Vijaya Prabhu DDS

My family chose this dentist due to its convenience next to the high school. Dr. Prabhu was quite possibly the worst dentist we had ever encountered.
On one occasion, I needed a cavity filling. She injected the novocaine and told me it takes 5 – 10 minutes to work. She proceeded to see another patient, which took 20 minutes. She returned, attempted to start the filling but the novocaine had stopped working and I could feel every drill. She then gave me another injection of novocaine. As if that wasn’t enough to keep me away, I had to come back again because I had a small chip on my tooth due to grinding my teeth and my insurance didn’t allow me to change my dentist fast enough. Instead of smoothing it out, Dr. Prabhu decided to take away a small portion of that tooth and replace it with a porcelain cover. Two weeks later, it chipped again because I grind my teeth! At that point, I was able to go to another dentist who advised that the chip be smoothed out rather than have a porcelain cover and that I obtain a nightguard. Ever since then, I have not had any teeth problems except for the occasional need to replace an old nightguard!
Lastly, Dr. Prabhu said my 10 year old brother had 4 cavities that needed to be filled. My mother was doubtful because he already had almost all his teeth filled. She took him to another dentist who said he had none.
These experiences about 10 years ago. I am SHOCKED that Dr. Prabhu is still in business and I am sorry that we did not pursue further action regarding fraudulent care because it sure sounds like Dr. Prabhu is still doing the same thing to patients now.

Had an appointment scheduled on Saturday, but received a phone call the day before the appointment questioning why I was scheduled on Saturday as they are closed that day. Obviously it was a secretary in your office who scheduled it, so why would you ask the customer that question? If you are willing to advertise Saturday availability, then you should honor that, as one of the reasons I chose this practice was convenience of the weekend appointments. Also, the secretary should not make the customer feel like they inconvenienced the office and question how it was even possible that the appointment was ever scheduled. Why could I not have been told a week or more ago about this issue (versus the day before), or even be offered an apology and then promptly try to reschedule a time that best fits the customer’s needs? I will be looking elsewhere for my dental needs, most likely returning to my previous dentist even though they are out of network. I would recommend the staff take a course on customer satisfaction and phone etiquette otherwise this dental practice will continue to lose clientele. –Melissa M.

As a dental hygienist myself, I can really appreciate Dr. Prabhu’s work, cleanliness of the office, and overall honesty. I took my dad to visit this practice to repair a restoration on a overdenture. She took her time, did very meticulous work, and at a reasonable price. We definitely will be staying with Dr. Prabhu and will be referring family and friends.

Dr. Vijaya Prabhu is one of the best dentist in San Diego. Before I went to her I tried many other dentists in San Diego and my search ended when I met her. I and my kids have been with her for more than 10 years now and are very satisfied. She is caring and listens to patients and pays attention to the detail. She educates you on the pros and cons of the treatment and involve us in making right decisions. She is accessible anytime and is very thorough. Not to mention her staff is also very friendly. I’m very happy with her service and I would recommend her for anybody looking for a highly experienced dentist.

I wish there was a Zero star or negative option.
Run away. Fast.
This dental practice is a sadistic insurance scam. They use brutal deep cleanings, add false charges, and in general operate in a severe state of malevolent incompetence.

Visit #1. They wanted to take more x-​rays even after I had my new xrays tranferred from my old dentist.
Visit #2. When they were cleaning my teeth it was very painful, and finally I asked them to not use the power tool to clean them and to do it by hand. They indicated that I must have senstive teeth and i said «no this is the first time this has ever happened». They had a new person there and in my opinon very inexperienced. Note. one week after the cleaning I discovered a massive cavity. Hmm I would think they would have found this during the cleaning right?
Visit #3. They tried to upsell me on a few things, oh you know like gum replacement, veneers, .etc. I do not need these things. By the way they tried to suggest the upsell on my kids teeth as well.
There will not be a visit #4.

I saw Dr. Prabhu in her crummy Escondido office. I’m not sure what the obsession is with deep cleaning these days and re-​filling «broken» cavities, I managed to escape with just the cleaning my insurance was supposed to cover (though for some reason I ended up paying $ 65 anyway.) I should have known my husband’s numerous deep cleanings were unnecessary and steered clear, but my dentist retired and I just didn’t want the hassle of finding a new one. We’re both looking for a new dentist who isn’t into insurance billing sham work!