My experience was not like any of these other reviews. Dr. Sobrepena and his office were nothing short of fantastic. I was visiting the Bay Area at the end of 2020, and on my first day there, I bit down hard on a crab shell and felt a sharp pain in my molar. After a few days of pain, I searched for a dentist in the area that could help me out. I called Dr. Sobrepena's office, but their phone was down so it took a couple days to get back to me. Dr. Sobrepena's wife and fellow dentist Joanne called me, I explained my situation, and she got me into the office right away. It was great talking to someone in the front office that knew what they were talking about, medically speaking. I went into the office, and from the start, Joanne sat me down and wanted to get to know me, my dental concerns, what I like and don't like about my teeth, and what I look for in a dentist. As someone who had just come off a long 2020 of repeated medical burns with mediocre doctors and unempathetic treatment, this meant a lot to me. I also had some insurance troubles declaring them as my primary care dentist, but Joanne worked with me in the office and sat on the phone with me when I talked to Aetna to clear things up. They recommended three levels of treatment and outlined detailed plans, dollar figures and all, and let me choose which way I wanted to proceed. From my research, the prices were standard for the procedures (filling replacement, metal crown, or porcelain crown). We ended up going with the porcelain crown. I searched for my own endodontist due to insurance purposes (but they have great referrals if necessary) and came back for the measuring and filling. Because I was there on holiday and it was the holidays, let's just say that my timing was tight. Dr. Sobrepena and Joanne worked hard to squeeze me into the schedule so that I could return home on my original date with all the work done. They put in a rush for my crown creation and squeezed me in right before the new year. All in all, I really appreciate the time and care that Dr. Sobreprena's team dedicated to me. A cracked tooth is never fun, and emergency dental work on vacation is a nightmare, but Dr. Sobrepena made it an a-ok experience. read more

My visit at Dr Victor Sobrepena's was great. I have anxiety about going to the dentist and Dr. Sobrepena was patient and empathetic towards my feelings. After walking me through in detail what work needed to be done on my teeth; Dr. Sobrepena gave me different treatment options. In addition to that, fees were explained to me in detail (what insurance would cover, etc) so that I wouldn't be confused when I saw the charges. The office is very soothing and clean. Which is definitely important at a dental office. The staff is absolutely amazing. I especially enjoyed having conversations with Joanne. I'm happy I finally found a dentist that I feel comfortable with, but more importantly trust. read more

I've had a number of cleanings, and a couple more crowns, from Dr. Sobrepena, and I'm still very happy with his work and staff. The cleanings are the gentlest I've had. I don't need any sedation for the cleanings, but the crowns generally require sedation. At the start of every cleaning, the teeth are checked/measured in several ways (as I learned 30+ years ago, what you don't measure gets worse). The main set of numbers I follow are the gum readings from 1 to 5 (about three numbers for each tooth, with the desired values being 1, 2, or 3). After one checkup where I had very few 4s (and nothing worse), I wondered: does he grade easy? I retrieved the numbers from the last checkup from my prior dentist ... and found they matched up very well. Whenever I've had sedation, the work's gone quite well. I arrive, have a pill, and later I wake up at home. It's like magic! (Sedation requires having someone willing to take you home, and Dr. Sobrepena recommends that they stay somewhere in the house with you for a few hours.) The hardest part of writing this review was deciding if I should figure out how to type an "ñ" or just "n" for his last name (Sobrepeña)! He moved office locations about a year or so ago ... the new office at 1289 E Hillsdale Blvd Suite 10, Foster City, CA 94404 is easy to reach and has very good parking. It's about a half a mile from the old office on Pilgrim Drive. A note on upsell: I haven't noticed any excessive or annoying attempts to "upsell" anything. A note on frequency of cleaning: my prior dentist had me doing 3 cleanings a year. I started with that frequency with Dr. Sobrepena, and then *I* asked *him* if cleaning more often might improve my gum measurements and help prevent cavities. He agreed, and now I see him 4 times a year, and my numbers have improved. read more

