Daniel B Armistead, DDS

The best dentist since I have had any dental work done, lets see 45 years? Dr Ulander was there first, then Dr Armistead. He is great his staff are fantastic and what a wonderful place to go and get your teeth taken car of. Great prices, great scheduling.

What a great place to go for dentistry, been going here for so many years. Nice people, good prices, clean facility.

Our family dentist for almost thirty years!

No unnecessary procedures, good bedside manner. Stanford students get a 10% discount. Hygienists are a bit sub-​par though and are not as good as some other dental establishments.

Wow, I never expected that there are ppl out there who wouldnt like Dr. Armistead and his office. I’ve been going to him for more than 10 years, in the process I recommended him to friends who keep him now as their dentist, and also am sending my daughter in for her first check up.
It’s true — he and his office ARE homey, but its the same feeling of calmness and comfort that I get when I waffe the smell of a good apple pie in my kitchen while I’m looking out of the window at the garden. I like that. I dig the fact that the office is in a remodeled Palo Alto house with some other doctors and dentists.
As for his work, no complaints on my part as I’ve had fillings and other work done. He and his hygenists have been gentle enough to keep this scaredy cat coming back.
And as for the other review that said her second dentist found all these other problems with her teeth… please consider that the dentist, like some car mechanics, might be telling her all the «problems» to make more money so that they can pay their rent and insurance. That’s where you have to feel trust in the person who’s handling you, and I have complete trust in Dr. Armistead.

Dan Armistead has been our family dentist for well over 20 years. Simply put, the man is wonderful. His office is old-​fashioned and down home — not like the newer wave of dentists who spend thousands of dollars on Architectural Digest-​inspired décor and whose assistants offer you lemon Calistogas while you wait. His staff have worked with him for years, and so they know you and treat you like real people instead of commodities to be worked on. And Dan himself is like the friendliest person ever — sincere, not phony; welcoming; a good listener; and he actually explains to you what he’s doing as he does it. In fact, he is so good that long after we moved away from Palo Alto, we still drive down from San Francisco for our appointments — and that trip is more than worth it for the level of care he provides. And he’s great with kids.
Case in point: he has a **listed** home phone number for if you need to reach him over the weekend with a dental emergency. And if you’ve ever had one of those, you can probably understand what a lifesaver that can be. What other dentist nowadays would do this?
If you’re looking for an alternative to assembly-​line dentists who are more concerned about being a money mill than providing personalized and caring service, Dr. Armistead is your guy. Trust me. I hardly ever give 5 stars, either. They are no joke.

I’ve been going to Dr. Armistead for a few years and this most recent visit will be my last on if I can help it. I went in to have a cavity drilled and filled for my first time (I’ve been very lucky) and he assured me it wouldn’t be painful, which was reassuring. He stuck me with the novacaine and eventually most of my mouth went slightly numb. During the procedure, however, my tooth and surrounding areas hurt and burned and I was stuck with a grimace on my face. I had to tell him that the drill gets hot — HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT. I told him that if you hold the drill there too long, heat builds up and causes me pain. I feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable advising my dentist. He continued, basically discarding my advice and at a few points I saw smoke coming out of my mouth, correlating very strongly with my pain. That also makes me extremely uncomfortable.
In addition, his office is really just not clean or organized. It’s a dumpy little place and he does not act like a professional. He’s weird and even creepy sometimes with slightly-​too-​personalized questions.
I don’t trust this guy with his job. I don’t trust his assistants. That’s enough to keep me away.

Really nice dentist and staff, can’t complain about their bedside manner. However, he did miss a fracture and several decaying spots around old fillings. A little scary. I really liked their location and all that, but when I got a second opinion and my new dentist found issues with my teeth that Dr. Armistead missed, it was concerning. Dr. Armistead is definitely not one to sell you things you don’t need, which is great, but he also missed 3 cavities that had developed around and under my fillings.

I’ve been going to Dr. Armistead for a year or two and everything has been great. Half of the people at work also go to him and everyone only has good things to say.

I have been going to Dr. Armistead since I’ve had teeth. He is great! I had my first cavity at 21, and my brother had his at 20. He is very gental, and made sure that I couldn’t feel a thing in the couple of preceedures I’ve been through. The dental hygenists are very friendly. Judy is my favorite. Also, a lot of my family goes there… they seem to know more of my extended family news than I do. They do a great job of giving a very personal service.

I’ll admit, I chose Dr. Armistead because my coworker said he was cheap and honest, and while that makes him sound like more of a muffler shop than a dentist, it was true.
And more than that, he’s genuinely friendly and *kind*, which is a nice quality in a dentist, given that he’s wielding sharp metal things near your mouth, and his profession seems to lend itself to sadists.
The office is pretty retro, probably hasn’t been redecorated in a while and there aren’t fancy DVD goggles or anything like that. But there are squirrels running like crazy around the backyard, and his prices are lower than other dentists I’ve been to, so, I’ll happily save the money (and probably frivol it away on shoes.)
Also, they’re right by the Caltrain California St station in Palo Alto, so if you live in the city and work in the south bay (well, my condolences, but anyway,) you might be able to fit your dentist appointments into a car-​free commute.