Park Smile

We went to my son’s first appointment this morning. He is 2.5 and had face planted off his bike a few days ago and I wanted him checked out. He is already a sensitive dude who hates having his teeth brushed. So, his mouth was still sore and swollen. Our dentist was so great with him, knew exactly how to speak his toddler language and show him all her cool tools. The cleaning was as expecting and he was a little upset but the hygienist could not have handled it more beautifully. I am so grateful to this practice and I would highly recommend it for infants and toddlers.

This may be too detailed. My gum line is quite high. Couple this with a broken crown (real tooth) all the way in the back (tooth #17 for you dental nerds, much respect). This requires multiple threads to pull down the gum line.
Dr. Arlen Vartanian along with Lisa did much more than work on my crown preps. They made a five hour operation comfortable, period, with ample opportunities for breaks and questions.
I am healthier, I am happier, and food is more hackable. Thank you, you live up to the name, Park Smile.

This place is fantastic! Both of my kids got enthusiastic, comforting hygenists, and then the dentist floated in to charm them like Glinda the Good Witch in pink scrubs. As a parent, you are welcome to either wait in the waiting room or come into the room with your child. There was zero wait time. We were in before our appointment time and out the door again within 30 minutes. On a separate visit, we consulted with the orthodonist on staff. We found him personable and professional. Highly, highly recommend! On second thought, maybe this is the Inner Sunset’s best kept secret. ;)

We took our 2 year old daughter here for her first ever dental appointment. We couldn’t have been more happy with her experience. She was treated to the sweetest and most fun possible way to conduct a cleaning. She saw a dental hygienist and a dentist in her visit, and they were expert at making the experience novel, fun, and not at all scary. I am so happy we found Park Smile and that our daughter loved going to the dentist!

So excited to have found this place in my dental network… Thank you once again Unilocal!Seriously, who would have thought that at one point we would all be finding our doctors and dentists and chiropractors on Unilocal?!Well, I’m happy that’s the case because it helped make my daughter’s first dentist appointment an amazing experience.
It was painless to make an appointment over the phone. They even send you email and text message confirmations to remind you of your appointments. This is super helpful because I know I’m not the only mom of a toddler who still claims, «pregnant brain!» when I forget something.
Metered, street parking is the business in this neighborhood. Depending on what time of day it could be easier or harder. For our 11 am appointment it was really easy to nab a space.
The inside of the office is super clean and cute. Plenty of toys and balls and puzzles to let the kids know this is a fun place to be! We got called back in right on time and the assistant did most of the exam. Showed my little baby the toothbrush and fought her way into her mouth to brush her teeth. My daughter doesn’t like people in her personal space, but the assistant was kind and patient and did a great job!
The dentist, Dr. Pearline Chang only came in at the end to look inside babe’s mouth to count her teeth and tell us that they looked all good and healthy. She was SO nice and cute. I like that she was younger because I felt like I could relate to her better.
Overall, I highly recommend and am excited that this is my daughter’s dentist.

My 2 year old son and I had a great experience at Park Smile! The hygienist, Emily, was very patient and introduced him to all the equipment before she got started. She really made getting his teeth cleaned a fun experience!
This was our second time with Dr. Pearline and she had been wonderful both times. She knows how to communicate with kids very well. She always takes the time to answer my questions and gives a full explanation of her answers.
I’m so glad to have this wonderful pediatric dental practice right here in the neighborhood!

