple» procedure. (I have a small baby, I have to have my husband take off of work to watch her for numerous appts, costing our single income family to hurt by him missing work.) I really needed something where it was no more than 2 appts. & that was never explained to me until after they started.
When I came in for the appt. & they started to work on one tooth for the root canal, to make a long story short, the file broke off in my tooth. I have never heard of this, nor has this ever happened to me. Not only did the very sweet dentist seem totally shocked and walked off to get advice I’m sure… explained to me what happened, told me that I need to NOW go to a specialist to get it out. I went to payment desk & they told me to go to South Austin Microendodontics & that it would only cost me $ 50 & they will just take it out. I go there the same day to see «Meredith Overstreet DDS» then she looked at it, after I actually was told I had to pay $ 65, and then got NEW xrays, so probably a grand total of 20 Xrays just this day alone. After getting my X-​rays, she then told me to «just go back to Manos, I should be fine & they can just continue the root canal & put a crown on it because it seems the file totally filled the root. OR I can finish the root canal with them for $ 720.» ALL of this after I was told by Manos, that it would only be $ 50 & then removed!
So, I call back to Manos, telling them all of the above. They told me it should only be $ 50, that they would have to call them back & straighten things out. I waited, I think it was about a WEEK later that I heard back from Manos and they told me then, if I go ahead & get it done at Micro. that it would be the $ 250, then come back to Manos after getting the file removed, and they won’t charge me up to the $ 250. I asked to speak with the office manager and she had to call me back. If I recall correctly, this was also ANOTHER week later. Meaning between MY birthday, SONS birthday, I had a temporary filling with a file still in my tooth waiting for this call to tell me what I needed to do! When she did call me and told me THE exact same thing. I asked then would I be responsible for any difference above the $ 250. She didn’t seem to understand what I was asking, I tried to rephrase it, then got frustrated by her telling me the same thing over and over, which was not answering what I was asking. I then hung up out of pure frustration. I didn’t hear back, ever again. Last week was the first time I had called again, requesting my X-​rays to be emailed to me. The lady who answered first spelled my email wrong, so then sent it to the wrong email. The second I called and spoke with today confirmed wrong email. So very possibly someone has my personal info/​X-​rays, its taken longer than 3 days to email them to me, when the other place took 1 minute.
While I still have a temporary filling with the file in my tooth 4 months later. Spent all my money toward getting this worked out & leaving me to not know what to do. The issue wasn’t really the money in the long run, but more the fact that I didn’t want to have to come in to use your facility ever again. Obviously, unlike the office manager said, your staff are not FULLY qualified to do specific procedures… i.e. «obstruction removal»! The office manager couldn’t have been more rude, belittling everything, talking down

This place is so great and really makes me realize that there *are* people in this world who care about others. My mom (who doesn’t have insurance) needed a tooth extracted. We eventually found this place and went during their ‘Emergency Service’ hours Mon 7am-​12. It is a first-​come, first-​serve basis so we got there at 6:45am in case there was a line. There was 1 person waiting and another person showed up at 7am when it opened. They were actually very prompt in seeing her, got X-​rays done and since there was no infection they said they could do the extraction (actually seemed faster than some of the dentists I’ve visited with insurance). I wasn’t in the room with her (waited in the lobby) but my mom said the Dr. and nurses were all great and the extraction went well. While waiting in the lobby I saw many people coming and going and the nurses helping them were all very friendly. We finished up and they gave her some prescriptions and after-​care instructions. The final payment was way cheaper than the other dentists I called asking for quotes (about $ 500 cheaper!). I’m going to donate to this place so they can help others who don’t have insurance. It really is important to have these places to help the poor with simple health/​dental problems. If you are reading this I urge you to donate if you can, you are *really* helping those in need!

Yesterday I had a terrible experience here. I understand that it is a facility geared towards poorer clintel, specifically those of us without health insurance. That, however shouldn’t mean you treat your patients like fast food customers. I have never had an extraction while awake so I didn’t know what to expect. I started having an anxiety attack as the novocain was administered. I was hyperventilating and physically shaking in the chair. THe doctor continued on, unphased by the fact that I was distraught and never thought twice about the fact that my face was shaking while he had a needle in my mouth. He offered no consolation, only a nurse tried to calm me down and reassure me everything would be ok. Onto the extraction… Yet again, hyperventilating and shaking. This mad wouldn’t even take the drill out of my mouth so I could catch my breath. It was an awful experience. If you’re tough as nails its worth it. If you have any second thoughts, spend the extra cash to go to a real dentist.
I was also left with nearly no after care instructions. All I learned I got from the internet… Which can be vague and misleading. With no follow up appointment I’m just hoping this is how it’s supposed to look and feel.
Only reason for the two stars instead of one was the demeanor of the nursing staff and the fact that they’re here to help out those in need.
Will NEVER go back.

This clinic provides excellent care at a reduced rate. The staff is professional and compassionate. I got out of jail 2 years ago with very little money and lots of problems with my teeth. I now have a healthy set of teeth and can’t thank Manos de Cristo enough. Dr. Sandovall is my favorite. She is so thorough and takes time to explain what she’s doing in laymen’s terms. There are no surprises and no pain.

I’m so glad that this dental clinic exists! As a non-​traditional student, I’m too old to be on my parent’s health insurance and too poor to buy my own. Manos De Cristo offers low-​cost dental services like cleanings and fillings. They also offer walk-​in appointments from 7−9am Monday through Thursday. Go early and be prepared to wait for a while, but they’ll get you in. I went after I cracked a molar. They took radiographs, determined that I needed a root canal, and referred me to an endodontic specialist who gave me a 40% discount. I’m not sure how much a cleaning is, but fillings cost about $ 120 each. The staff is very nice.

The dental clinic run by this charitable organization is so badly needed! I’m a working lady without dental insurance and hadn’t seen a dentist in over 5 years due to the expense involved. I found out about MdC through a friend and I am so extremely glad they exist. They took care of the 4 fillings I needed and referred me to an endodontist for a root canal-​and with the referral from the clinic, they gave me 50% off! I would have never been able to afford these services from a typical dentists’ office. The staff is very friendly and efficient. Come prepared to wait for an hour + for your appointments, but with this kind of discount, it’s worth it.

Manos is devoted to empowering individuals through educational programs, food and clothing programs, and a dental clinic so that the working poor in our community can gain dignity and self-​reliance.
Manos offers many opportunities to be involved by providing a helping hand to those in need. It is indeed a unique and rewarding place to volunteer!