Chicago dentists suffer online backlash due to California dentist’s viral video

CHICAGO (WGN) – A group of Chicago dentists are experiencing high traffic on their website and social media channels while also receiving backlash for a post made by a California dentist that has now gone viral.

Skyline Smiles has been open for more than a decade, and one of their four locations in Chicagoland happens to be in the West Loop.

Over the last several days, they’ve been trying to clear their name from a doctor in California who has their own practice under the same name. That California doctor is under fire for mocking patients who don’t share her political beliefs.

“I kind of freaked out initially because the video had our website on it,” Dr. Deepak Neduvelil, dentist and co-owner of Skyline Smiles in Chicago, said.

Neduvelil is referencing a now-deleted video which shows Dr. Harleen Grewal of Santa Clarita, California, who also has a dentistry office under the name Skyline Smiles, speaking at a Republican fundraiser and saying that she turns down the laughing gas on her patients who don’t agree with her political views.

Tagged in that video was the Chicago Skyline Smiles office.

“We are not the same company, affiliate, franchise, we’re none of that. We’re completely different entities,” Dr. Priya Patel, dentist and co-owner of Skyline Smiles, said. “I contacted the original poster of the TikTok and they were really nice. They apologized and they reposted it, but in that 45 minutes to an hour the original video with the incorrect website – our website – shot out into the web and now we’re dealing with the viral backlash.”

The office said the fallout has included phone calls, messages and even one-star reviews.

“They’re going to read the reviews and see how people’s experiences are, what they think of us and that’s how they’re going to base coming to our location. As a small business, those are vital. Some of our locations are new and we work really hard to try to get five-star reviews and to get new customers,” Patel said.

Prior to the incident, Neduvelil and his team were aware of the office in California with their trademark name.

“We submitted cease and desist letters to her because she’s using our name and before we wouldn’t be able to enforce our trademark, because people are not confusing our businesses,” Neduvelil said.

However, that has not been the case since the video surfaced.

“If you look at our website and see what we’re about, you’ll see that we don’t align ourselves with that. We take care of people and we do the best dentistry that we can,” Neduvelil said.

Neduvelil and his team have no plans to change the company’s name and are taking things day by day.

They said they have faith in their loyal patients who are familiar with their practice.

Grewal, meanwhile, has not responded to WGN-TV’s request for comment.