Growing Smiles Pediatric Dentistry

Love this dentist office. Wouldn’t take my kids anywhere else! They actually look forward to going to the dentist every 6 months:)

This is an incredible practice. My daughter looks forward to going to the dentist. Dr. Fazilat is a real sweetheart with the kids and very professional. And his staff are just incredible speaking with young kids, going through the appointment. They are real pros at interacting with young children. They could be preschool teachers. You get the impression that he runs a really tight ship, and it makes for a great and quick experience.

I decided to come here because of the Unilocal reviews. My daughter didn’t have the best experience at her last dental visit so I defiantly did not want to take my son there for his first.
Even though it was out of the way for me, I will happily drive my children here from now on.
Everyone was super friendly and informative. I will be recommending this place to friends and family moving forward.

I can’t say enough about Growing smiles! My kids often ask me when they can go back to the dentist! I recommend them to all of my friends.

So awesome! Wonderful and welcoming as soon as you walk in – toys, colors, kids’ chairs, movies, etc. So easy for kids to go there. Both the hygenists and Dr. Fazilat did an amazing job with my daughter – making her feel comfortable, explaining everything, talking to her, making her laugh, showing her the tools, and giving lots of praise and prizes. Dr. Fazilat was also very professional with me, explaining procedures, etc. So glad we go there!

Excellent place for kids, We have been taking our kids for 3+ years and they love going to dentist… I would definitely recommend them.

As usual, best pediatric dentist experience! Kids actually enjoy coming in.
Thanks to Dr. Fazilat and his amazing staff.

Visited for kids regular check up. Very happy with they way they make kids comfortable before treatment. My daughter had bad experience with previous dentist, so we were worried how she will take this but they did awesome job of making her comfortable and doing regular cleanup.

Really appreciate their attention to detail in billing — making sure bills are accurate and clear. Everyone is great with kids — super friendly and positive.

My girls just loved it here! Everyone was super sweet and took the time and effort to insure that I understood what was happening during the appointment and how best to care for their teeth and mouths. Greatly appreciated how knowledgable and gentle they were! Looks like we found the dentist for my girls!!!

I can highly recommend Growing Smiles– friendly and helpful stafff and Dr. Shahram Fazilat is knowledgeable and engaging. The kids get to watch their favorite movies while their teeth are being cleaned. Once done, my kids are reminded with the help of a little dino how to best to brush their teeth. To top it all each kid get a little toy and guess what every single time we leave the dentist office, I leave with two happy children with healthy and clean teeth. Thank you!

Dr. Fazilat also teaches UCSF and taught me when I was in dental school. He was an amazing professor, very knowledgeable and excellent with patients. I would definitely send my kids to him. I visited Growing Smiles Pediatric Dentistry a couple of months ago and I was blown away by their awesome office, quality of care, friendliness, and professionalism. Every child left with a smile and positive impression of going to the dentist. It made me proud of our profession! They are awesome!

I really like Dr. Fazilat and his staff. They’re all great, super sweet and kind. That alone, I would give 5 stars. However, the reason for my 3 star rating, is that I went in to have my daughter’s teeth cleaned (it was a regular checkup). Because the dentist is scary for her and she was crying, he didn’t want to do anything for fear that she may move and get hurt (that makes sense). But all they did was just brush her teeth with a toothbrush which I could have done myself. He didn’t want to use the spinning brush (I think that’s what it’s called) because of her crying and fear of her moving. She also has a cavity. He says the only way for her to get the cavity fixed, is for her to be put under (general anesthesia). She’s been put under a couple times for other major surgeries, but for a tiny cavity, I didn’t think going under would be necessary. He said this is the only way.
I decided to get a second opinion especially after her last visit because he didn’t do the teeth cleaning that I thought he was going to do. I was hesitant because I like this office but thought it wouldn’t hurt. The other place cleaned her teeth (she started off okay, but was crying a lot at the end, but they were okay with it) and now her teeth are finally clean like how they should be. They also said that she wouldn’t have to be put under for her cavity and that it was an easy thing to fix because the cavity is still small, which makes me wonder why Dr. Fazilat insisted that she be put under if we wanted to get that fixed. As a Pediatric dentist, I would assume that they are used to kids crying and would know how to clean the teeth and do whatever in that situation.
Again, the doctor, staff and office are great. I just wished that they would have been able to take care of my child even with her crying.

Our kids love this place and I would say this is the best pediatric dentist place we have ever been to. Dr. Fazilat and his entire team deserve huge praise for such a kid friendly state of the art establishment.

We now have been going to Dr. Fazilat for 2 years and still love it. Both my girls (now ages 3 and 5) enjoy going to the dentist and are excited every time. The dental hygienists have been great with showing the girls how to brush their own teeth. With a little bit of my help, the skills they have learned, and the great regular care at the office, my girls have been cavity free. I continue to recommend Growing Smiles to friends and family regularly cause I can’t express how happy I am to find a dentist office my girls are excited to visit and are treated so well.

Dr. Fazilat and his staff are fantastic! My daughter’s pediatrician recommended Pediatric Dentistry to us. We went there about 3 months ago. They were very sweet and understanding to my daughter, It was her first dentist appointment. Dr. Fazilat and Shana both made her very comfortable. They played a Minnie Mouse movie which was very helpful for distraction.
Dr. Fazilat was very caring and he explained everything in detail. Shadi, his assistant is super helpful and pleasant. My daughter had a very fun experience! They send birthday cards which is very thoughtful and my 3 year old LOVED it! I’m glad I found a great pediatric dentist for my kids! Thank you Dr. Fazilat and staff!