We recently moved to the East Bay (including through a tunnel!) and I have actually considered keeping Park Smile as our dentist, by making the ~1hr. trip to the city for appointments. Unfortunately the commute is too far with Kindergarten starting, etc. so we’re leaving the practice. But, I would recommend to nearby families without hesitation based on our experiences.
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Both my sons (now ages 5 and almost 2) had their first dentist visits, along with follow-​ups, with Dr. Pearline. I have nothing but positive feedback about the office, all the staff, the hygienests, and Dr. Pearline.
The office is modern, bright, clean, soothing and kid (and parent)-friendly. Water, tea, coffee, toys, books, magazines available in wait room.
Administration has been easy, including billing, payments, and appointment reminders. I’ve always received prompt correspondence when leaving messages or emails at the office. I had one billing issue where they accidently charged incorrectly for one service, and they quickly cleared this up with my insurance provider.
The kids get cool sunglasses to wear when they sit in the chair. The team made them feel totally at ease. They were calm and sweet with the kids and explained in a child-​friendly vernacular what to expect while working with them. My oldest son had a cavity to fill and I was amazed at how easy the procedure was — I expected some anxiety and there was none from him (just a bit from self watching my child undergo the procedure!) when he was 3 or 4, thanks to the team there! The kids also get excited to select a little token grab-​bag toy at the end of their visit.
Because I was so happy with our experience with Park Smile, I asked if they’d like to visit our preschool as Guest Visitors in the 2013 — 2014 school year. I attended their guest visit with the kids at school, and the preschoolers were all engaged with the special outdoor interactive circle time that Dr. Pearline herself led (along with her hygienist partner) regarding oral hygiene. I can tell how passionate they are about serving children and their families by the efforts they make inside the office and outside of it to spread the message of the importance of oral health in a way that is fun and understandable to their young audience. I have great appreciation for the team there for making my kids not only comfortable but actually looking forward to their dental visits — this is such a great start for them!

Park Smile is located on 9^th and Irving in SF… if you know the city, you know parking can be challenging. But I have still taken my 3 children there for the past 2 years. If your our of quarters for the meter Park Smile will actually pay for the meter for you (just take a photo of the meter # and they will call in or use the computer and give you an hour).
The staff and Dr.‘s are very friendly and understand how to ease my nervous little ones. I have no issues regarding service, technique, or price. The lobby has plenty of magazines and toys to play with. They even offer free mini water bottles and Starbucks Via instant coffee.
As a mother of 3 I sometimes miss a phone call or ignore an email… but Park Smile reminds me via Text Message, Phone, and Email which works out great because it helped manage my otherwise hectic life.

I went with my son for his very first checkup. He was a bit nervous about the whole thing but we walked out of there feeling very satisfied. The service was great and the team that checked his teeth were superfriendly and professional. Thanks!

Had to give a quick review for Dr. Salek (spelling?) at Park Smile. I just had 2 deep cavities drilled and filled and it was painless! My last dentist practically terrified me when I had fillings done. The needles hurt, the drill hurt, everything hurt! This time around I was waiting anxiously for the needle sting and it turned out he was already done with it! By far it was the closest one could come to «enjoying» a dentist visit.

I brought my son here after relocating to this wonderful city in the past year. It was my sons first filling so he was nervous, and my son happens to be a complete goofball but this team handled him so well and have him a great experience. As I have major anxiety when it comes to being seated and people hands in my mouth I jokingly asked Dr. Lebus if he would let me slide in even though it’s a kids practice. Lucky me — as it turns out they have an adult dentist coming onboard. My experience was as pleasurable as going to the dentist can get — they helped me through my anxiety with a smile and they are absolutely top notch with their practice. Bless them — I couldn’t give a higher recommendation.

I have a major issue with a business that asserts «dentistry and orthodontics for all» in its slogan and on its front window, when that simply isn’t the case. I care for a girl on public assistance who has public dental insurance and they refused treatment to her. It is demoralizing to enter a business that says it’s «for all» when it simply isn’t. This girl is in serious need of dental care, and she has insurance, and this business is one of far too many in San Francisco that refuse to serve lower income patients. I understand that businesses need to make profits but to outright refuse to see her was heartbreaking for me.

