John W Sawyer, DDS

I was referred to Dr. Sawyer by a person who had worked with him previously in the dental industry. Stupidly, I trusted their judgement. I wanted to get some cosmetic dentistry work done (veneers and caps). In the consultation, he was absolutely confident that I’d have a great outcome. He showed me the work he had supposedly done on his dental assistant (veneers) and her teeth looked great. This was quite an investment for me as I looking to pay thousands out of pocket for this work. I thought since I had a referral from someone in the industry and seeing work he had (supposedly) done, I thought I was in good hands.
To say my outcome was horrible would be an understatement. He didn’t do comprehensive dental impressions to re-​sculpt a new ‘look’ for me, he simply slapped veneers on my front teeth and threw mental-​cored crowns on each side of the veneers. Because of that, NOTHING matched, the color was way off and unfixable because of the different materials he chose to use. My front teeth looked like a patch quilt. Within two weeks, one of the veneers fell off my front tooth. I made an appointment to have it re-​cemented and his office had the gall to charge me $ 200.00 to have it re-​cemented on! The gentleman who manages the billing for his office was a complete NIGHTMARE to deal with, rude, unapologetic and just tries to bill as much as he possibly can. Most dentists guarantee their work for years, not the case at this office!
Needless to say, after this incident I fired him and found an amazing dentist who has since redone all of Sawyer’s work CORRECTLY!
Buyer beware and I can’t say RUN AWAY FROM THIS DENTIST enough!

I can’t do 0 stars, so let me paraphrase my nightmare.
EVERY filling he did he filed the teeth wrong, so I would have tons of pain every time I bit down. It would take 2 – 3 or sometimes 4 revisits before we could reduce this pain. EVERY TIME.
While working on a molar in the back of my mouth, he paused, said «This isn’t the tool I ordered» HID THE TOOL, then refused to tell me what went wrong. When I pressed him, he lied and pulled a tool off of a cupboard (when he had placed it inside a drawer) and made up the worst lie about what had happened. Freaked me out.
Well, 3 years later, and my fillings have all cracked or fallen out on the back molars, and I have MULTIPLE cavities UNDERNEATH the fillings he did. He is beyond terrible as a dentist, and I would be damned surprised if he had nothing to do with this.
Don’t go to this guy if you value your teeth.
The only positive is that he was always friendly to me, but my mouth is worth more than a friend.

I WAS a new pt. of Dr. Sawyer until I recieved a bill for about 4 times the amount I was quoted. In the same day I recieved a explenation of my bill from my insurance company stateing what I owed what I was oringinally quoted. When I called the office they said the bills are automatically generated and my insurance company had not been billed for all the services as of yet. The office could not say that the statement I recieved from the insurance company was correct and that I would not have to pay more. I should of listened to my gut when on the second visite they raised the estimate up by almost a hundred dollers. If you like to be lied to and charged to much money this is the dentist for you.

John Sawyer is a very nice person and a pretty good golfer.
I try his patience in that I only show up at his office when there is a disaster like a tooth falling in my soup. Or what happened recently on a flight to Ft Lauderdale. I was eating a tuna sandwich when a chunk of tuna and a tooth flew out of my mouth and landed on the shoe of a flight attendant. She was too cool. She carefully picked up the tooth and sat it on my tray table. The chunk of tuna may still be under someones seat.
On the way up the companion way, a dentist handed me a card and said, «I can fix that for you?» I said, «No thank you. I ‘ll just use a little super glue and have John Sawyer take care of it when I return to SF.»

Why, OH Why, did I not look at Unilocal before going here?
Please email me directly if details are needed, but let me simply break down the worst pain I’ve been in as an adult. Also, if you want an excellent east bay dentist recommendation who will not lie to you and is very gentle.
Chose dentist because of location, as I have strong healthy teeth and an excellent dental record.
Was advised by Sawyer’s office to change my silver fillings because of ‘mercury’ concerns. After the procedure, I began to experience first dull pain, fever, then shooting pain, then nearly suicidal oral pain. Sawyer’s office phone-​prescribed vicoden and antibiotics. After yet another office visit Sawyer advised soft food and to see a colleague of his. After 2 weeks of excruciating pain and lots of vicoden, this colleague performed an emergency pulpectomy on what had been a healthy tooth 2 weeks earlier. Due to maxing out benefits on Sawyer’s unnecessary procedure, I had to wait a few weeks to now have a very unnecessary root canal finished.
I then called my insurance company to try and have everything straightened out and was told Sawyer’s referral did not even accept my insurance and I was up shit creek so to speak.
At this point, I looked up my old dentist who practices out of San Francisco and amazingly he DOES take my insurance as well as being the greatest dentist alive. He got me in, finished my root canal and crown and told me what a sham it is when dentists tell patients they have to have silver fillings changed due to mercury. He said the glue is more harmful then the trace amounts of mercury and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
All in all I still shelled out over $ 900 FOR NOTHING! It was completely avoidable and a bullshit experience.

very nice dentist that does great work. No frills office and everyone treats you like family.

Very, very rude. Extremely demeaning and degrading to his staff, especially his hygienist. Not a pleasant experience. I thought maybe it was a bad day for him, so I went back for another visit, and unfortunately the same thing.
He also tries to sell you work that is not needed. A tooth cap he did for me turned out a slightly different color from the rest of my teeth and only lasted about a year before it crumbled off.
Don’t waste your time or put yourself in a bad mood by going to him.