OK, where should I start? In general Dr. Sobrepena is a money sucker, he uses your mouth as a cornucopia to get as much money as he possibly can by prescribing services that you might not really need and/or by over charging for services. He uses a strategy of making you feel welcomed and comfortable to get your guard down and take your money. Well this is my experience and the reason why I looked for a different dentist; this happened on 7/8/2009: Same experience with Erick, he is nice (remember it is part of the strategy) but It is true that he flosses your gums roughly; I believe that they try to cause bleeding or pain to justify additional deeper cleaning and additional costs. Erick interviews you and asks you all kind of question about the reason why you are looking for dental services, nothing wrong with this. Then Dr. Sobrepena arrives, read comments and checks you out. Then he assures you that he will fix everything and then ask you the million dollars question "is there anything preventing you from getting the cure to your dental problems?" And since I was already delighted for all the nice talking and attention all I wanted to say is "when do we start?" And I said, "no, nothing" what a mistake!!!!!!! I should have said "yes, money is a concern." After hearing that you don't have any "obstacles" to get treatment, he proceeds to explain you about a laser procedure that is so good for your treatment; he even shows you a small video camera where you can see your teeth. Finally he explains you what needs to be done and prepares you to send you to the next step of the money sucking process; he ask you to turn your head to your side and to smile to your best and he takes a picture. Obviously if you are not a young model you are not going to look good; anyways he prints the picture out and gives it to you to take it to the next stop where you speak to the person who will tell you all the money you will need to solve your dental problem. Once there they place your picture on the desk so you are looking at it all the time; and the accountant, I guess, starts figuring out costs. Once she/he is done they place the total to be paid side by side with your picture. What a cheap way to coercion you to accept the plan being presented to you. To make the story short, my total for a deep cleaning was $4,423!!!!!!! Not for surgery, for cleaning!! And that's not all, the work was not warranted; if the gums didn't respond to the treatment he would refer me to a specialist!! I was guessing; if this work is not warranted to solve my problem why Dr. Sobrepena doesn't send me directly to the specialist? Why take the chance? I'll tell you why, because Dr. Sobrepena wanted his share of the profit before sending me to a specialist. I ended up going to a different Dr. who not only performed SURGERY on my guns but charged me only $800 that I paid off in two installments. The Dr's name is Charles Habekost, he is the best! That is not all, later on I took my son to Dr. Sobrepena for a cleaning and even though my son has a healthy mouth Dr. Sobrepena recommended me to bring him for cleaning every 3 months (in a year that would mean to pay, unnecessarily, 2 additional cleaning sessions out of my pocket). In general, if you really need a doctor with integrity for his patients avoid this dentist that is more concern about getting your money than to help you and go see Dr. Habekost or other that you believe to be honest. read more

This guy didn't get it. I haven't been there for years--and as I see that he somehow continues to market to me . . . I can't let this go. He was in constant upsell mode--whitening, bite guards, fillings that weren't necessary, etc. But what really got me, was his lower than 50% attendance rate for my visits. Basically I paid for x-rays that never got reviewed and had multiple visites where I only saw the hygienist.. read more

Dr Sobrepena has been a great dentist for the past 10 years. Always up to date with the latest dentist technology. I haven't had the need to do sleep dentistry, but I always see sleep patients when I come for my checkups. He even has a porcelain grind machine to make your permanent filling in the same visit instead of a temporary filling and multiple visits. Very helpful in preventative care and staff is very caring. I've refered a few friends to him and they've also been very satisfied with his service. read more

My experience w/Dr. Victor & Joanne was great. I felt comfortable although my palms were sweating during my 1st visit. They worked out 3 different quotes for me. It was less than I was expecting but still more than I thought I could ever afford. The 4 stars are because they worked not only with me but my insurance company for the next few weeks to get my needed dental work desperately done. I decided to go ahead. Then my ride to & from couldn't make it. Damn! I told Joanne i was going to take Uber. It was a NO from them. They offer door pick up and bring you home safely after your sedation. AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. In the end they make sure you are completely safe. Joanne goes out of her way for her patience. I felt the entire experience was to help me with my dental problems. read more

I usually never write bad reviews but this one deserves a mention because I want to warn others. My experience with Dr. Sobrepena was like visiting a car dealership. I was asked to come twice for an x-ray for no fault of my own and was sold bunch of services that I don't think I need. I will not be visiting him again. read more

