Neal M. Pham, DDS

Neal, Connie, and Lilly are the best. after years of being told by other dentist my teeth would cost tens of thousands to fix neal has done in months what others said would take years. he’s the best wonderful and caring. I can not sing his praises high enough. He goes above and beyond any dentist I’ve ever met. Even coming in to make me a temporary retainer after my dog ate my other one on a holiday weekend. He has done implants for my husband and his teeth look so wonderful. As I said I can not say enough good things about him.

* Dr. Pham and his staff are like no other. I’ve been going there for long time and have never had anything but an excellent experience. They explain everything they are doing, greet you by name and talk with you as if you are their only patient.
Dr. Pham is a caring patient dentist. He definitely spends quality time with each patient and caters to the individual needs of each. He makes sure you are comfortable and is very detailed in his cleanings. He helped me to relax and numbed me all up for my deep cleaning that I was very anxious about. He is very knowledgeable in both cosmetic and regular dental needs.
* I found Dr. Pham and he did the job PERFECTLY! My entire family goes to him. He also has the friendliest and nicest Staff. I highly recommend.

I just moved to Scripps Ranch/​Mira Mesa area couple months ago. I don’t know much of this area, so I was using Unilocal as a search engine to get around. I found Dr Pham thru Unilocal.His good reviews were true. Dr Pham was very nice. I didn’t have to wait for my appointment, he was right on time. The office was clean, small and private. His staffs were nice too, now he is officially our family dentist in San Diego. :-)

I’m not sure how much of the x-​ray money goes to the dentist office, but it surely feels like Dr. Pham pushes really hard for it every possible time. I have good health insurance coverage and don’t mind paying for x-​rays if they are necessary to perform a dental job, but I don’t want unnecessary radiation in my body. The last time I was in his office I was put in the chair with the protective vest almost instantly and got asked if they can get new x-​rays right after I said «I think one of my fillings came out». I mean… could you check the area with your eyes first?
Yes, he is «friendly». If by that you mean that he tries to chit-​chat while you are with your mouth fully open during a procedure, holding a mirror with one hand and a suction hose with the other, blinded by the bright light on top of your eyes, feeling pain and wanting the procedure to be over as soon as possible. I can barely make a sound with my mouth open! Tell me about your trip to Cancun later, I don’t care.
I’m very disappointed about how Dr. Pham handled my last visit. He’s treated one of my molar fillings twice and part of it came off during the holidays. I scheduled an appointment to look at it. I get into the office and he sets me up to do a cleaning job. I said, «Well, I was really here for the filling only». I guess he didn’t like that his staff doesn’t ask about the purpose of the patient visit and lets him know.
He explains to me that he recommends other options besides a regular filling: «It’s going to break again because of your bite». Well… OK. He says he can prep the molar for a semi-​crown, then he will get one piece «from the lab» and glue it in. That there are three options: gold, metal and zirconia. So far so good, I like where this is going. I asked: «OK, let’s do that. I don’t want a regular filling if it’s not working. What is the difference between a gold, metal and zirconia semi-​crown». He says (I’m not kidding): «One is metallic, the others are not». Well, that was insightful.
After I got the estimated costs out of him and some other more meaningful details besides «one metallic, others not», he says my insurance might not cover that treatment. He estimated somewhere between $ 800 and $ 1000 dollars. I asked if we could find out how much is covered by my insurance, just to get an idea how much I would have to pay out of pocket. He said he would ask Connie to find out and went to the front desk. The assistant went ahead and prep me up for x-​rays. So I asked: «Should we wait to find out how much the procedure is before the x-​rays?». She says: «Oh, the insurance takes too long to respond, maybe three weeks. We can do the x-​rays now, it’s quick.». So I said: «If it’s quick then we can do it next time. I just don’t want to do x-​rays if I’m not doing the procedure. And who knows if more of the filling comes off in three weeks.» Makes sense to me.
So I’m up heading to the front desk to find out how long it would take to get this info from the insurance. Dr. Pham is walking back. I quickly tell him my thoughts. He puts his hand in my back and pushes me –gently– out of the office, saying «We’ll call you». I was not sure what was going on. So at the front desk I asked: «Is everything OK? I feel I’m being rushed out of the office». He says again: «We’ll call you». And leaves me there hanging.
I asked Connie at the front desk: «What happened?». She says: «You didn’t tell us you didn’t want the cleaning». So I guess it’s my fault.
So that’s the end of my visits to Dr. Pham’s office. Try for yourself. And be ready for some chit-​chat and x-​rays.

