Lakeside Dental Care in San Francisco, CA: A Review

Lakeside Dental is really the best of both worlds - you get the skill and patient care of a more pricey dentist, but at some of the most reasonable prices that I've seen in the area.

It's tucked away in the upper levels of the Lakeside Medical complex on Ocean Avenue, just off of 19th Avenue about halfway between Stern Grove and Stonestown Galleria. Appointments are fairly easy to get within two to three weeks, and they do offer emergency service as well.

Personally, I don't have dental insurance and haven't for quite some time. So I pay straight cash for dental care, and thus pricing is important enough for me to shop around quite a bit. But from what I've been hearing from insured friends and seeing on the web, this place is good about taking a wide range of different insurance and really works with you to get something done as far as reasonable payment in whatever your situation is. I can't rattle off what they charge for every procedure, but I can tell you that an initial consult and a simple tooth extraction without complications here is $185, where two other dentists in town told me I'd have to go to an oral surgeon of theirs and I'd have to pay $350-400 not counting the exam/consult fee.

Everyone I've run into who works here is really sweet and considerate, and the whole office seems to be designed to put you at ease. The lobby is comfortable and once you're in the dental chair, since you're up on the second floor, you have a nice peaceful view over the buildings across the street of trees and a hill.

The doctors here are the Lowes, a husband-wife team, and Tim Ng. I had Arthur Lowe for my procedure and he was awesome. He just listens to what you need and doesn't try to push the hard sell on any extra services. He was also exceedingly gentle and concerned about not causing discomfort. I basically had a wisdom tooth removed the old-fashioned way, by shooting up the area with local anesthetic and wiggling it out by hand with forceps. I felt no pain whatsoever through the whole thing, just tugging, and recovered completely in less than two days with no complications. Hell, I didn't even really gag at all, which I usually have a problem with at the dentist. From what I hear, the other two doctors are equally good.

Even though I now live about 50 miles away from the city, I'm keeping Lakeside Dental as my regular dentist and will make the commute in just to see them. They really make the whole stressful dental thing seem like such a breeze.