George Lim, DMD

I have pretty extreme dentist phobia brought about by some traumatizing childhood dentist experiences. Unfortunately, this kept me away from the dentist for many years (bad, bad, bad, I know). And it is not until I had a problem that I decided to muster up the courage to go to a dentist. This was one of the closest dentist offices to my house so I decided to make an appointment. The receptionist was friendly and was able to get me in a few days after calling to have X-​rays done and figure out the course of action. I do not have insurance but had been saving to get the work done.
The day of the appointment came and I arrived a few minutes early. I was told to fill out the forms by the front desk staff and was quickly taken back to get the X-​rays done. The lady helping me was friendly and we made small talk while she took the X-​rays. There was an unusual, biological smell from the device placed in my mouth during the X-​rays. It wasn’t chemical or metallic like the smells I am used to, so it seemed kinda strange. I hope it was properly sanitized. Once the X-​rays were complete, the dentist came in. She was friendly at first but once she saw my X-​rays she became cold. I needed 2 root canals, had some cavities, and was told I needed a deep cleaning to remove the tartar. I was prepared for a diagnosis like that.
They then took photographs of my teeth and I went back into the office with the manager to discuss the cost and course of action. I was told that one of my teeth needed the root canal right away and that the dentist was unsure if it could be salvaged and she would not know until the root canal was done. Each root canal and crown would cost me $ 1650 and each cavity would be $ 100. She also explained that if the tooth could not be salvaged, it would be about $ 500 more to get it extracted and an implant put in.
The worst part about the whole discussion, was she used the photographs of the two teeth that needed root canals as, what felt like to me, a scare tactic. She left the images up for well over 10 minutes, completely unsympathetic to how terrifying it was to me. When she finally removed the images from the screen, I mentioned to her that there was no need to continue horrifying me. She didn’t respond. She kept pushing for me to make an appointment right then and there. I am not sure if it was because of the tooth damage or if she did not want me to do my research on other dentists. I made an appointment for 9am two days later.
The next day, I began to research prices and the recommended procedures. I came across this website (
) which allows you to enter your zipcode and get prices for your area for a particular procedure. The 80^th percentile for a root canal and crown for my area was $ 1,200. That means they were charging more than 80% of other dentists. I started looking into other dentists and decided I would not get the procedure done here. I have so much anxiety at the dentist and I was worried they would exacerbate the problem. I also came across an interesting article on how dentists scam (
) that really opened my eyes and made me value the ability to research.
After reaching this decision, it was too late for me to call them to cancel. I came in for the appointment but told the lady at the front that I was not going to have the procedure. She asked me why, and I explained that the prices were above the 80^th percentile for the area. She did not disagree but said they normally change a $ 35 cancellation fee. I am giving this place a 2-​star instead of 1 because the front desk staff was friendly and they didn’t charge me the cancellation fee, which I would have gladly paid. I also requested my X-​rays, filled out the forms, and was told it would be 5 – 7 business days to receive them.
I would probably recommend this place if you had a lot of money or had insurance to fully cover the procedures. They have very little wait times and you would be able to get in almost right away. But if you have any bigger issues or are afraid of the dentist, I would avoid it.

I came to this office for a routine check up and cleaning. I had told Claudia v. new office manager that I would like a good cleaning not a few seconds cleaning. Female doctor did my cleaning and she did the cleaning with the cavitron tip and less than two minutes she was already done cleaning my entire mouth and all my teeth. Wow, wow .she than told assistant «polish and floss“I was shocked .I told assistant to called Claudia v manager. She came to room and I told her that I did not like the less than two minutes cleaning the female doctor had just performed on me .but than she wanted to argue with me telling that that was a regular prophylaxis and also making feel I did know what I was saying. Amazing how some dentist just care for making money and charging dental insurances lots of money for the poor quality of dental work they provide to the patients. I feel this female doctor don’t know the meaning of quality. anyways, after assistant polish my teeth and flossed my teeth. female doctor came back to do some more cleaning with a scaler on other two minutes. hygienists take about 45 minutes but why some doctors take 4 minutes. No way they provide good quality in four minu tes. Disappointed with female doctor teeth cleaning shows a lot.

