Dean L Duncan and Eric M Scharf, DDS

Our 7 year old son had an extra tooth. Never fun news to learn that your child will have to have oral surgery to remove it. We scheduled it and Dr. Duncan’s office walked us through everything. The morning of, they put us at ease, gave our son a little juice to calm his nervous and even put on a movie for him. The whole procedure took no more than 15 mins but the pre-​post op was where the kind caring and attentive staff were troopers. They stayed with us, monitored our son the whole time and had the best equipment to make sure he was healthy, safe and doing well. Dr. Duncan even called us that night to make sure our son was feeling well and recovering. I would highly recommend Dr. Dean Duncan to any and all patients, young or old. The staff in the office are top notch as well. Kudos and thanks for handling our son’s surgery so seamlessly!

Awesome experience from beginning to end. Recovery nurse was awesome. I will always refer this office.

Like seriously Dr S. Yo, That’s my MF dude. This guy took out 8 teeth. All my wisdoms and a few other I had cracked from fighting semi pro. I have felt more pain stepping on Legos. They put me under woke up 90 min later hit the recovery room and was chilling and stuff. I’m not gonna lie I was scared as F worried I’d wake up feeling like Taz tore through my nouth, but nope. I was eating McDonald’s fries and milkshakes 2 hours later. And this morning heading to go do a volunteer shift for 12 hours. No swelling. This place is like a boutique office. Nice clean l. Friendly staff. It’s a few dollars more than some other places but shoot the work done they shorting their own pockets. I’m happier than a well Fckd fox in a pepper patch.

Want to start out by saying that Dr. Scharf was a wonderful doctor, and I did not experience anywhere NEAR the amount of discomfort I thought I would. I wish him very well.
That being said, I found the experience to be entrapping in the end. When I sat down for my consultation I was very concerned about the out of pocket cost vs what the insurance would pay, and I was assured that although my insurance carrier sometimes denies claims we could appeal. what I was not told was the truth. I was told my insurance carrier was difficult, and that West Portal O&F may not longer work with them in the future. Now I’ve found out they weren’t networked with them (at the time of my procedure), and I’ve also found out that the ADA (American Dental Association) are the ones who have deemed wisdom teeth removal as an elective procedure, not Anthem. I went on to discover that a response to a pre-​approval request their office submitted was denied for lack of information, and a request was made for further information. I’ve since learned that no response was ever given to that request.
That may all seem very bureaucratic, but the long story short is this: without the response to the request for more information my insurance carrier wasn’t given an opportunity to deny the procedure, which they ultimately did. Essentially, this allowed West Portal O&F to perform the procedure while I assumed that the insurance carrier would pay, and while I agreed to it, had I known
The moral of my story is simple: Call your insurance carrier yourself, or the reassurances of a cherubic blonde woman will mislead you into believing she is more help than she actually is. While my experience shows a competent medical staff, it seems their support staff are just not trustworthy. Every time I called, puzzled, for help with this they were more inclined to ask when I was going to pay them, rather than offer any assistance with my insurance woes. My experience has lead me to believe the whole process was engineered this way so they could make a lousy $ 2000.
I write this not as a ranting fool angry over his lost money, I write this as a consumer giving feed back: I feel scammed, in the worst way, and they don’t seem to care. If you plan to seek their services ask the right questions: will my insurance cover this/​when will we know for sure/​what will happen afterward/​how much am I ultimately (possibly) responsible for, and then call your insurance carrier and ask them the same. One reply to a request for information and I wouldn’t be writing this, but if they had they wouldn’t have performed the procedure. With that in mind I ask you, who benefited?
PS – haven’t noticed the difference without my wisdom teeth, probably never will.
(if you’ve had a similar experience I suggest filing a compliant with the Dental Board of California, maybe that will teach them to monitor their due diligence.)