Dr. Pham and Connie are very professional. They try hard to accommodate my busy schedule. I also like how they remind me of my appointment by texting. I was able to confirm that I got the reminder by texting back. Its little things like that that makes it convenient for busy people like myself. Dr. Pham and Connie are also very gentle. I almost fell asleep while my teeth were being cleaned. That says a lot because I have a lot of plaque build up and sometimes it’s painful when my teeth get cleaned.

Stay far away from this dentist. I started with this dentist in April of this year for something that was supposed to take 2 visits and be ready in 3 weeks. After $ 2,000 paid out of pocket and at least 8 visits later, he refuses to send me my appliance back and will not refund my money. This dentist has no professionalism at all. I only wish I had read the previous review from Nagarjuna S. before my NUMEROUS visits here.

I had my fillings done perfectly by Dr. Pham 15 years ago. I can chew or bite carefree ever since he solved my teeth problems. Dr. Pham has become our family’s lifelong dental advisor. We go back to him for any dental advices whenever it’s needed. He’s a trustworthy and reliable doctor whom is not very easy to have nowadays. I’m grateful for having him in our life and would highly recommend him to anyone who need professional dental treatment.

Dr Pham has been our dentist for over 15 years now, he is the only dentist we trust. I had a baby tooth which didn’t fall (a molar). My previous dentist in OC wanted to pull it out, and I wasn’t sure about that, so a friend of mine referred Dr Pham to me for a second opinion. Dr Pham carefully exam my teeth and he said to save it!!! And he was right! I still have my baby tooth today, it lasted another 15 years. This showed Dr Pham really care about his patients and he will not perform unnecessary job just to make money.
My mom also had a cavity about 12 years ago, her dentist also wanted to pull her tooth. Of course I took her to Dr Pham, Dr Pham did a filling on my mom’s cavity, and it last until today. Dr Pham also filled up the gap of my mom’s anterior teeth. It looked so natural, my mom had a beautiful smile since. He had done a wonderful job for a very reasonable price.
I am just glad we have Dr Pham because he is not just trustworthy, but he is also very skillful and he will try everything to save our teeth!
Thank you, Dr Pham! You are the best dentist!!!

I would not recommend this dentist. He lacks the training and skill for performing basic dental tasks as simple task as a filling: One of my teeth is damaged by drilling, which caused thinning of the wall, then followed by filling dental material, which is applied with uneven excessive force resulting in PERFORATING the molar.
And filled dental material oozed outside solidified and forming an ugly appendage (on X-​ray) pushing against the adjacent tooth. This perforation is assessed by two dental experts as weak site to accumulate bacterial biomass on appendage in a cryptic area that can not be brushed. Upon informing Mr. Pham, he ardently denies any error for ill-​performance or offers an apology and develop hostility to the injured party .
A more serious case is as a general/​cosmetic dentist, he Assumes the task of Root Canal Procedure. One of my molar and front teeth is damaged due to job half done. As the root canals have symmetrical distribution, Mr. Pham left the other part of the canal un-​extracted. The worse happens to the molar tooth with constant pain levels and inflammation.
Two other dentists are consulted on this root canal problem and both assessed that the work is ill-​performed, and should be redone by the original dentist. On this mal– performed job, Mr. Pham is in denial and insisted the job is well performed for reasons (excuses), ruled out by two independent dental experts. I have the root canal work re-​done paying out of pocket since Pham did not refund.
Do not be misguided by his smiley face. 1. Mr. Pham lacks the necessary skill in performing a dental filling by perforating the teeth, 2. ill-​prepared for performing the root canal work. 3. And lack of responsibility to make remedies, and unethical about professional dental practice, disregarding assessment from other professional dentists. I will not recommend such a practitioner to anyone.

My family have been all patients of Dr. Pham’s for over seven years, and he is the best dentist in San Diego County. He goes out of his way to accommodate his patients. My tooth broke in half at 5 pm last night, and by noon today it looked better than it did before it broke!
We used to live close to his office, and then moved to Escondido, and now we live in Temecula. However, no matter where we live, we still drive all the way to Mira Mesa to see him because he treats us like family. I have a friend from work who started seeing Dr. Pham, and now she drives from Murrieta to see him! He’s the BEST!!!