George is simply the nicest best dentist I’ve ever had –He Really made my smile great –‼‼

I had really liked this office but i was bothered when the dr had told me he was going to be able to save my tooth with a root canal turns out when he was in the process & broke my tooth surface and told me that i wasnt going to have the root canal finished that he had said my tooth was going to get extracted and prepared for bone graft and implant. I clearly told him i was suppose to get the root canal done and he said NO the extraction when his notes clearly said rct. I decided to give them another try for a light scaling and that night my gums were suuppperrr irrriittatteedd and started buugging me soo much I went to another dentist and he told me that with a scaling i shouldnt have the problem i was having there was a possibility that the instrument wasnt sterilized properly thats why my gums were reacting like that. After that i was grossed out and know i wont ever go back or take my child there again. Hopefully someone else doesnt go through what i did :/

I have had really good experiences coming to Dr. Lim’s offices. I had not gone to a dentist for many years prior to my visit, and despite thoroughly caring for my teeth, I was in need of 3 fillings (old ones gone bad). If any one is surprised by that information, don’t be, I expected it.
There are so many habits that can affect your teeth, like drinking coffee, tea, soda, grinding your teeth, acid reflux, nutrient deficiency, etc. Preventative care is just one aspect for the overall health of your teeth, and thereby, a prolonged period of time without checkups is going to increase your chance for complications. Caring for your teeth isn’t cheap for a lot of people, but if done so regularly it should prevent way more expensive problems from emerging.
I’ve had Dr. Lim and Dr. Lee work on my teeth, and they were great compared to prior experiences with other practices. The staff is super polite and the facility on Vermont Avenue is nice (I like it more than the one on Sunset).
If you think there may be a better alternative than the options recommended to you, talk about it and get a better understanding for what was recommended. I had a chip on my front tooth and was told the option that would be less prone to damage was a crown, but because of the cost and my having most of the tooth still, decided to get it bonded. I’m very happy with the result. I know that it has a greater chance of failure, but I’m cool with it, and I could’ve just not done anything.
They do a great job and are straight forward. MediCal covers fillings, so I paid for the bonding and for night guards to prevent grinding my teeth, it all was around $ 385. If you want to complain about cost, just start oil pulling.

I came in for my appointment today to follow up on a 2 root canals. And they previously said it would cost me $ 3000 for all 2 root canals and additional work added to fix a couple of crowns. Now coming today they tell me the cost just for the 2 root canals is priced $ 3000 and only for those 2 root canals. So they lied all the way even tho I had proof on my last appt. that my cost would be the same but with additional work no hidden fees. Basically I didn’t expect to get lied to by a so call professional dental office and when I tried to talk to the «financial» lady she was as rude as can be even when I was just trying to ask her why the change of pricing? She is a really rude person with no care of what questions or concerns you have regarding your financial prices.

Great, speedy appointment today at this dentist. They took X-​Rays, cleaned, identified a few issues AND had time to go ahead and fill the cavity right then. Very friendly staff, short wait times, overall a wonderful experience. Will definitely keep coming here, and would recommend it to anyone!
thanks!

Sunday morning my 3 year old boy broke his tooth and he was in a pain.
I had to find a dentist to see him immediately since I was not sure how serous it is.
Dr Lim was not only willing to, see him on Sunday, but also his assistant came and opened the office just to see my son.
He tried to save the too the but it was not possible, and he made a very quick and easy extraction of the tooth.
Few hours later my son was at the birthday party having fun like nothing ever happened.
This is what I call dedication.
Thank you Dr. Lim.

I hate going to the dentist! But this dental office makes it like a walk in the park. The staff was great and very friendly. The dentist was gentle and very professional.

I love this office!!! I’ve been coming in for more than a decade! All the dentist are professional, knowledgeable, and very nice. The front desk are kind, friendly, and very customer service oriented.
Luckily I have insurance so I visit on the regular every six months. The cleaning are always well done. Wish I could come on a monthly basis :)
The best part of my visits is the nice incentive of a free new brush.
Due to my regular visit I haven’t had any major work done (phew) so I really can’t review that type of work.
Also, who usually gets a birthday call from their dentist? Me! Dr. Lim is the best

Had a really good experience today at Dr. Lim’s office. Everyone in the office, from the lady at the front desk and the manager, to the dental assistant and the dentist was very friendly, welcoming and professional. I had a fair amount of work done and it was really well done, painless and thorough.
I’m going again to finish the rest of the stuff and I’m highly recommending this excellent dental office.