Well Dr. Duncan has now removed the wisdom teeth of both my son and daughter. Recently, it was my daughter. I highly recommend Dr. Duncan and his wonderful staff. It is a pretty traumatic experience to have your wisdom teeth pulled. They were very gentle and reassuring to my daughter when she started having a lot of anxiety when they were prepping her. Afterwards, when I needed them to help me as Laura was having problems the staff was patient and very informative. This is the place to go when you need your wisdom teeth removed. They are there for you during and after the surgery.

The staff was extremely attentive, courteous and professional at every interaction. Follow up phone calls and text messages were helpful before and after each appointment. Everything was explained carefully and every question answered. The surgery was routine and calm. The free coffee from Peets was a treat while I waited during my son’s surgery. I watched the staff greet every person in the same welcoming way. His recovery went really well, because Dr. Scharf and the staff prepared us very well. I felt like I could recognize and handle any complication and stage of the recovery and we had everything we needed from extra gauze, medications and a handy reference sheet. They truly went above and beyond to make this as easy and as pleasant as it could be.

Great work but even better staff that genuinely care about each patient.

I can’t say enough about how great this team is! My daughter had a wisdom tooth that had grown into the molar in front of it and cracked it and of course the resulting pain came on a Friday! After calling around to find an Oral surgeon (I was referred to one but luckily I checked Unilocal and steered clear) I found Dr. Duncan and his wonderful staff. They were quick to get her in and take care of her immediately. The follow up call was a welcome relief to know they cared and the front staff was ever so patient with me and my insurance. Great job, thank you so much and I will continue to tell people of our great experience with you guys!

This is my first review… I don’t do reviews but felt Dr. Duncan deserves a Hip Hip Hooray!!! I’m so appreciative to have been referred to him. My very front tooth died on me and it became very infected. It had to be removed. I spoke to an orthodontist and she corresponded with Dr. Duncan. There was now a plan in place. I needed an implant. I got the implant and crown. I’m so happy to have a tooth again. More happy to be rid of that retainer. It served its purpose. I had my implant placed without sedation. Dr. Duncan walked me through every step. No surprises. Very gentle. Dr. Duncan and staff are professional, upbeat and very pleasant. I highly recommend being referred to his office. Dr. Duncan thank you

Samantha from Dr. Duncan called today after auditing accts from last month and came upon my complaint. She called to let me know that that is not the way they treat a patient. She explained that they do take all coverages but is not in the Aetna network. They would have been more thorough with explaining the coverage if my son was not in so much pain and needed immediate attention. I thanked her for the explanation and she also refunded me the last portion that Aetna would not cover. She said that is not how they make money and she asked how my son was doing. I told her that even though they are not in the Aetna network, if my son should be in need of more extractions and he will, he has 3 other wisdom teeth, we are coming back with our eyes wide open knowing that we will be paying a bit more out of pocket because we were treated with respect. Thank you Samantha

Dr. Scharf and team were awesome! They took me in for an emergency visit when my tooth abscessed underneath the crown and my face swell up like a grapefruit!
I was in so much pain! Dr. Scharf turned out to be not only a very reasonable down to earth person but a great surgeon too, I was in and out of surgery and on my way to recovery! I received top quality care and as a result healed very quickly!
Dr. Scharf even called and left a message to see how I was doing after surgery!
Thank you!

Dr. Duncan did excellent surgery on both my son and husband. The office is very professional and everyone that works there are very nice.

I just want to thank Dr. Scharf, for the wonderful work he did on my 2 left upper and lower wisdom tooth removal. I had him remove my 2 teeth this Tuesday. The level of professionalism was amazing. FIRST OFF LET ME START BY TALKING ABOUT LAURA (front office) when I called on Friday telling her I needed to see a surgeon to remove my teeth and explained to her how terrified I was from my previous experience with another clinic, she calmed me down, took the time to talk to me, explained a little about Dr. Scharf, and really helped me calm down. When I came in for my appt. With the Doctor, he looked over my pano, checked out my teeth, and let me know the options, that I had to remove them. He was straight forward, was not pushing for the most expensive option, he was very kind and professional.
The next day when I came in for surgery, EVERYONE was so sweet, nice, and professional. I kept telling them I was scared of needles and they even numbed my arm before they injected me.
The way the doctor and office staff took care of me was amazing. Thank you thank you 100 times to them!!!
Too bad I didn’t know about them the first 2 times I had my other teeth removed.
I highly recommend this office, and Dr. Scharf!
I can’t thank them enough!!!