I choose Dr Lebus after interviewing 3 other Orthodontists because a) he personally spent the time to explain his thinking, b) he was thorough, thoughtful and timely in answering followup email questions (I never heard from the other 2 and 1 after about 3 weeks) and c) I observed he was someone who was thoughtful about his craft.
My braces came off this month and the result is great. My teeth weren’t bad to begin with since I’d had braces as a child (I’m not 50+), but they were misaligned and now they are perfect, perfect, perfect!
He’s professional, competent and cares about his craft. The results so far are great. I’ll post a followup on how the aftercare goes over this next year… I understand that teeth move and so he is now focused on keeping the results we’ve gained.
Net: highly recommended for: 1) results 2) professionalism 3) friendliness 4) 21 century online scheduling and followup … I could avoid the phone 5) mornings were quiet since most of the teenagers come after school.
Yeah!

I do not recommend this place for younger kids if they have any anxieties about going to the dentist. I especially don’t recommend if your child has any sensory issues. They didn’t even try to make it fun or less stressful for my son. My adult dentist’s office is warmer and more child friendly then this place!

Only great experiences here. My 2yo son was recently seen by the dentist for a routine check-​up and he only has good things to say :-)
Beautiful fresh new facility, friendly staff and very clean.

What a difference a year makes! This was our little boy’s 2^nd checkup at Park Smile. During last year’s checkup, I was impressed by the small neighborhood feel of the place, the friendliness of receptionist, the hygienist/​tech who took the time to get to know our little boy and explained thoroughly everything she was going to do, which made him feel at ease, and of course, Dr. Chang who was absolutely great.
Sadly, we went back for his annual checkup yesterday and found the practice to be completely different. This time, the office was swamped with patients; great for the practice I’m sure but not so great for us. There were so many people in the waiting room that the receptionist didn’t even bother greet the people who walked in. We ended up waiting 15 minutes for the appointment, and when our son was finally called by the hygienist, again without so much as a greeting, we were led to the open space in the back and were told to sit down.
Unlike last year, the hygienist whose name we didn’t get as she didn’t even bother to introduce herself started the procedure without explaining or forewarning our son what she was going to do. She didn’t even bother to ask or take into consideration whether he was comfortable, and at one point when she was shoving fluoride into his mouth, I had to interject to see if he was ok.
The whole procedure took less than 10 minutes, «ridiculously fast», as one reviewer mentioned, and depending on how you look it, it can be good or bad thing … in our case, definitely bad as it didn’t appear that she was being all that thorough. We had such a great experience last year, but unfortunately, it seems that the excellent care we’d received has fallen by the wayside.

We brought our twin girls in for their first check up and cleaning. We also brought in our son. Most dentists would have suggested braces, but they said to save the money and do it later.

Dr. Pearline was GREAT with BOTH of my kids, she gave my three year old special attention being that it was his very first dental exam. She was very thorough and instructive with both of them. Made my kids feel so comfortable that they didnt even want to leave. Lol! Superb service! She has our business as long as they continue to accept our insurances. Another PLUS, if you park at the meter, take a picture of the meter number and they will PAY FOR YOUR PARKING! Now who else does that for you in SAN FRANCISCO!!! Thank you Dr. Pearline and staff! We’ll be seeing you again. ;)

I can’t say enough about how wonderful Park Smile is. My 4 year old had to get three sessions of fillings, and I was so nervous about it! But everyone in the office contributed to both of us having a wonderful experience. Susannah helps with everything from billing to parking (yes: they will pay for your meter while you’re at the office!) and is simply lovely, kind and responsive. Dr. Pearline is gentle, does a great job of explaining in kid-​terms what she’s doing and helped make me feel better about the process too. Liz, the tech, is sweet, funny, kind and loving. They were ridiculously fast, too — in and out in barely 30 minutes, and that’s including time for my daughter to pick out stickers!
These three ladies made what could have been a terrifying, traumatic experience into a pleasant, enjoyable time for both myself and my daughter. I highly recommend Park Smile to anyone with a child — I only wish they took adult patients too!

Great experience here, my daughter loves Dr. Pearline, even after a crown! That says a lot!