I’ve been coming to Dr. Lim’s office for three years, and I agree with a lot of things other tellers have to say: Dr. Lim is one of the best. I haven’t seen Dr. Catalina, but maybe I will when Dr. Lim isn’t available. There isn’t any problem with that part of the office. I went in four weeks ago & there was a chip in the permanent crown. They had to take another mold of my tooth. I actually didn’t mind because I know these things happen.
I go to the front office to make a follow-​up appointment with Dr. Lim, only to find out he’s booked for another 4 weeks. I insist on seeing only him (I didn’t read the reviews about Dr. Catalina at that time) so I decide to wait. I’ll admit, I probably ate some things I probably shouldn’t have-​sticky & crunchy, so my temp crown breaks about two weeks ago. I also think that it might have been due to the fact I was wearing the temp crown for 6 weeks at that point & it just cracked.
Everything was going well until today when my temp crown broke again-​this time it wasn’t my fault. I followed Dr. Lim & the dental assistant’s orders & stayed away from sticky, crunchy food. It was the response of the front office which I wasn’t too happy with. I explained what happened, and I understand that it’s already late in the afternoon and that I do have an appointment with Dr. Lim tomorrow, but I think I was looking for a bit more empathy since I feel shooting pain with the slightest brushing motion of my lived exposed tooth and am on a forced liquid diet (temperate liquid at that) until I get my permanent crown tomorrow.
The worst part is the lady who took my call TWICE is someone I love at the office, but I notice she’s been taking on more administrative duties. She was much more knowledgeable as part of the dental staff compared to her current administrative role.
The front staff’s customer service has decreased over the last year or so. There have been changes made since I first started going to this dental office, and it’s never been the same. I think it’s more lack of training & knowledge which can come across as being uncaring. So I give 5 stars to the dental staff & 2 stars to d front office staff, averaging out to 3.5 stars-​hopefully things will change so I can increase my ratings.
And as for the hut, I find it quirky. It does make their office stick out, which I think is partially the point.

Dr Lim’s crew is very professional and helpful (Dr Catalina is the best!). I needed a few crowns and they were all done to fit perfectly. So was the rest of work that I needed. I got no pain or discomfort at all afterwards. I am happy to recommend this office to anyone who needs dentistry quality work.

Everybody knows what it is to go to the dentist — anticipated pain and…
So you should be happy to know that at Dr Lim’s office there is nothing like this to worry about. The staff is 1^st grade, very helpful, extremely professional, and they treat you with «kids gloves». Could not have been more happy getting the work done on my teethes. See Dr Catalina you will be in great hands

I went to this office because my cousin is a patient here, knowing a family member is well taken care of made me become a patient here myself. I had a very good experience at this office, the front staff was ok at first when I checked in. Not too much wait to be called in, the back dental assistant Eric was very nice and polite to me. He made me feel comfortable and explained everything before he started doing any procedure. The billing girl who went over the prices with me was very nice and went out of her way to check if I qualified for care credit since Im a cash patient. At the end of my visit again at the front desk the receptionist was very friendly and went over other things I had questions on. I felt well taken care of and was very satisfied with my visit. The next day Dr. Lim called to check up on me witch I thought was nice. I will deff continue to schedule my appointments at this place!

I LOVE THIS OFFICE!
I have been a patient here for about 3 years now. I USED to DREAD going to the dentist office, they would always «find» costly «work» that needed to be done immediately. NOT Dr. Lim’s office. I am originally from the midwest. I was raised around a whole different style or culture-​if you will. As you can imagine, Los Angeles is pretty much everything BUT what I grew up with. The moment I stepped into this office I was warped into that «small town vibe». Every person behind the desk greeted me with warm smiles & the atmosphere was really comforting & calm. They called me back & all of the staff I passed greeted me with smiles. Not creepy smiles, but sincere smiles. You can definitely tell these people LOVE what they do & CARE about their people. 6 months later, I went in for the 2^nd time. I was early for my appointment. As SOON as I walked in the door, they greeted me with a warm welcome. They remembered my name before I even signed in! They remembered my boyfriend who also previously went there. They made a conversation with me like we’d been friends forever! It was soooo amazing! They all make me feel so valued for choosing them. I had x-​rays taken & saw that my wisdom teeth were growing horizontally towards my other teeth. I asked Dr. Lim if he thought I should have them removed. He was completely honest & said, generally he only recommends having them removed if they’re causing pain, because there’s no way to know how much they’ll keep moving. He could’ve EASILY said ABSOLUTELY if money was what he was concerned about. I opted to have them removed due to fear of making the rest of my teeth crooked. 3 of them were under the bone, so Dr. Lim did the surgery himself. I happened to come down with a horrible virus the week before my surgery. I almost rescheduled the surgery but chose not to because I specifically took a week off of work to recover. I was feeling awful the day of surgery. I had all 4 removed at the same time. Halfway through I almost told him to stop & I’d come back because I felt so sick. He said we’re almost done & removed the last 2 it felt like instantly! He was so gentle! He made me feel comfortable considering my situation. Because of my virus I was bedridden for a few days. He called to check up on me! My boyfriend had called him a couple times to get different pain killers because I didn’t react well to two of them. Dr. Lim checked on me probably 3 days that week. I had to go back in to get a special mouthwash for the infection. I just couldn’t believe how easy they were to get a hold of 24 hours, and how pleasant they were ALL THE TIME! He made jokes when he saw me because he didn’t expect me to swell too bad, but my face almost DOUBLED in size! I was all bruised. He made me laugh. He calls us on our birthdays. I actually look forward to my appointments to share whatever’s been going on in my life with him & his team. He’s all about doing the right thing and not only taking care of his patient’s, but his staff. I could go on and on about this office. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to my teeth if this office is an option!