When I was about 14, I had my 12 year molars pulled by Duncan (my baby teeth molars weren’t coming out of their own accord). Easy and painless.
Came back again for my wisdom teeth. My wisdom teeth were full bony (completely encased by jawbone) and dangerously close to my nerves– Dr. Duncan sent me for a CT scan, at nearby C-​Dental X-​Ray, to map the location of my nerves in more detail.
It takes a little longer to heal from full bony extraction, so I had the two on my right side done first, and then, a month later, went back for the two on my left side. I wanted to be able to eat normally on one side of my mouth at any given time.
Duncan’s office sends you home with an icepack, an irrigation syringe, and written instructions on recovery. And your wisdom teeth in a little bottle! Duncan and his assistant Joanie were very helpful :) I was fading in and out of reality, coming out of the anesthesia, so I had my parents there to help me remember stuff, get in the car, etc. :P
No nerve damage!!! Thank you Dr. Duncan!!! I can still feel my lips/​tongue, and I can still enjoy the food that brought me to Unilocal ;)

Dr. Duncan did my wisdom teeth extraction this morning (all 4 had to go). all i can tell you is that it was a breeze. i was nervous about to whole procedure and was loosing sleep over it weeks before but after the surgery i realized all my worries were for nothing. he is a great surgeon, very friendly. also one of the reasons i wanted him to do mine was his extensive experience in his field. his staff was also very helpful and friendly. if you are getting your wisdom i strongly suggest going under IV (AKA deep conscious sedation) and when u open your eyes it will be all over. one more and this might be only true for my case. i only experienced some bleeding until late afternoon and it pretty much stopped after that. i was literally able to eat normal hard food tonight. also all the pain drugs that i got was just going stay in the fridge cause i am only experiencing minor pain and that’s only when i wide open my jaw.
I strongly recommend him for your dental operations.
Thank you Dr. Duncan and your team!

This office makes oral surgery fun! Dr. Scharf was incredibly personable and efficient. The entire office runs so smoothly that I’ve never even had time to read a magazine in their wait room before being called in. I got a dental implant, and the procedure was quick and painless. They even let me pick a Pandora station to keep me relaxed. The doctor also gave me a call the night of my surgery to check up on me. What a nice touch!

Dr. Scharf was very great! I had a wisdom tooth that was causing me a lot of pain that I didn’t get out while I was younger. I was referred over to him from my dentist and I got a same day appointment with my tooth out in about 5 minutes! I will say that I got it out around 2:30pm today and its 8:30pm and I feel BACK TO NORMAL! I feel great! You would have never known I just had a tooth extracted. I am very pleased with this place and I will be coming back if I ever need to. To say the least, this was such a great experience! I am usually terrified of dental offices, but the entire staff is warm and welcoming :)

I recently had all 4 wisdom teeth removed by Dr. Scharf and his team. All in all, it was a very easy and pleasant experience.
The initial consultation was prompt – the assistants do a quick overview of your health chart, you watch a terrible video that seems to date from the 90s about the procedure, and then Dr. Scharf goes over your specific case with you – I stopped in on my way to work and wasn’t a minute late. Also, I can’t swallow pills and Dr. Scharf was great about finding me alternatives for my pre– and post-​medicine. I left with a note about what to do the day of (don’t eat), 2 prescriptions for post-​operation medicine, and 2 medicines to take pre-​operation.
They were able to schedule my appointment not too long after (in time to use the insurance flex spend account before year’s end) and even with a small delay (I ate applesauce with my pills so we waited a bit for digestion before I went under anesthesia), it was a very quick process.
I left with the funny head wrap, basically an elasticized band that wraps around your head with 2 pockets to hold ice packs on your cheeks, my 4 in-​tact teeth, and a bit of wooziness.
The recovery was (so far) easy and smooth. No swelling, minimal pain (the worst of it was actually the 2^nd/​3^rd day, when my mouth just felt tired/​sore) and all at a very affordable price. (FWIW, I had previously had a consultation for wisdom teeth removal at an oral surgeon in San Jose and it was quoted much, much higher). I’d highly recommend Dr. Scharf and this office. They were a pleasure to work with.