I agree that Dr. Fazilat is great with kids and my 4-​year old enjoys going to the office; however, my experience was that Dr Fazilat was there to make a (big) profit off the children rather than really be partner in the child’s health. When I took my 4-​year old son for a check-​up, he advised me that he had 4 cavities and that I should fill them and didn’t really give me other options. Later when asking other dentists and my pediatrician, I learned that these cavities were really shallow and procedures were ‘optional’. Dr, Fazilat made me feel they were very necessary.
He’s done a great job getting children into his office and has maximized how much money can be made from the insurance companies. The office feels like a money-​making machine.

I’m writing a review to share our experience because I wish, if others experienced what we did, that they would have shared it as well.
My wife and I believe that Growing Smiles Pediatric Dentistry is probably a fine organization in that they are competent and they wouldn’t mistreat your child.
However, we believe the bar for a good dentist is far higher than that. Those are table stakes. The reason for our two star review is that we felt this is a highly profit-​oriented child dentistry workshop. Yes, the service is good. Yes, the finishes, equipment, and child-​friendly atmosphere are nice. But at the end of the day, it was almost like all of that was there to create as inviting an atmosphere to get your child into the dentist-​industrial complex: more treatment, expensive treatment, significant treatment.
We didn’t leave the experience feeling that Dr. Fazilat was an objective advisor of our child’s best interest as much as a profit-​maximizing entity. And, hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that you, the consumer, should know that and make your decisions accordingly.
Hence, this review.
We brought our four year old son in for an exam and cleaning and learned he had a number of cavities. Dr. Fazilat suggested we get them filled. That was no surprise. What was a surprise was that he wanted to do the fillings while our son was under general anesthesia (i.e., completely knocked out).
If you’ve never experienced general anesthesia or aren’t knowledgeable about it, this is a significant medical procedure. The cost quoted was multiple thousands of dollars. More significantly, there are risks.
Now all of that is fine, and it may have been an option we chose to pursue in the end, but we were frustrated because it seemed that Dr. Fazilat wasn’t willing to discuss alternatives. It was his «professional assessment» that our son wouldn’t be willing to sit through a procedure with light sedation (i.e., laughing gas). He based this on his behavior during the exam.
I called Dr. Fazilat to explain that we were concerned and wanted to see if he could try filling a few of the cavities under light sedation. Prior to that, we would talk to our son, explaining what was going to happen and the importance of him sitting still and letting the dentist do his work. If that didn’t work, then we’d know for sure, and we could pursue general anesthesia.
But, no – I actually wasn’t able to talk to Dr. Fazilat. I talked to someone in his office, which was pointless because she just repeated his words. It wasn’t a dialogue so much as a wall between me and the dentist. That was a poor experience. In the end, I said to her that if Dr. Fazilat wasn’t willing to consider an alternative, we would go elsewhere and would generally consider this a poor experience.
Well, the bottom line is that Dr. Fazilat’s «professional assessment» was wrong.
Today, less than a couple months later, our son has had a number of his cavities filled, and it didn’t require general anesthesia. And we’re now working with a dentist that takes the time to explain and explore all of the different options. He’s willing to speak with us whenever we need to chat.
In short, he’s the sort of dentist that we do consider an objective, trusted advisor, and we’re very happy with him.
So my suggestion is that if you’re surprised at the aggressiveness and/​or the cost of the treatment by Dr. Fazilat or his office, please consider getting a second opinion from a dentist that others feel is objective and trustworthy. In our case, we paid out of pocket for that advice, and it was more than worth it.

Dr. Fazilat is amazing for kids. I had to give up my last pediatric dentist because he stopped taking my insurance and I was really sad because I thought he was the best. Turns out, there are some amazing pediatric dentists out there– including Dr. Fazilat.
My boys are shy at 4 years old, but they allowed Dr. Fazilat to work on each of them simultaneously in different chairs, on their own. He and his staff were very friendly and answered all of my questions.
He hands out t-​shirts and let’s them pick out a prize at the end. They watch movies on the ceiling during (although they were more amused about what was going on in their mouths). They go home with a nice little packet of take home dental necessities (also very exciting). They were so excited about this visit that they can’t wait to visit him again. They also like to tell all their friends about him. I’m kind of in shock because I hated the dentist as a kid– I never had a true pediatric dentist and now I see the benefits.

Our 23mo had her first dentist appointment today (recommended by a colleague at work) and it was great experience. The receptionist welcomed her by name as she arrived, the reception area was well stocked with toys, books and video games (was appealing for my husband, too).
Our daughter is great in most situations and she felt very comfortable getting into the chair (she even took her shoes off). There was Mickey Mouse playing on the in room screen to distract our LO. The dental assistant explained everything that would be happening during the appointment to us and our LO so she would know what to expect. If she did get uncomfortable during the examination, they offered us different techniques/​ways to examine kid’s teeth without scaring them. The dental assistant also showed our LO how to brush her teeth with a stuffed donkey with oversized teeth and a huge toothbrush…
Other pluses are prizes for kids + other freebies and fun incentives like wearing the practice’s t-​shirt to the office and get a prize, referral thank you gift, etc.
Can’t wait for the next visit!