Ricardo Yap, DDS

I’ve been looking for a good dentist for a long time and finally I found a great one! My sister has highly recommended Dr. Yap. Dr. Yap is very knowledgeable and patient in explaining the procedures. He has great hands in mastering what he needs to do as a dentist. He is a very kind and gentle person who makes others feel comfortable to communicate. He has always made my dental visits a comfortable and worries-​free experience! My family has been going to him for years and they all have positive comment about his professional service!

Great dentist. Honest, delicate hands, and thorough. I had a root canal performed on me when I was 8 by a dentist who should not have done it. I should have been referred over to a specialist considering how young I was. I had to have it redone 15 years later, but another dentist who should have referred me to a specialist, decided to go ahead and do it. Fast forward to present, the same tooth was infected again and instead of just doing a root canal, Dr. Yap referred to me a root canal specialist. Instead of taking the insurance money and doing it improperly, he did the right thing. Not to mention, he is open late, so I am always able to go after work instead of having to take time off.

Always late. No consideration of patient’s time. Been going here for over 15 years and finally had enough today. Although he is a gentle and good dentist, the lack of customer service is 1 star. Upon arrival I was told by the receptionist that they have been trying to reach me because a half hour before my appointment Yap says he’s running an HOUR late. Mind that I’m coming from SF and have been communicating via email with them the entire week. I also tole them in the past that my phone number changed months ago and have VM’s on my new phone to prove they knew. I never got a call or email. Arrived at 11:20 as I know he is always late, so no need to show up early. She tells me the doc can’t see you until 12:30!!! I have already revolved my day around this appointment (2 fillings) and have things to do after so I will not skip lunch and wait for you to be done. No apologies by Yap, just the look of «oops, this happens all the time so you can’t be mad». Well… I am. I’ve wasted time, fuel and had to miss a meeting to be here.
It is now official that I will find a new dentist who knows about customer service. My recommendation to this business is have better time management. You should know how long each appointment should take and since you are always behind time, give yourself a 30 minute buffer! It’s not rocket science. Also invest in an online booking tool.

Dr. Yap is a very good dentist. He is very gentle to my teeth. He explains what he is going to do before he actually works on my teeth. He is very knowledgable. His dental office is very clean and the receptionists are very friendly. He uses very updated dental equipment, such as digital x-​Ray. Highly recommend Dr. Yap to my friend.

Dr. Yap has been my dentist for more than 13 years. He is the most patient doctor I have ever met. I have some sort of jaw problems and he always makes sure that I am ok. He checks periodically and stops and let me rest when I am in pain. He never rushes me, not like seeing other general doctors that time is the priority.
There was one time that I had a serious pain on my right and I thought it was a cavity. Dr. Yap spent just a couple minutes and figured out something else. It was due to teeth grinding. After that consultation, the pain was completely gone.
I highly recommend Dr. Yap if you are looking for a gentle and knowledgeable dentist.

I would NOT recommend this doctor to anyone. He performed mediocre teeth cleaning, but most importantly, he can misread your x-​rays and drill unnecessary holes in your teeth. I told my friend about my experience and he would not be returning either. Would give a zero star if I could. Here’s what happened:
Went to this office for routine teeth cleaning as a friend referred him. He was very nice during the visit and took x-​rays of my teeth. After looking at the x-​rays, he told me I had signs of cavities on multiple premolars and molars. I never had cavities in my life and was surprised that he told me I had signs of cavities. But I was very concerned and made the next available appointment to get two filled first. When I went in for this appointment, he informed me that he would only perform fillings on two of my teeth. At the end of the procedure, he told me that he filled THREE of my teeth. I was awake during the whole procedure, but he did not even have the consideration to let me know that he wanted to fill my third tooth. I was very upset that he basically drilled my third tooth without my consent and did not return to get my other fillings (LUCKILY!!!).
I received an invoice from their office a couple of months later charging me for 3 teeth fillings and the co-​pays on 3 filings. I called about my invoice and told them how upset I was about having my third tooth drilled without my consent and was informed that I would receive a call back from the manager on Monday.
On Saturday, I went to another dental office, as I was still concerned about my other cavities on my teeth that Dr. Yap told me I had. I got x-​rays taken again and they told me that I had NO SIGNS of cavity on any of my teeth! I was livid at the thought that Dr. Yap had drilled holes in 3 of my teeth when there were most likely NO SIGNS OF CAVITY!
Monday came around and I had no call back. By Tuesday afternoon, I still didn’t receive a response, so I called them. The manager stated that she told the staff to call me back on Monday, but guess she didn’t (very displeased with that answer). Told me that she will waive the third tooth’s co-​pay, but after getting informed that my other premolars and molars had NO SIGNS of cavity by another DDS, and the thought that 3 of my teeth were possibly drilled for NO REASON, I did not want to pay any co-​pay at all. Manager refused to waive the remaining co-​pay.

I’ve been going to Dr. Yap for about 10 years now. The first thing I ever wondered about him was why an Asian guy had a Spanish first name! Somehow it’s never come up (it doesn’t seem the smartest thing to ask what might be a sensitive question while the dentist is working on your teeth!) but someday I am going to find out.
Anyway, on to the services. Dr. Yap is probably the gentlest dentist I’ve ever gone to. I know, «gentle dentist» is not a phrase you generally expect to use. When he administers the novocaine injections, he does it so slowly and patiently you hardly feel it – until the pinch, of course, which can’t be avoided. He even hides the needle from you behind his back and sneaks it to your mouth so you don’t have to look at it. How nice is that?
Over all these years, I’ve only had one strange experience to gripe about. I went to Dr. Yap for an urgent appointment for a medium-​sized cavity that I did not want to get worse (I had a root canal a little while ago, and wanted to take all measures to prevent it from happening ever again). On the phone I was asked which tooth needed the work. I wasn’t 100% sure, but I mentioned the upper right area as that is what I remembered. When I went in for the appointment, Dr. Yap worked on the upper right area, but it seemed to be progressing too quickly. When I asked why it was done so fast, he revealed that he was replacing an old filling (!!!). I was worried about the other cavity that REALLY needed filling, and here he was replacing an old filling? He THEN checked his notes on which tooth had the urgent cavity, and it was a different tooth. I had to go all the way up from San Jose to have this taken care of, but at least it was done.
TIP: Dr. Yap is awesome. Just make sure he checks his notes instead of listening to the patient’s guesses. We don’t have a clue about what’s going on in our mouths!