I had all four wisdom teeth extracted by Dr. Duncan a couple weeks ago, and so far everything has gone well. I chose to stay awake during the surgery, which worked out well for me because I liked being able to easily walk out right after the procedure (with ice wrapped around face and a mouthful of gauze). The drilling was the only thing that got me a little nervous, but I trusted him. The provided head wrap with little ice packs was great to have. I had bought ice packs ahead of time, but this was way better. I had very little swelling and no bruising despite the violence committed against my jaw.
Dr. Duncan is a busy guy so he seems to be rushing around all the time and just a little distracted, but it’s not a big deal. The instructions given after the procedure could have been just a little clearer. I wanted to ask questions but couldn’t because my tongue/​mouth was numb and my mouth was full bloody gauze. Just little things like when do I stop doing the mouth rinses, do I have to use the squirter on all sockets, when can I start brushing all the way back?
These are very minor issues, which is why I still give 5 stars. What matters is I survived and hardly suffered.
Thanks Dr. Duncan and team!

A few days ago I had my two lower wisdom teeth removed and had no problems at all with the whole experience. I’ll document what I went through here; hopefully this can help potential patients make informed decisions.
I was referred to West Portal OFSC by Dr. Ho from All Smiles Dental down the street. I don’t have dental insurance, so everything was paid completely out-​of-​pocket.
The consultation cost $ 90. I brought my own X-​rays, so there wasn’t an extra cost for taking any. The consultation was fast and professional. I watched an informational video, then saw Dr. Scharf. After reviewing my X-​rays, he noted that my two bottom wisdom teeth were fully bony impacted (growing sideways and surrounded by bone), but my top two didn’t seem to pose any current nor near-​future problems. He recommended that I get the bottom two removed, and said that the top two were up to me. I appreciated that I wasn’t pushed to get all four removed. Dr. Scharf also went over the possible side effects, details of recovery, anesthesia options, answered my questions, then gave me antibiotics and antianxiety meds to take on the day of the surgery, as well as prescriptions for the post-​op meds so I could get them prepared.
Then I went to the woman who takes care of billing and scheduling the surgery. She was very kind and laid out all of my options. Since my teeth were all full boned impacted, it would be $ 470 per tooth. General anesthesia was $ 450 extra, also local numbing anesthesia was free with the procedure. (Everyone recommended general anesthesia to put me to sleep during the surgery). The total came out to over $ 2000, which gave me a bit of sticker shock. The financial advisor gracefully left the room for a few minutes while I discussed my options with my boyfriend and mother. I ended up deciding to get only the bottom two extracted with local anesthesia. In a stroke of luck, I was able to get my surgery scheduled for the next morning (I wanted those bad boys OUT ASAP).
On the day of the surgery, I was in and out of there in about 45 minutes total. Dr. Scharf and his assistant were very attentive, timely, and I experienced minimal pain (gotta admit, I’m kind of proud of being awake for the whole thing!). After the surgery, I was given some ice and instructions (written & oral) on how to proceed for recovery. They sewed up my gums with dissolving stitches so no follow-​up appointment was necessary. Later that night, Dr. Scharf called me to check how I was doing.
Everyone’s case is unique, but my recovery has been pretty smooth so far. The bleeding stopped within about 3 hours of the surgery and I experienced minimal pain and swelling the following 3 days. I also tried not to rely on the pain meds too much. The liquid/​soft food diet is probably the worst part!
Miscellaneous points:
— I was impressed with the communication. I was encouraged to ask questions and call the office if anything at all came up. I felt pretty informed of the procedure.
— Easy parking in this area is a godsend.
If I don’t write an update of this review in a few weeks, remind me!