Minkin Dale H, DDS

Dr. Minkin and his office are the best. I has referred to him as the on call surgeon for my dentist. I was able to see him the same day. Despite being held up in traffic, they kept the practice open just to see me. After a 10 minute consultation, he agreed to surgically extract my tooth right then. Dr. Minkin and his team were ready within 10 min. He was so careful to make sure I wasn’t in pain or uncomfortable during the procedure. He was quick and efficient. While I’ve never had a tooth pulled, Dr. Minkin has to be one of the best. I was in and out of his office within 45 minutes. They were able to work with me on getting my payment made and everything. Anyone who needs an oral surgeon should see Dr. Minkin.

This is a hard office to rate, since I had a mixed experience. It wasn’t bad — and I do like Dr. Minkin, but there were a few procedural hiccups with his office.
I’ll start at the beginning, for anyone bored enough to want the backstory.
I had some terrible dental work done at a posh dentist’s office in Redwood City, a few years back. She caused a lot of damage (multiple root canals, fillings that fell out, etc — all directly because of her work). The latest trauma resulting from that doctor’s work was a filling that fell out and took a ¼ of my tooth with it. It was a molar and got infected, needing a root canal. Because I am currently a contractor and no longer have dental insurance worth a damn, I am the same as a cash patient for anything beyond a basic check-​up. To get the root canal would have set me back at least $ 3,000 including the crown. I didn’t have that kind of cash at the time and my mouth was in constant pain, to the point where it was spreading in a large area of my mouth. I decided to just extract the molar (it’s the furthest one back and not terribly noticeable). I went to Dr. Minkin twice for a consult, based on a referral from an assistant who used to work for him.
He’s a very nice man and I saw both of his recent offices. The new one is much swankier and pretty convenient (a surgery center between Kaiser and BART). To get the whole procedure done, the total would have been ~$ 400 with no anesthesia and if I wanted light anesthesia, ~$ 850. If I had needed any bone grafting or further surgery (which can happen if the infection spreads far enough), the total could have easily doubled. This is on top of the fees to get x-​rays and an exam prior to ending up here, bringing the grand out-​of-​pocket total for this extraction fiasco to over 1K. Since novocaine really never does much for me, I went for the light anesthesia and made an appointment. Before you freak out at the prices (which are insane to anyone from any other country, or anyone who has never been without good insurance) — these are average for the area. They do not offer payment plans for any cash patients, FYI. You have to pay before the procedure and you will get something like 10% off if you pay with cash/​check at least a week in advance.
The assistant who scheduled me forgot to give me the pre-​op instructions OR go over them with me. She also forgot to give me the valium that came with the pricy anesthesia, to help me go under the day of surgery. She also forgot to write a prescription for norco (pain meds for the couple days following surgery) that had any instructions on it, which caused about an hour of phone tag from the pharmacy. Fun times. I should maybe note that in making my consult appointment, between the varying ladies who answer the phone I got differing information which necessitated probably 10 phone calls in total to get things straightened out before I ever showed up. They were all very well-​meaning, but it was confusing and a bit of an inconvenience. I think largely this is to do with my shitty insurance and them being accustomed to better plans that don’t involve cash payment.
The day of surgery, I was given a chastising by the staff for «forgetting» to follow all the pre-​op instructions. When I told them I was neither given any instructions for pre-​op nor spoken to about any, they blew me off like I was just absent-​minded. When they realized no one had remembered to give me the valium, it was also blown off. It took a bit longer for me to go under since I was just waiting on the IV meds to kick in (it is not a heavy cocktail). The entire procedure was supposed to take about 20 mins, but mine ended up being just short of an hour because apparently my roots were difficult. I woke up with a bag containing my tooth in-​hand (one root was indeed broken off) and a mouth full of gauze. The hole in my mouth didn’t stop bleeding for several hours, so I kept replacing the gauze. I think this was just because I have super deep roots and my mouth was unhappy about the procedure. The office called me a few times the afternoon of the procedure to check up on me, which was kind and appreciated. I was warned with lots of scary stories about what can happen if the hole doesn’t heal correctly, but I am now two weeks out and it seems to be healing up nicely. I still avoid sharp foods but everything else is alright; when it was first healing I gargled many times a day with warm salt water to keep it clean. That’s about it. I do wish they’d given me an RX for antibiotics to be on the safe side (I asked) but they didn’t want to oblige. I was more interested in that than pain meds, since the infection was pretty gnarly pre-​op.
All in all, I would recommend Dr. Minkin but I’d advise any new patients to walk in knowing to pester them for ALL pre and post-​op paperwork as well as clarify that all required meds are in-​hand or prescribed. You’d also fare better to have decent insurance, but that goes without saying.

I was recently referred to Dale H. Mintin D.D.S. by my family dentist for a sudden and unplanned surgical extraction. Dr. Minkin and his entire staff treated me with such care that I cannot praise them enough. I had a positive experience and they have my highest recommendation.

I got my wisdom tooth extracted here. Being an international student coming from a low-​cost country to the U.S., it is easy to understand my shock for the dental fees in here.
However, as my wisdom tooth started to decay and hurt me a lot, I had no choice but to have an oral surgery. The total cost was $ 680, which I thought at first an extremely high price, but pretty normal compared to other offices in the Bay Area.
Visits to this office are a very positive experience to me. Dr. Minkin is a very kind, listening and friendly person. He is also a real professional, made my tooth go out in less than 10 minutes, I think. And without any real pain! Amazingly, it was a local anesthesia, but all I felt was a little pressure. That’s all. I was amazed how fast it was, and how comfortable the post-​operation process is (without much any pain.)
I cannot say anything bad about the nurses and receptionists. They are extremely helpful and kind. They even called my after the operation to check if everything is okay, and provided me with very careful prescriptions of things to do and not to do.
I highly recommend this service to anyone who needs it. I also tell my friends, if they ever need to see an oral surgeon, to come here. I don’t know whether the price is high or not, but usually you get what you pay for. I am very happy with this office, and sincerely think it’s worth the money. Try it and you will never regret.