This place was OK. I arrived at 3pm but they weren’t able to see me until 3:30, which was alright because I’m a rather patient person. I saw some other not-​too-​chipper folks in there, probably not as patient as me.
One big turn-​off was this kiosk they set up outside to draw people inside. I dunno, it was pretty creepy. I think it was supposed to be a Hawaiian hut or something… tacky. ANYWAY, not something I’d want to see as I’m going in to see if I want to put the livelihood of my teeth in their hands.
The only thing I loved about the place was I got a check-​up with x-​rays for $ 10 (probably why they set Hawaii up outside to get people in for a tenner) and that’s about $ 80 cheaper than other places doing the same exact thing. Dr. Lim was good at explaining all the work I needed done and even called me the next day to check in on me. I haven’t had a dentist call me for a follow-​up in… hmmm, never? So thanks, Doc.
The admin lady in the back was stern but nice. I forget her name but she gave me nice little fake-​teeth demonstrations of how bridges and implants work. She also goes out of her way to find out all kinds of prices and possibilities for your chompers.
The prices (if you don’t have insurance) are pretty YIKES though, so LIM! If you want us to come back, drop your prices!!!

We arrived at 8:50am for our 9am appointment to take care of paperwork and to check-​in but the place was closed! We waited until 9am and they were still closed! We actually thought we had gone to the wrong place! Who opens up their doors at 9am for a 9am appointment?
When the doors finally opened, the receptionist in front was unprofessional and rude. There was no greeting and she was quite terse when she asked for our insurance card. Needless to say that we will not be returning.

I did not have a good experience with this office. I went in about a year ago to get an estimate for some fillings to be replaced with amalgams, and also to have some minor cosmetic work (reshaping of veneers.)
Not having insurance, I wanted to make sure I could afford it. So I asked for a ballpark estimate for the amalgam fillings (a fairly standard procedure), and was told that they couldn’t give me one without a checkup first. I told them that I understood, but that I didn’t want to spend $ 75 – 100 on an appointment, if the estimate for the work I needed was going to be far out of my price range. They wouldn’t budge, so I relented, and made an appointment.
On the day of my appointment, I had to fill out more paperwork than an applicant for the CIA. I’ve never seen so many forms. It literally took a half hour. I was then taken into the examining room, where 3 different assistants took my x-​rays, asked me more questions, and did preliminary examinations. Another 30 minutes. Finally I saw the Doctor who ran down a laundry list of all the things I needed. It was like going in for a tune-​up for your car, and finding out they needed to rebuild the entire engine. Which was surprising since I had kept up with my dental work quite well while living in a different city. To the doctor’s credit, he didn’t push me to have any of the work done (that was left to the administrator in the back office.)
I was finally guided into a consultation room in the back where an administrator went through all the estimates of the work to be done. Not only would I have needed to take out a 2^nd mortgage to afford it, but the estimates were higher than what friends had told me they had paid for the same services.
By the time I walked out of the office, I had spent approximately $ 80 for an appointment that was completely pointless since I couldn’t even come close to the estimates they gave me. When I went back a week later to get my x-​rays (which I’d already paid for), they charged me a HOLDING fee, before they’d release them to me.
I wound up going to a different dentist (Dr. Hom on Hillhurst), who not only did the work cheaper, but didn’t push any additional services. He’s been great, and I’ve been going there ever since.