Elsa Castro, DDS

Dr. Castro has been a great resource for me. She and her staff are very welcoming and take the time to explain what they are doing before they do it. Every thing is clear and concise from dental service, to paperwork and payment. All around I have had great service and am very happy with Dr. Castro. I have been going to Dr. Castro for about 3 years now and no complaints from me.

Dr. Castro and her team went above and beyond! They were thorough, personable, easy to talk to and really had my best interest at heart. A good dentist is hard to find, Dr. Castro is a gem!

Another triumph for Unilocal,Dr. Castro is now my regular dentist thanks to recommendations from fellow Unilocalers. I especially appreciate the flexibility her office staff has shown working with payments, accepting new insurance and Flex accounts with ease and offering a discount for cash. Despite other reviews reporting to the contrary, rates charged for services are very reasonable compared to other dentists, and I’ve always had the option of declining «add-​ons» like fluoride and cancer screening. More importantly, Dr. Castro’s winning personality and humane professionalism makes her a true artisan with a patient-​centered outlook. She’s fixed my broken crowns and broken teeth enough times that I’ve lost count, and I still look forward to how great my teeth feel after she personally cleans them. Her office staff has always been welcoming and courteous, and I can easily recommend this dental office with no reservations and feeling my health is well tended in their care.

I give this dentist 1 star because 0 stars was not an option. I believe this office is more interested in getting your money than they are about your dental health. I had the same conversation 3 times with the office admin that I was not interested in having my teeth crowned. Despite this, when I arrived for my appointment he proceeded to explain to me that the doctor regarded it as «priority» care. I disagreed as crowning is not a dental priority. When I went for my first visit, they said I needed 2 fillings. When I returned, that had somehow increases to over 10… that’s right, over 10. Why would I not have been informed upon leaving my first appointment that I needed over 10 fillings? This office is dishonest and in my experience, more concerned with getting paid. I would avoid the experience and search for more honest dentist.

I’d definitely give her full five stars with highest quality service. Dr Castro is a gem of a person, calm and focused. I’m sure you will be taken care off very well. Service is amazing and we’re completely satisfied with all our sessions. I see lot of detailed work and dedication in Dr Castro’s work. She is a perfectionist.
Go for her without any worries. I’m sure you will return satisfied.
Dinesh & Sonali

A very nice lady and she practices in a very nice office. I was originally drawn to her practice because she does all the cleanings herself — you usually don’t have hygienists doing work on you.
However, over the last several years I’ve been constantly surprised with add-​on work that she’s been saying are necessary. Lots of fillings that supposedly must need replacement. A very expensive root canal when there was no pain or irritation leading up to it. Recommended 3x per year cleanings. Things I’ve never had issues with before — I’ve lived in five or six cities now and dentists everywhere else have always said I take great care of my teeth, and suddenly I need to do all this work. After recently being told that I need to do four filling replacements on three teeth, I finally went to another dentist to get a second opinion, and was told that the fillings are all totally fine and will be with me the rest of my life. He also took a look at my insurance and said that Dr. Castro has been charging my insurance company for fluoride treatments the last couple years — I don’t really recall getting fluoride treatments, but if I was getting them, they’re not really needed for a 40+ year old, and that they may have just been providing because my insurance company was one of the few that covered fluoride for someone my age.
I think she cares and wants to provide excellent dental care, but she’s lost my trust. I think she’s way too enthusiastic with her diagnoses on work that’s required, and there’s no distinction between «nice to have» and «must have».
n.b. don’t schedule first thing in the morning appointments, I’ve had several, and either she or the front desk guy were late twice and cooled my heels in the waiting room longer than I would have liked.

Dr. Castro was a godsend for me. I had a terrible mouth infection that was getting worse quickly and was exceptionally painful. As a college student away from home and living alone, I didn’t have much support as things declined.
Dr. Castro got me in to see her the same day I called and immediately got to work on taking care of the infection. Unfortunately it progressed very quickly and I had to go to the ER. She kept up with me all night to make sure the ER took good care of me and scheduled me the very next day to follow up even though her office normally would have been closed that day.
She was extremely patient with me as she did her work — my infection made it hard to anesthetize me since the infection was blocking the drugs but she moved slowly and prioritized keeping me comfortable as possible while she did her work. This made my procedure take more than twice as much of her time but really made a world of difference for me as a patient who was already in a world of pain to ease it as much as possible.
After everything was patched up she continued to follow up with me throughout my recovery even giving me her private cell number in case I had any problems.
I have recommended her to several friends and while she is not my normal dentist, when I’m out here in school she is my first choice if anything comes up.