I came in to get my root canal filled on my canine. (The endodontist apparently only does the root canal, but not filling it afterwards, strange...) In a 20 minute procedure, it was a painless experience, until my lip started burning! I told Dr Sobrepena about it and he had me rinse my mouth. Looking at a mirror, I saw that part of the skin on my lip was *burned* off. It was about 1/4" in diameter, and it was raw and sensitive to the touch. When I asked the doctor about it, he said may be due to some abrasion from at tool, or that it may have been some chemicals. *sorry*. Seriously? If he uses a chemical that burns skin, then he should have taken better precaution to protect me from it! He did not provide any shielding in my mouth area to prevent this chemical from getting on me. And the burn mark was pretty big (1/4") so he should have seen the chemical to begin with and wipe it off. In my almost 40 years going to a dentist, I've never gotten the skin on my lips burned before! It still stings 5 hours later. In a dental exam previously (May 2009), I found the hygienist Eric a bit rough with me. When doing some flossing demonstrations, he *snapped* the floss against my gums while flossing me, to the point where I jumped up in pain and surprise. After several times of doing this, I told him it hurt. His response was that it's because my gums are infected from the oral exam the doctor just found. Strange, because I don't hurt when I floss myself!! And given that he knew that my gums were infected, why did he not treat my gums more gently? To top it off, he did not floss my teeth the way he demonstrated to me. He seemed hurried like he was rushing for the next patient or something. This was a new dental office that I'm trying out due to a new insurance plan. I don't think I want to come back here anymore! [added 9/30/09] Doctor Sobrepena called me this morning and initially asked about my gums that got injured yesterday, to which I responded, "you didn't hurt my gums, it was my lip." He then proceeded to tell me he was frustrated with me for writing this yelp review, and that I was not accurately representing the incident. I told him I wrote it according to what had happened to me. Between him and me trying to speak at the same time, things got heated and he essentially called me a liar. This infuriated me and I shouted back that I will not tolerate being called a liar. I don't know how one can hope to get me to retract my review by shouting at me. Then the call got dropped somehow. I called him back after some time to calm down, and we tried to talk in a civil manner to try to clear the issue. After he rambled about my dental history on his chart and the fact that I was late to the appointment, I soon resigned to the conclusion that we do not see eye to eye and I will not get any answers out of him. But he never did give an explanation of what happened to my lip, even though I asked him that question directly. His reply to my point about the distinction between my "gums" and my "lip" was that he was speaking in "general terms", that I made an assumption that they were different...seriously? By the way, if he had nicked me with a tool, wouldn't I have felt it at that instant? I didn't. The appearance of the missing skin on my lip was very even and uniform, and the under layer of skin was smooth, not consistent with a mechanical abrasion. A chemical burn would be much more plausible as the chemical had equal time on a local area to do equal damage and it would take time to burn. This would explain why I only felt the burn a few minutes after he stopped drilling and filling, and he was starting to wrap up. In the end, he felt he needed to tell me that he doesn't want me as a patient anymore, even though I had written yesterday that I would not want to go back [hello...I gave you a 2-star, why would I want to go back??] I've never had a doctor call me and accuse me of being an irresponsible patient, that I was misrepresenting the truth, in response to an incident where I got hurt under his care. What's my new rating? ONE-STAR, for a rambling attempt at conflict resolution that went no where. Given this long detailed review, you decide for yourself whether you want to have him as your dentist. read more

I've been a patient of Dr. Sobrepena for just about a year. Dr. Sobrepena and his staff are warm, friendly, and straightforward about dental work needed, cost, options, etc. The work performed at the office was painless and comfortable - the best dental experience I've had. I would recommend him to anybody - whether you need sedation dentistry or not. As far as costs go, I thought that part of the process was extremely well communicated and the office was plainly interested in making everything related to services and fees clear, ensuring that there were no misunderstandings (no extra work or service has ever been pushed on me, per some of the previous reviewers). read more

Upsell is the key word here. Please save yourself the time, aggravation, and frustration. There are many great, honest, and caring dentists out there and this dental practice is NOT one of them. It has been years since we had Victor as a doctor and by reading the reviews, I see not much has changed which is unfortunate. read more

I've been going to Dr. Sobrepena for about 6 years now and he's one of the best dentists I've ever had. He and his staff are friendly and he has always been fair, honest and forthcoming. He is also very encouraging and really trys to help you take care of your teeth at home, so that you can avoid major problems and stay on a twice a year cleaning schedule. Also, I wear a mouth guard at night and he will make adjustments to it and clean it free of charge! read more

My husband and I had gum disease and were facing gum surgery when we decided to go see Dr. Victor Sobrepena. He did a deep cleaning of our teeth and gums with a laser treatment and put us on a treatment plan. Within two months our gum disease was gone. Now we have our teeth cleaned every 3 months and the deep pockets we had are gone. We can never thank Dr. Sobrepena enough for saving our teeth. Arlene and Bob, Foster City, Ca.94404 read more

