Larry M. Wolford, DMD

Prior to deciding to have Dr. Wolford as our surgeon for our 13-​year-​old daughter, I conducted an extensive search including: attendance at a recent world congress on upper airway disorders, previous patient interviews, and consultations with multiple top ENT, pulmonology, pediatric, and sleep medicine physicians. My background is in public health. I know that even the best doctors in a given field can have huge differences in outcomes. I was searching for the best outcome for our child so she would have a lifetime of healthy function for chewing, swallowing, speaking, singing, and most important, breathing. Over the course of five years, our daughter’s upper airway was collapsing and deteriorating due to retractive orthodontics at the age of 8 designed to correct her class II malocclusion. As her teeth were pushed back, upper jaw stretched, and lower teeth left untouched, her airway became severely impaired. There was no longer enough room for her tongue and this crowded the airway. Her teeth and jaws became more misaligned and chewing became difficult. Doctors said she had exercise induced asthma. Worse, some said there was nothing wrong with her! She had so much trouble getting air that she developed sleep apnea and acute anxiety. She could no longer participate in aerobic activities. Our once active, healthy little girl became more withdrawn and suffered from situational depression as her health deteriorated. A year ago, we met with a top dentist in Seattle who took one look at her and said: «Oh my gosh! I don’t know how she can breathe! Her upper airway is almost completely blocked.» The dentist referred us to Dr. William Hang, an orthodontist specializing in non-​retractive orthodontics. He knows that retractive orthodontics can severely impair the upper airway in some patients. After examination, he referred us to Dr. Wolford because it was too late to correct our daughter with just orthodontics. Dr. Wolford ordered an MRI immediately and after a thorough examination he could see that she had only 20 to 50% of a normal upper airway. He prepared a surgical plan that included the need for six months of non-​retractive orthodontics to pull the teeth forward and align them prior to surgery. The goals were to ensure: excellent breathing, proper chewing and swallowing function, and facial balance for a lifetime of improved health. (One dentist had told me that he meets patients all the time who have had double-​jaw surgery. They often have poor breathing and chewing function and look terrible.) It was our goal to prevent that from happening. I continued to research. Dr. Wolford continued to come to the top of the list and was repeatedly known by experts from around the globe as: «Simply THE BEST!» –We also went to the Sleep Medicine Lab at Stanford Medical Center to see the renowned Dr. Christian Guilleminault. He confirmed our daughter had terrible sleep apnea and the same chronic, blocked breathing problems and misalignment issues that Dr. Wolford had diagnosed. Our daughter had surgery three weeks ago. Yesterday, she went back to school. She woke up from surgery being able to breathe fully for the first time in 5 years. She no longer has severe headaches from lack of oxygen and misalignment of her jaws. Her orthognathic surgery has proven to be transformational. Dr. Wolford said that he not only wanted to operate on our daughter to correct her double-​jaw and breathing problems, but to turn her life around; to give her back her happy, healthy life! He did! That is priceless!!! Our daughter says she loves her new face AND, she feels CHEERFUL and ENERGETIC!!! She hasn’t said that in years. When she told another young, prospective patient of Dr. Wolford’s that she awakened from surgery without a headache for the first time in two years, the other patient burst into tears. She hoped she could find the same relief. Dr. Wolford is the most dedicated, compassionate, caring, constantly learning, innovating, humanitarian you could ever meet. His life is devoted to helping his patients get back their happy, productive lives. He constantly innovates and improves on the devices he has invented and the technological advances he has brought to the field. He has earned his reputation and also has the most extraordinary surgical team imaginable. Denise Wolford is the outstanding woman behind the outstanding man. She may be short at times and she usually prefers email over calls, but she is warm, caring, and attentive to their patients. She greets us with reassuring open arms and hugs every time we visit the office, even though they have a very large and busy practice. They are a fantastic team and parents to 5 incredible kids, too. We could not be happier with the results and our daughter’s phenomenal outcome is everything! Dr. Wolford is: «Simply THE BEST!»

The office staff frequently writes reviews. Keep that in mind. It is pretty obvious which ones are written by his family that work in his office. I saw him and he recommended a bunch of surgeries that I did not need. He doesn’t take insurance and expects you to refinance your house to pay him. His office staff include his wife and mother in law.

My sister came here for her jaw surgery. One side of her jaw was growing faster than the other. It was a pretty serious surgery and my parents decided to go with Dr. Wolford due to his experience despite his cost being one heck of a shiny penny.
The customer service is horrible. His wife Denise runs the show, and is money hungry. She has no customer service skills and won’t let you even speak to the doctor. Based on the cost of my sisters surgery, he makes $ 86 every second — you would think he would hire a decent front desk person with all the money he is making.
Save your money, go see someone else.

After consultation with Dr. Wolford I received several other opinions all of which said no surgery was needed for my case. Dr. Wolford’s plan included a very aggressive surgery including TMJ joint replacement, which is irreversible and extremely expensive. If you decide to have a consultation at his office, especially where TMJ surgery is involved, make sure you get at least 2 – 3 other opinions before embarking on any type of surgery he is offering! Other leading specialists in the field confirm that if there is no joint pain and you can function ok, one should never interfere into TMJ, as consequences can be unpredictable and disastrous.

Seems knowledgeable and repeated what I’d heard from other docs however after waiting hours to see him was rather disappointed with the experience. They attempted to have me undergo a unnessary CT scan before he even evaluated me (I even brought other images with me which he didn’t even review). They then charged 3 times more than the other OMF surgeons I’d seen.