Value begins with prevention. The least expensive problem to treat is the the one that never happens! We use the prevention protocols established by the UC San Francisco Dental School for all of our patients. (If you would like to see these protocols, either ask us for a printed copy or click here .) We sincerely believe that prevention is the single most important service we provide.

The second part of value is prudence when recommending the replacement of the restorations you already have in your mouth. Because all restorations have a limited lifetime, with an average of only 8 to 10 years, we adhere to the philosophy of. "If it isn't broken, don't fix it!" We are very conservative in our treatment recommendations and try to explain in every situation why something needs to be replaced and what options are available.

The third component of value is the quality of the treatment we provide. One can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup is virtually identical in every way to every other can of the same soup. McDonalds works very hard to ensure that a Big Mac from Los Angeles is the same as a Big Mac from New York.    But dentistry is not like canned soup or Big Macs. Dentistry is a hand-crafted product. Comparing a dental restoration to a piece of artwork is a little pretentious. But the results any dentist, or artist, produces come from that individual's hands, brains, education and experience. We constantly strive to be very good at what we do ... and to continually improve our skills. We are also very conservative by removing the smallest amount of a tooth necessary to eliminate decay and retain the new restoration. To accomplish these objectives, all of our new restorations are chemically bonded to the remaining tooth structure. Modern dentistry is both an art and a science. It requires constant practice and re-education.