Wow -- I've been going to Dr. Sobrepena at Commerce Park Dental for the few years and he's easily the best Dentist I've ever had. I had to comment here after seeing some very poor representations of his practice and his manner from the limited reviews here. Dr. Sobrepena is the best dentist I've ever had. He's very intelligent and talented and probably the most gentle and caring dentist I've ever been to. If you're someone who has anxiety about the dentist -- which was me -- he's the one for you. I had a lot of work that I needed done when I first came to him (after years of my own neglect). I had the sedation process the first visit (where most of the work was done) and that was awesome! I was so pleased with everything that I had several follow-up procedures done without the sedation and he got me completely over my fear of dentist visits. His practice is very hi-tech and his staff very capable. Like I said, after reading a few reviews here, I felt compelled to respond as my experience there has been nothing but great. Thank you Dr. Sobrepena for all of your help! In response to a review below regarding a burned lip during a root canal... that's from the instrument that melts the filling used in Root Canals (I've unfortunately had a few). I had a similar experience (burned lip) with an endodontist during a root canal several years ago. It's a delicate procedure and a small slip of the hand can cause a quick burn (as I imagine it's hard for them to notice they're touching your lip/cheek, and hard for you to notice because you're numb). I have to say it's pretty childish to bash the guy online because you're in pain immediately after a root canal... time grow up and stop the temper tantrums... read more

My husband and I have been patients of Dr. Sobrepena for more than 5 years. We've been very happy with the quality of their dental services. Their staff is always friendly and professional. Even though we have moved to the East Bay, we still go back to Dr. Sobrepena for our dental services. read more

I had to find a new dentist when I moved to Foster City and I had several choices but Dr. Sobrepena and his staff were it! He has done a fantastic job caring for my smile and my health. He has top notch dental skills and is gentile and efficient. His offices are clean and comfortable. His staff is very knowledgeable and pleasant. read more

Not happy with quality of service with this Dentist! Shortly after I started going to him he started pushing a bunch a not needed services. Then, after he talked me into going to more frequent office visits with promises of better care to resolve a problem, I found out later that I had been deceived and he wasn't performing the work as promised. I ended up having to go to another dentist to get permanent damage corrected because it wasn't addressed. Definitely not recommended. read more

i recently inquired about getting dental work done here due to ads i have seen on tv as well as a local billboard. The receptionists were very welcoming and super friendly. They got me into an appt as soon as they could and i met with the doctor and his assistant. They made me feel comfortable and informed me of everything they were doing. I have a fear of dentists therefore what turned me onto them was their sedation dentistry. I am happy at this dental office now and have no reason to switch. read more

I had a sedation appointment with Dr. Sobrepena that lasted almost 5 hours. He was absolutely wonderful and caring; I had no pain either during or after the procedure and felt completely at ease. Joanne at the front desk is very courteous and professional; as is also dental assistant Natalie. They are also very honest and upfront regarding procedures and charges. I highly recommend Dr. Victor Sobrepena, DDS in Foster City, CA. read more

My 21 year-old step-daughter just saw Dr. Sobrepena last week. He told her she had gum disease, and that she would need a deep cleaning, which was going to cost $5,317! This was obviously a shock to us as she has NEVER even had a cavity! We took her to another dentist for a second opinion and they said she absolutely did NOT have "gum disease." She received a regular cleaning from them and paid $190. What is even more alarming to us now is that my father in law was told he needed the same deep cleaning by Dr. Sobrepena a few years ago, and he went through with the procedure. a few weeks later his teeth started falling out! My father in law was in his 60's at the time, so we didn't think much of it, but after this incident with my step-daughter, I am VERY curious as to what this whole "deep cleaning" procedure is. My father in law now has to wear dentures, my step-daughter will not be going back to this dentist again. read more

Oh boy, was I ever scared of dentists... for years I would avoid going unless I had absolutely no other choice. So it was kind of lucky an old crown broke and I ended up in Dr. Sobrepena's office. Everyone there is so friendly and gentle, and they're great with nervous patients. They're also great about explaining different options in detail, and checking my insurance benefits in advance so I know exactly what to expect. My dental fears are nearly gone! We may not always agree on how often I should go in for cleanings, but my mouth is in great shape now so I really can't complain. :) read more