Dentistry By Design

Great work. Didn’t feel a thing the whole time. Honest evaluation and recommendation instead of just doing the most possible and charging for it. Beautiful office and very friendly staff. Highly recommended.

Amazing dentist! Great staff! Beautiful décor — and,
I should know as I was married to a dentist! Dr. Tapia is gentle, honest and patient. She has a wonderful bedside manner, and is always fun to visit with and talk to. Everyone in the office is great —
Finding someone I trusted wasn’t easy after my husband worked on me for over 15 years… I would recommend this office to anyone who wants a great experience and beautiful teeth!

I have always been very happy with the service here. I was referred to Dr. Maria Tapia by a coworker when I moved to LA from San Diego. I have an extensive dental history and have a hard time trusting dentists so I was looking for a quality referral. Thankfully my friend was right. Dr Tapia and her staff are professional, friendly and caring. She has made recommendations to me that I completely agree with but given my bad experiences I am reluctant to move forward with some of those suggestions. She respects my decision and does not push or try to «sell me». That, I can appreciate a lot and know that she will be there to provide great service when I do make the decision to move forward with some major work. I would definitely recommend her to friends, coworkers and family.

I’m SO frustrated with the work done to my son and the communication for the billing. First my son had to go 2 times through operation on his implant because the doctor did not tightened the implanted screw part and the gum healed. Instead of getting apology for such clumsy work and the pain my son had to go through again, we were billed AGAIN for the 2^nd operation or they will deny him the rest of the job needed and the crown.
I called the doctor and the insurance company. in the end the insurance company told me that they would pay for the second operation because it was need (as it is not considered part of the implant.). I set on the phone while the insurance company caled Tapia office requesting docs for the claim. Later I received another bills. I called the insurance again and went through everything again. I then sent email to Dr Tapia to let her know that the insurance claim that claims was not filed and ask her to file them or call me to explain. instead I received collection letter. I called the doctor and left message and have not received reply yet!
I’m not worry that much about the collection but I don’t like owing anyone anything for the principle of it. The whole thing shows doctor who does not care and bad customer service. too bad.

Don’t waste your time with this dental office. There are plenty of friendly and professional and ethical dental office in the neighborhood. Be sure to have second opinion before you start recommended dental work.

I don’t have enough space here to praise Dr. Tapia and her staff so I will get to the point. I came to her with a botched job from another dentist more than a decade ago which cost me one of my permanent teeth. A crown had been placed over a tooth but it was too big so it would let food particles get in a slowly, it completely decayed and partially fell out. Dr. Tapia saw me the same day and super nicely, not at all
judgingly like many other dentists, explained my options: extract the decayed root, bone grafting, and either do an implant or do a bridge. She showed me an instructional video of both options and immediately provided me with their cost in order to evaluate them. I decided to go with the implant, which is more costly, but she also offered interest free financing. I scheduled my surgery and additional dental work for the same day and although I was there for 5 hours, they made sure I was comfortable and the whole thing felt like minutes. Dr. Tapia did my cavities (3 big ones) in almost 2 hours and she talked me through the whole process and explained why it was taking so long to ease my anxiety. Dr. Whang is a sweetheart, after having my cavities done, he proceeded to extract my tooth, do the bone grafting and place the implant — all in less than 2 hours. That evening, Dr. Tapia called my
home to check on me and made sure I was doing okay — who does that nowadays??? I did not swell up or feel any pain, which only shows how well they work. The office staff is fantastic. Maria is a rockstar, she is dynamic, efficient, and so nice to patients of all ages. I saw her chatting up some old ladies and she is such a sweetheart. There is little or no waiting time — they are like clockwork with their appointments: if it is at 11:00, you’re in at 11:02 at the most — it’s nice they don’t make you waste half of your day like others. Becky is one of the dental assistants and she is so sweet, I almost felt like hugging her after my whole ordeal.
They are about to move to a nicer and bigger office, but in my opinion, they don’t need it. Good dentistry is not about flashy offices, it’s about nice friendly staff, and Dr. Tapia and her staff could work out of a box, for all I care, and they would still make you feel like you are their most important patient and that they care. They are truly a fantastic team and have finally found a dentist I can come to every 6 moths (as you should), with a smile on my face.

Dr. Tapia and her staff were fantastic with my 2 ½ year old daughter. She fell down and jammed her baby tooth up into her gums, poor thing. I was so nervous to see how she’d react to a new dentist, because the one she saw a month ago for a cleaning scared her. But, she was all smiles after she left. They were great!
As for the place, it’s very clean and tidy. Not sure how the place looked back in 2010 but I didn’t see one toy or any kind of clutter in the waiting room.
Maria C. at the front desk was also very warm and inviting. She was all smiles and made us feel very comfortable.
All in all, it looks like everyone works together as a team and my daughter and I are very grateful for the professionalism and easiness of what could have been a 2 year old melt down.