Steven A Nerad, DMD

I would have to disagree with every review less than 5 stars. Dr. Nerad is unique in his field in that he’s both a pediatric dentist and an orthodontist. This makes him skilled at identifying and solving orthodontic problems early on so that braces can be either delayed or maybe even not needed at all. My 10 year old child has been Dr. Nerad’s patient for several years and thanks to his skill and methods her teeth are so beautifully straight that she’s always getting compliments. She hasn’t had braces yet, and may down the road for a short period of time, but I’m incredibly happy with her healthy, beautiful smile. And feel free to decline any medication you are not comfortable giving your child. That’s never been a problem. Dr. Nerad also has an incredible bedside manner and my kids love going there!

We just LOVE Dr. Nerad. My boys are 3 and 5. Dr. Nerad has a very calming and reassuring presence. They are never anxious or nervous to go to the dentist. They look forward to it as a visit which makes life so much easier!

Starting with the end in mind, I’ll let you know that this is the worst experience I have had with a medical «professional» in my life. Two words «CASH GRAB.» Only after reviewing these occurrences with other medical professionals did we realize hoe egregiously and boldly this dentist attempts to take advantage of his patients. According to some of the local dentists, apparently stories like this about Dr. Nerad are «his brand».. . no one was shocked about what happened to us when we told them who we were talking about.
Just having moved to Pleasanton, CA, we became victim to this 4 star review. We brought our 5 and 6 year old to see him last year. Actually scheduling the appointment was the first of many challenges. The receptionist (Becky or Rebeccah, I believe) She scheduled the appointments, and we showed up twice at the appointed time only to find out that there was no record of our having an appointment. We were apologized to, and told the receptionist was new the first time. Apparently she didn’t learn by the 2^nd time it happened. If scheduling difficulty was the only challenge, I wouldn’t have even bothered to post on Unilocal.
Here where I believe things get — at best — untoward, and — at worst — borderline criminal. Despite having all of his adolescent teeth, Dr. Nerad explained that we NEEDED to come out of pocket because his grown teeth were bursting to come through and the old teeth weren’t vacating quick enough. Despite seeming counter-​intuitive, we asked them to price it out for us. Becky (?) reported that it would be around $ 300 out of pocket. We asked her if she felt confident that it would be in this range as if it were any higher, our preference would be to wait for these teeth to fall out naturally. She said she is confident it will be within that range, so we went ahead and scheduled. When we got the bill, it was over $ 830. When we called in to discuss the difference, we got an «it is what it is» answer. After letting him know we wouldn’t have gone ahead with the elective procedure had we known it was going to be that price, he conceded to giving us a 3% discount IF we paid by the end of the month in full (YAY.. .$ 24 discount…now I can almost pay for the wasted gas in driving to your office three times for the same appointment!) Turns out, after my son’s teeth were extracted (with A LOT of pain for days), his adult teeth didn’t come in for well over a year afterwards. Leaving him missing front teeth for a year, and without much understanding as to why this was such an emergency when diagnosed.
During the same visit, Dr. Nerad suggested we put my 4 year old girl (all baby teeth) in braces — even prior to her getting her adult teeth. We found that odd, and completely ignored this advice.
After much headache in getting a chance to talk to Dr. Nerad, we were able to get him on the phone. He talked to me like I was one of his toddler patients. Very condescending, patronizing, and unbending.
After bringing our kids to another dentist, we were made aware of how poor our initial selection was. After examining my children, he addressed every bit of «treatment advice» Dr. Nerad gave us as silly. He even suggested that this «doctor» probably took a good look at our insurance policy before making these recommendations. He specifically mentioned that extracting my son’s teeth was completely unnecessary, that putting braces on my daughter @ this age was just silly, and that the doctor was probably using his business acumen more than his medical expertise to make these recommendations.
Of course, Dr. Nerad doesn’t want to talk about anything but the bill collection efforts @ this point (despite my promising him I’d rather go to debtor’s prison than paying him for the pain and attempted robbery he’s caused my family).
If you are still reading this novel, I implore you to benefit from our horrible experience with this joker. He is the epitome of everything that is wrong with our healthcare-​for-​profit system. There are some INCREDIBLE medical professionals in the Tri-​Valley. This is just an old-​school dinosaur desperately clinging on to profits and relevancy.