I am so happy that I have found Dr Pham through Unilocal.He is honest, calm and I felt no pain! He is fair and he explains everything. He is very good professional and very friendly too. I don’t have insurance, and I found very fair price because the work in my filling was really beautiful. Thanks for the attention, I am very happy with the result. He is going to be my dentist for my life!

Dr. Pham has been very professional and careness since I has become his patient over a year ago. I have had several procedures done with him including a recent tooth implant. His staffs, especially Ms. Li, and Dr. Pham had explained the procedures and steps quite well from the beginning to the end. The tooth implant took roughly 6 – 7 months process, but it is well worth it at the end. I would recommend to give Dr. Pham a visit to see how well he is treating a patient.

Dr. Pham is the best dentist I’ve ever had! I have been seeing Dr. Pham for 11 years now. I starting going to his office at a time of urgency when I chipped my front teeth and he immediatly fit me into his day.
Dr. Pham, Lilly, and Connie are honest, professional and extrememly nice.

HANDS DOWN the BEST dentist! I had Dr. Pham since I had teeth, but when I had gotten off my parents insurance and onto my own, I had to switch dentists. Worst mistake ever. These other dentists I went to told me I need my wisdom teeth out, but then wouldn’t do the procedure because it was high risk. I had to refill a filling because my teeth grinding wore it down and I ended up having a gap in between my teeth. I went to other dentists and their cleanings were a joke. All they did was polish. I was absolutely devastated. Because of all of this, I’ve decided to just wait until open enrollment and changed back to Dr. Pham. Since I’ve been back, I’ve gotten a night guard for my teeth grinding (I wasn’t even recommended this at my other dentist.) Dr. Pham has told me that since my wisdom teeth didn’t hurt me and they are still under the gum line that I didn’t have to take them out. The choice was up to me, and I clearly did not want to be put under. I recommend everyone! My appointments are very prompt. When I get dental devices they are done very quickly, sometimes even in the same day! Dr. Pham and his staff are very friendly, EXTREMELY GENTLE (I’m a baby when it comes to pain), they always let me know what they are doing and include me in their «how and why» conversations about my teeth, unlike other dentist who just tell you briefly and then do it. I’m just so very very very happy to be back!!!

This dentist is amazing and was recommended by a friend at a time when we needed him the most. I would recommend Dr Pham to anyone looking for a great dentist. The staff are amazing and are always polite and professional.
It all started with my son who desperately needed help with a baby tooth that was stuck and hurt him terribly, the tooth was brown and his gum was all red and inflamed at the time we didn’t know what was going on. Our dentist, who we had been with for over 10 years was unable to squeeze my son into his busy schedule for another week, and we were already having problems with unsavory billing practices like charging us the out-​of-​network prices for procedures that he did as a member of our medical insurance group.
Fate has a funny way of pushing you in the right direction, because since then we have discovered that my son needs braces (which I suspected a year earlier when I saw two canines growing over some from teeth) and my daughter has two massive cavities, one of which was nearly a possible root canal situation.
All this after being a good mother and making sure everyone in our family attended the dentist twice a year and asked the children to brush and floss properly every morning and every night. The problem was the dentist himself never saw the children, it was always the dental hygienist who attended to their dental check-​ups and cleanings.
With Dr Pham this isn’t the case and he is very thorough, yet extremely gentle, as my friend promised he would be. Dr Pham also corrected a cosmetic problem I had with my teeth for years without being expensive or invasive, the previous dentist said the only solution would be to grind my tooth away and insert veneers and the cost was very expensive so I never bothered.
Dr Pham really cares and has a wonderful work ethic that amazes me. I’m very luck to have found him.

Have been going here for a few years now and I’ve never been let down. Neal is a great guy and always explains everything he does before he does it. He really makes me feel comfortable when its time to go to the dentist.
The best part is that I never feel like he’s trying to get me to do more than I need to do which I felt like with past dentists. He also has very good prices if you do not have insurance. All in all I recommend Neal Pham to anyone for any kind of dental work.

I love Dr. Pham! We had him for years until my husband’s insurance changed to an HMO and we could no longer go there. They only accept PPO. Now that he started a new job with a PPO plan, we went back to Dr. Pham. After 2 years of going through unreliable dentists, we are finally back.
The facility is nice and clean. The staff is super friendly. Dr. Pham is very attentive and always ask if you are okay. They listen to my concerns and always provide excellent advice.
I always feel welcome here and never feel pressured into any unnecessary dental work. I highly recommend Dr. Pham.