Yes, she’s warm and caring, but she’s also a fantastic dentist. Meticulous, perfectionistic, thorough, empathetic, patient, flexible — all you’d want.
I first saw her when my tooth broke at precisely 4:45 pm. I had never been in to her office before, but she had been treating my husband for extensive work recently. She saw me that night (she was like 7 months pregnant and stayed late for me), and has been a life saver fitting me in right away when I broke the temporary. She has been really great about explaining procedures, options, etc, and while she isn’t pushy at all, she does offer gentle counseling with decisions — helping me to make sure we were doing what I really wanted to do. And then she spent a ton of time with me, shaping the crown to just the right fit. She will not stop just because of time — it’s got to be perfect darnint!
Even though this doesn’t have a direct bearing on her dentistry, I think it says a lot about her and her whole office that her new baby comes to work with her, as her older daughter did when she was younger. Daniel the office manager somehow manages to care for the baby and the patients. It’s just a great, family place.

I agree that Dr. Castro is warm and gentle. Though I have to admit that things certainly did not go well with me having to pay 1000 $ out of my pocket for my wife’s deep-​cleaning.
Not once in my 5 years with the same insurance company and same insurance plan did I have a payment denied (and yes I had VERY extensive work done on my teeth — implants, orthodontist work, surgeries etc). I worked with atleast FOUR different dentists and not once did I have the insurance payment denied.
The very first treatment Dr. Castro’s office does and it gets denied! While Dr. Castro states we have proof that treatment was needed, the insurance company kept coming back that the situation of gums/​teeth did NOT warrant a deep-​cleaning.
It seemed to me that Dr. Castro did NOT have full justification to do the deep-​cleaning. If she ever felt she MIGHT not have complete justification, she should certainly have made that rather explicit. They just simply said «usually insurance companies cover this». This according to them was enough disclaimer.
We had a horrible experience trying to deal with the insurance company. While Dr. Castro’s office worked with us for a couple of faxes that Metlife needed, at once I know they wanted to speak directly with Dr. Castro which she did NOT do. She instead had her office manager speak on her behalf. Not nice.
What really made it all look even worse was that their office insisting that «followup» consultation for deep-​cleaning will be covered by Metlife. And sure it wasn’t with Metlife telling us that since the entire treatment was denied payment, there is no way we could pay for followup visits. Now ATLEAST this is something the office who have had experience with insurance companies would know? And sure enough they were «careless» to mention (or as the office assistant admitted, «forget to mention the fine prints that insurance companies have») which made them look rather DISHONEST in my book.
In summary, this was for sure the worst experience I had with any dentist all my life. And there’s NO way I am going back to her ever again. I suggest folks be careful and do their due diligence when getting treatments done by their office.

Dr. Castro is terrific. She’s very honest and upfront about your treatment plan, doesn’t scold or lecture you, and is as sensitive to your fear and pain as someone wielding a mouth drill possibly can be. Her receptionist and assistant are great people as well, and all three of them go out of their way to accommodate your schedule as much as they can.
The only con is the fact that she doesn’t have a TV for you to watch while she’s doing her thing, which seems like it would be a nice distraction. I’ve never had the luxury at any of my previous dentists, though, so I don’t even know what I’m missing.

We love our dentist! Dr. Castro is so warm, kind, and caring — Ive never had a dentist like that. She’s very concerned about all of her patients, up front about her advice and recommendations. They’re also very flexible, they’ve been understanding when I’m late, rescheduled things when necessary, and they’re great about reminder calls — which I find very useful.
I can’t recommend them enough — she’s also given me some of the gentlest shots that I’ve ever had at a dentist!

I have been searching for a competent, caring and great dentist since I moved to CA in 2007. I have finally found that dentist in Dr Castro, she is very kind, caring, with her detailed in her examination. She explained everything to me, as she went through the exam. No surprises. Her staff is very professional and made me feel at ease from the time I called to make the appointment until the moment I left the door. I would definitely recommend Dr Castro to anyone who wants a great dental experience…

I visited Dr. Castro for a teeth cleaning and a couple of fillings. She was very very thorough and explained to me from the X-​rays the condition of every single one of my teeth. She does the cleaning herself unlike most places where the assistant does the cleaning. I had a very pleasant and painless experience while getting a couple of fillings in place.
First up you get to know your treatment plan and how much it would entail, so there are no surprises by way of costs. I’m pleased with the treatment and I am very pleased to give 5 on 5.

She’s the best dentist ever!
She’s up front and thorough. She tells you what you will need and what it will cost so there aren’t any surprises. She does all the treatments and the cleaning so you get excellent care. Also she’ll make sure you are as comfortable as possible which is a great feature in a dentist. I recommend her to everyone… even though I rather not because it’ll get harder to schedule my appointments: p.

