Steven J Baldwin, DDS

I saw Dr. Baldwin today and was impressed. He’s professional, straight-​forward (doesn’t oversell services or procedures like some of the dentists I’ve seen in the past), and didn’t force me to take x-​rays since I had a set for last year from my old dentist.
He taught me more than I’ve ever learned during a dentist visit as well. He seems like he honestly wants to keep you healthy and out of his office which is exactly what I wanted and needed.
I’m excited to call Dr. Baldwin my new dentist.

I may be crazy, but I drive two hours to see him, and take my kids to him as well.

I visited Dr. Baldwin’s office in San Francisco for the first time last week. I had been going to a dentist who recently moved and recommended that I start visiting Dr. Baldwin for my regular cleanings.
Most of the dentists I’ve had in the past have been eager to do fillings, recommend expensive deep cleanings, and projected a sense general annoyance in my inability to care for «their teeth» that just happen to live in my mouth.
This is not the case with Dr. Baldwin. He is focused on preventative care, and hesitates to do any dental work on issues that can be reversed by proper home care. He recommended a number of cleaning/​rinsing routines and simple products: salt water, xylitol that can prevent tooth decay.
He replaced an old cracked filling on one of my teeth and the process was smooth and painless, he even used a numbing agent without epinephrine because I told him that the jolt from previous dental shots made me anxious and my heart race.
He also will treat you like a person not like a set of teeth that happen to be inconveniently attached to a person.

Drs. Baldwin and Scipioni are the epitome of great dentistry. I have been seeing them, along with my children for a couple of years now and every visit is very personable and professional. They always run on time and I have yet to leave a cleaning or check up with any pain. I love these guys!
Three months ago, I took my daughter (age 13) to a highly recommended orthodontist for her initial consultation for braces. The orthodontist suggested pulling four teeth. After taking me through the scans of my daughters head, showing me her crowding and how much room she would need to fit all of her teeth, I said, «okay» to this othrodontist. Then, I called Steve Baldwin to set up a time to have my daughter’s teeth pulled. Steve looked at the xrays and molds, and the suggested plan from the first orthodontist, and called me. He told me that there was no reason in his mind why my daughter should have four teeth pulled and asked if he could send her films to another ortho for a second opinion. Steve spent 30 minutes on the phone with me talking about dentistry, ortho work and why it wasn’t necessary to pull my daughter’s teeth. Then, he called the second ortho, talked through my daughter’s case and sent him the films. The second ortho reviewed her case immediately, sent an email back to Steve within an hour with a full evaluation and said there was no reason to pull teeth. He told me that my daughter had plenty of room in her mouth for all her teeth («she only needs 5 mm to fit everything on the top and bottom,» he said). Steve Baldwin followed up with me on two separate phone calls, spending an additional hour with me talking about options. He never billed me for any of this time (which was a huge relief because I am a single mom with limited financial resources). The second Ortho called me and asked if I would come in for a free consultation (let me note that the first Ortho charged me $ 600 for the same consultation, which included the molds and xrays, but we spent less than 20 minutes at his office). The second ortho spent 45 minutes with us, did an oral exam on my daughter, measured her mouth, bridge and teeth crowding and said again that she did not need to have teeth pulled. I elected to have him put braces on her that day. Three months later, her teeth are so much straighter and it is very clear that the second orthodontist (Dr. Robert Iezman in Berkeley) was correct. Her smile is beautiful. She’ll need braces for another year, but her teeth look incredible already. My daughter still has all of her teeth, thanks to Steve Baldwin, and I didn’t have to spend hundreds of dollars having teeth pulled. Most importantly, she didn’t have to experience the pain of pulled teeth. What kind of dentist goes to that length for the benefit of a patient? A really, really caring one.
Oh, and I want to note, both this dentist and the orthodontist have thriving practices, which makes me even more impressed with the fact that they go above and beyond for their patients.

Got a recommendation from a friend to see Steve and from then on I’ve never looked back. My previous dentist was in San Diego and I’ve had him for LITERALLY my whole life and dreaded going to see him twice a year.
Steve is the exact opposite. I love to see him and chit-​chat with him along with his wife who practices there too. They both are extremely down to earth people and are big on the natural dental practices first and know the complete science behind all of it. They never overcharge and are always fair with their pricing. And on top of it all Steve is also a Oral Surgeon which makes this a one stop shop. My old dentist made me go to a highly expensive fancy pants place to get one of my wisdom teeth pulled and they actually shattered it in my mouth and i couldn’t eat for weeks. When i had to get my 2 others pulled Steve did it for me in his office and i was back to work in 2 hours with a little ibuprofen. Also did i mention it was a third of the price?
This is as good as it gets folks.

I decided I needed to stop going to effing Sausalito to get my teeth cleaned, and went to this office on the recommendation of a really, really cranky person who hated dentists in general but loved Dr. Baldwin, so I knew he must be a real crowd-​pleaser.
I was actually seen by Dr. Scipioni and not Dr. Baldwin, but I loved her and the whole experience. The office is really clean and gets a lot of natural light, and just generally has good feng shui (like I really know what that means, gawd). Dr. Scipioni really took her time with me, was very thorough in her examination, and patiently addressed my concerns (mostly about my gums receding, which is totally freaking me out because it looks gross), all without ever making me feel guilty about any wrong I’ve done to my teeth. My old dentist mainly harped on the fact that both my parents have periodontal issues, so I’m basically doomed. Dr. Scipioni actually congratulated me for being a semi-​regular flosser! Go me! She told me things about my teeth that my old dentist never had, and I came away feeling like I had the tools to properly care for my mouf.
The two dentists are married, and they’re only in the Berkeley office a couple days a week, so they do all their own reception work. They also have a 2-​year-​old daughter who hangs out on the premises with a nanny. I don’t know, that’s all just so lovely to me. Gives me the warm fuzzies and stuff.
All in all, five effing stars, y’all. Go see them.