Wow, so much controversy that I had to add my two cents. I am a total dental-​phobic, to the point where I neglected to take care of something about twenty years ago (a filling fell out) that required attention and it became a big problem (abcess, root canal, argh). Enter Dr. Sawyer. That was in 1988, and I’ve been seeing him regularly every since. He has a sort of odd, dry sense of humor, but he’s actually a very caring sweet guy (with an edge), and a highly competent dentist. Plus he really respects how afraid I am– we have a deal… if he hurts me, I get to hit him.
Once, about 5 years ago, I tried someone else because Dr. S. wasn’t on my dental insurance. One visit later I was back under Dr. Sawyer’s care. He has never pushed anything on me I didn’t need.
Anyway, he’s obviously not for everyone, but I think he’s great.

I’ll never go back. Painful and insensitive. I won’t bore you with the drama. Try Dr. Hasse. It’s a whole different world.

Worst dental experience I’ve ever had.
Pushed tons of extra work on me and not a nice guy.

I’ve been going to Dr. Sawyer for years (way too many to count), and unfortunately I have always had a lot of problems with my teeth, so I’ve been coming there a lot. We put a plan of action together in my first few visits, and have been chipping away at what needed to be done and what my insurance would cover every year (which I appreciated since I didn’t have to pay as much out of pocket). I’ve never had any problems with any of the people who work there — I think Dr. Sawyer is funny, with dry sense of humor. He manages to crack me up even when he IS sticking a needle in me (and i really hate those long shiny things). As a matter of fact, now that we pretty much finished my planned fix-​ups, I have been coming a lot less! I haven’t had any new problems for a few years now, which makes me very happy.
I don’t know many people liking going to the dentists, so can understand why someone’s experience can be unhappy. But come on — have you EVER had a good experience at the dentist? Especially if you needed something fixed?

I’m not sure what these other people are talking about. I hate dentists. especially when they are forcing products down my throat. All i want is for you to clean my teeth, maybe fix things that aren’t right and make me an appointment in six months. All the other dentists i’ve been to have pushed this toothbrush or that procedure down my throat. Dr. Sawyer is a nice man. His staff is super friendly. They’ve done a great job and for the first time in a long time, i’m making the return trip to my dentist.

A NASTY NASTY NASTY EVIL MAN. Dr. Sawyer or «the dentist» is an evil man. He is very impatient and is rude to his patients. However; the support staff is very nice and caring. Especially his dental assistant and hygenist. First of all, I really don’t like going to the dentist and after my visit with «the dentist» it might be a while. He was having a difficult time putting in a cap and out of HIS FRUSTRATION, he yelled and raised his hand at me. Unless you are into this, I suggest you find another dentist.

Castro Dental is my biggest nightmare. I’ve been to many a dentist, but this place, this place was the worst ever.
So here’s the deal. I have good teeth. Not great teeth, but good teeth. They’re all aligned, my gums are a regular human color, I floss, I brush, I eat an apple a day. And my teeth never, ever hurt when I ate… until now. Let me rephrase that, they never hurt until Castro Dental had its evil way with me.
It all started with a routine check-​up at the end of 2006. The technician guy who did my cleaning was great. Super attentive and helpful. But after I had that all done, I had x-​rays and a check up with Dr. Sawyer, who I like to refer to as Dr. Jekyll. He told me that I needed to have all my metal fillings replaced with the new white ones, cause they were from when I was like 8 and there’s mercury in them or something like that. So I go in to replace my first filling (the bottom left one in the back) and the mofo CRACKS MY TOOTH. Then he tries to tell me it’s because, um, well, the filling was really close to the edge of my tooth. Well, doctor, that doesn’t mean you should put your doctor hands and your doctor tools into my mouth and BREAK MY TOOTH. What the hell are you doing, man?
So then afterwards I’m really really unhappy because not only did he crack my tooth, but the tooth was not filed down right (it was too big), so everytime I would bite down, to eat, to talk, whatevers, there would be a searing pain in my mouth that would last half an hour. But then I go back because it was their mistake and I thought they should fix it. I go in the second time to have it fixed, it seems like they’re really eager to make things right, so I decide maybe I should give them another chance because everyone makes mistakes. Here’s what happened on the last trip to Castro Dental that learned me good:
I go in to have one of the top fillings in my mouth replaced. Dr. Sawyer is about to inject me with local anesthetics and it’s painful and I don’t like it, but I endure it nonetheless. After injecting me 3 times with the shiny needle, he refills and goes in for another round. I shudder, I look up at him and I go (admittedly a little whiney), «Oh no, there’s more? How come?» He throws up his hands, raises his voice and is all, «Look, if you want me to do this you’re going to have to stop complaining. I can’t do this unless you cooperate. Do you want me to do this?»
WHOA, Mr. Hyde, are you kidding me? You have a needle. A big long one. And you’re raising your voice and becoming irritated with me because I was alarmed at all the local you were giving me? Aren’t people SUPPOSED to ask questions and be mildly unhappy in the dentist’s chair? You’re not used to this by now? Just tell me it’s almost over, that it’ll be fine and I’ll be okay. Hello, you: patient nice doctor. Me: scared of needles patient. By the way, YOU’RE TWICE MY SIZE. Did I mention YOU HAVE A BIG LONG NEEDLE?
So I sat there, quietly, not making any noise, trying not to irritate the big guy while he sticks me with stuff. I gather my things, bid the receptionist good-​bye with my dangling, anesthesized lips and never, ever go back. Three months after the fact? The cracked tooth still aches. Lesson learned: no more second chances to medical professionals. Cause you have a lot to lose. Like the ability to eat beef jerky.