I chose Dr. Castro from reading the previous reviews AND it is 7 minutes from work.
Dr. Castro is very pleasant. She cares about you. Her staff is great. The office is pretty up-​to-​date. She explains all that she plans to do. I like that she does the cleaning herself versus a dental hygienist. She noticed some things about my teeth that my previous dentist did not (because the hygienist did the cleaning and viewing).
They take my dental plan. A big plus.
If you’re looking for a great dentist, here you go. If you are like me and have waited too long for that cleaning (over 2 years), don’t worry. This is the place to go.

If I could give Dr. Castro more than 5 stars, I absolutely would.
She is thorough, conservative in her treatment (thank goodness! no unnecessary root canals here), and incredibly considerate!
I went to Dr. Castro because one of my wisdom teeth had finally rotted through and gotten infected (yes, I know… disgusting. So disgusting, especially in your own mouth, trust me.) and I knew I couldn’t ignore my dental health any longer. She had great reviews on Unilocal and was on my dental plan, so I made an appointment.
Much to my surprise, she did not lecture me one bit. She was honest about my oral health, but didn’t try to make me feel bad and was very concerned about whether I was in pain (not her fault, but yes I was!). While she was doing the cleaning, she actually put gauze over my aching wisdom tooth so that the cleaning wouldn’t hurt it… that sold me on her forever.
Since then, I have had multiple fillings done and forced my husband to go to her as well. Not one have I had a moment of pain in Dr. Castro’s chair, and I think that’s nearly miraculous.
My only complaint was the old office assistant, but she’s since been replaced and the new one is friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.
If you need a dentist here, Dr. Castro is the way to go.

I just want to thank all the Unilocalers for steering me to Dr. Castro through your positive reviews of her and her office. Dr. Castro truly is a gem of a dentist. My first impression of her was that she is caring, friendly, and warm. She is gifted with deep empathy for her patients.
After an overall good check-​up, I had to have two fillings replaced and have deep cleaning done around a back molar – a remnant of having my wisdom teeth pulled too late in life. She suggested that I separate the work into two appointments out of concern that there may be some discomfort with the deep cleaning. I have had five fillings replaced at once, so I wasn’t too worried but I appreciated her concern for my well being.
I didn’t feel a thing – from shot to cleaning! I thought that she was shaping the new filling when in fact she had already begun to do the cleaning. She paused to check that I was doing OK. Afterward, she gave me a road map, if you will, of my options going forward.
Thank you Dr. Castro and thank you Unilocal

If I could give negative stars, I would. Never going back. Save yourself alot of headaches and go with another dentist. Trust me.

If you’re looking for a caring, compassionate, and service oriented dentist, look no further. I’m so pleased that I found Dr. Castro, I don’t even know where to begin.
Over the past few years I’ve spent way too much time trying to find a reputable dentist. I’m sick of being taken into the «conference room» with the «office manager» or «patient advocate» only to have them show me a price list of services which they are tyring to sell me, but I see only as an their attempt to maximize revenue.
Dr. Castro’s office isn’t a «spa» or «frou-​frou». This isn’t what I’m looking for in a dentist anyway. I don’t need a lavender infused shoulder warmer when I have an enthusiastic and professional dentist to put me at ease. I found her office to be very clean, new, with a nice ambience. Her approach to dentistry is very personal and conservative. I’m very pleased with the way she addressed my gum and jaw concerns. She didn’t try to «maximize revenue», she chose a course of treatment that was very reasonable and effective.
Dr. Castro is originally from South America and studied at UCSF.
It was without a doubt the best dental cleaning/​exam/​dentist I’ve ever worked with.

It’s hard to imagine looking forward to a dentist visit even knowing that your teeth need work, but that is how I feel about Dr. Castro. She is the best dentist I have ever found.
Besides the warm fuzzies you get from her bright smile and caring demeanor, you can trust Dr. Castro to be on top of the latest advances in dentistry. She is not a trend-​follower and she keeps her practice conservative (read: safe and effective), but she really loves her profession, attends conferences and reads trade publications to stay current. She won’t give you fangs or a diamond grill, but she will do an excellent job of making you and your teeth very happy.
Dr. Castro listens to your concerns and takes into account your personal situation before recommending a course of treatment. As in most things in life, there is usally more than one way to solve a problem, and she will consider and explain your alternatives.
Another amazing thing about Dr. Castro’s practice is the willingness of her office to research your benefits before you go in. Adriana and Dr. Castro will do all that they can to advocate for you and get you the coverage that you need. You will not have any unpleasant surprises; everything is up front and honestly done.
My teeth have improved more than I had hoped under her care, and I don’t dread my appointments. Isn’t that what we all want from a dentist?