I am surprised about some of the bad reviews here!
For me and my daughter, 5 yrs old, it was an amazing experience!
My daughter HATES doctors! She was screaming and squirming when she had to get her TB skin test for kindergarten and her pediatrician actually recommended Dr. Nerad to me. Well, I was prepared for the worst because she couldn’t go through a dental visit at a different dentist’s office a few months earlier.
We stepped in about 5 min. late but the receptionist was extremely kind and patient. Another assistant was also very friendly and she explained all the procedure to my daughter when taking her xray. Dr. Nerad blew a balloon out of his rubber glove and drew a face and asked my daughter to finish drawing one eye, which she was happy to do. Then he asked her to hold onto the balloon while he was looking at her teeth (explaining every step of the procedure), which I think really helped her be less nervous– like a comfort doll.
He gave her a sticker prize after her xray and also let her choose a little toy prize after her treatment (reward system).
She didn’t cry or squirm or anything! Amazing!
She was pretty happy and very proud of her first visit to the dentist.
He was a BIG help (since she had some cavities to be treated asap.)!!

Dr. Nerad is great as well as the other staff members. My five year old daughter had two teeth pulled and she told me today was the best day ever! Dr. Nerad was very kind and thoughtful. She was well entertained during the procedure and to top it off Dr. Nerad called me to check in on my daughter after his very hard and long day of work. I would highly recommend this dentist.

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! Dr. Nerad and his staff are simply amazing… Growing up in Pleasanton, seems like every one of my friends went to Dr. Nerad. I’ve know Dr. Nerad since 1995, when my family moved to Pleasanton and he and his staff have taken the best care of my teeth through all these years. They have always been so patient and attentive to details and thanks to their work I have perfect and healthy teeth as an adult. Over the years, with EVERY visit Dr. Nerad always remembered what I was up to — from elementary, middle and highschool through college — always with encouraging words. Needless to say, ortho appts flew by! In 2009, I got married and we were happy to have Dr. Nerad there to celebrate with us! Afterall, it was thanks to him and his staff that I had a perfect smile that day! I’ve since moved to San Diego, and haven’t been able to find a dental office to the standards of Dr. Nerad and his staff, so I picked up the phone and (kind of embarassingly) called to see if they had any openings for cleanings as I would be taking a last minute trip to Pleasanton. Mind you, I had pre-​planned the explanation I was about to give, on how I’d been a patient for years yada yada yada… To my surprise, Debbie picked up the phone, and immediately after I introduced myself, she replies with a big over-​the-​phone smile «Hi Barbara, how’ve you been?». When I apologized for being so old and still calling for a cleaning (since I haven’t had a great one here in SD), she laughed and told me not to worry as they have older pts than me! She made me feel so happy, that after all these years they still remembered me. I know that within the next few years when we have kids, we’ll be taking trips up to Pleasanton to see my folks and to go to Dr. Nerad’s office!

I went to Dr. Nerad because he came to my kids’ school and they sound so excited about him that I decided to give him a shot. Unfortunately, I was running 5 min late so when i came in, everything was rushed and messy and Debbie at the front didn’t do anything to make me feel better. We were taken right away in the treatment room, which from there my 2 kids were separated (even though I took 2 separated appointment one after another). I had no clue what was going to happen. I normally have one kid taken after another so I can check and understand what is done to them. My little one (3 y. o) was taken for X-​rays when I specified that he had already done X-​rays 6 months ago and that the previous dentist should have forwarded them. By the time they found the X-​rays, they were already done taking theirs! In the meantime, my 5 y.o. is with someone else getting his teeth checked and cleaned but my little one is so scared I can’t go check how the job is done. Then Rebecca forces my little one, who is extremely shy and doesn’t warm up quickly with strangers, to sit down on the chair and starts threatening him to send me in the waiting room if he doesn’t cooperate. What a way to warm up a 3 y. o! Of course, his reaction was to cry and hold me tight. I got the look from Rebecca who made me understand that I’d better make him cooperate or things could turn sour for everyone. Then when they were done with my oldest, they took him for X-​rays saying that his previous X-​rays were not readable (of course!) So here you go another set of X-​rays for young kids who never had a cavity so far and whose teeth look really good! And for those who will defend the fact that sometimes you can’t see cavities, I still believe exposing kids to X-​rays every 6 month is a bit too much and he could have waited next session. By the time we were done, their teeth didn’t even look they had been cleaned properly. Then Dr. Nerad took me apart to show me the X-​rays and you want to know what the news was??? My kids will need brasses because their adult teeth don’t have enough space. (I can understand that experience can help you forecast, but making such a firm diagnostic so early sounds really pushy). I was shocked that it was even a topic for now. They are still years away from losing their baby teeth and they are are so spaced that I can’t imagine that it can happen. And even if it happens, it’s not happening until many, many years. So don’t you have anything else to say??? Oh yes, he did mention they have an over bite, which honestly I don’t see and again I would rather wait for their adult teeth to come up with such a diagnostic! Bottom line, if my kids need brasses one day, he is not the one who will take care of them!

This was my experience with Dr Nerads office. Once you step back to where the children are treated there are chairs lined up and kids waiting in them to see the Dr. (Think Quantity not Quality) My 17 year old son was giving laughing gas (of course out of pocket expense to me, thanks!) and when I did not want to go for the extra service of sealing his molars (which he’s already had) I was called to the back while my son was in the chair Dr. Nerad insisted my son open his mouth and berating told me to look in and gave me the old guilt trip of not doing it. I’m VERY adverse to medical stuff and squeamish and did not appreciate that at ALL (especially in front of my child) The billing and front office clerk Debbie is beyond rude and seriously borderline harassing regarding phone calls. Constantly calling to change appointment to accommodate THEIR schedule. (Even when you sit in the waiting room waiting for your kids she’s speed dialing tons of people) We made the mistake of visiting this office ONCE and will not be back again. I took my 5 children elsewhere. Too bad because they missed out on providing two sets of braces for my teens and treating my other children. This office needs to understand there are PAGES of Dentists and Orthodontists out there for customers to choose from and the customer should be treated kindly.
**Let me also add I checked my credit report and discovered that this Office reported a Collection account for a unpaid bill WHICH WAS PAID!!! I had to dispute the item and have it removed due to their error, They’re aggressively hostile and retaliatory for not liking their business**
**MAKE SURE TO CLICK ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM AND CLICK ON THE FILTERED REVIEWS WHERE YOU WILL FIND MORE UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS**

We were referred to Dr. Nerad by my dentist after DD had a nasty fall and injured her mouth. He was very gentle and took the time to explain the prognosis for her injury. We were very worried she was going to lose some teeth, but fortunately they healed nicely. The office staff and hygienists are very friendly and the office is very kid-​friendly.

I can’t believe Dr. Nerad has no reviews! Everyone I know has their kids go to him for dentistry. Well, we love him. We love his new office even more. Very kid friendly, with a TV and playhouse/​block area in the waiting room, a Wii in the back room to play while waiting there, and TVs at every chair for the kids to watch. Dr. Nerad is so nice, he is extremely calm and soft spoken, and most of all PATIENT. His assistants are fantastic, they have worked there at least since we started seeing him about 5 years ago. Debbie, the receptionist, is extremely helpful. We changed dentists (we were seeing a pediatric dentist in Hayward) because my son needed a filling and the doctor we were seeing required the kids to have a mummy wrap for the procedure and I wasn’t allowed in the room! We high tailed it out of there before my kid could be subjected to such torture. What a way to make your kid hate the dentist! We found Dr. Nerad and he doesn’t use a mummy wrap except in extreme conditions, he said probably 1 – 2 a year, and I have always been able to be with my son no matter what procedure he is having done. They totally understand and it has never been an issue. I recommend him to all my friends. I have had some people tell me they think he recommends braces too often and too young, but he had told me my son would need preliminary braces and now has said he won’t need them til 12 or so after all, so I feel he only suggests braces when necessary and appropriate.