The clinic itself is very attractive, comfortable and technically, state of the art. But it is Dr. Garofolo and his staff that make it a remarkable experience. As a former dentophobe, I can highly recommend this dental practice!!"

San Diego 

The first time I met Dr. Garofolo I had a terrible toothache with a 5 hour flight back to Charlotte the next day. He fit me in to see if he could help, and within a few hours had completed a root canal including a beautiful porcelain crown, milled in his own office and with a perfect fit. He called me personally later to see how I was doing. Thanks to him, the toothache was gone, and I had a perfect crown in its place.

The second time I saw him was to get a second opinion for a set of 4 implants on the upper left, from the canine tooth back. The periodontist – rated one of the best in my tri-state area – that did the extraction, planned to replace the 4 teeth with 3 implants. That would have resulted in the canine and 2 big fat rectangular Mickey Mouse teeth, similar to what his partner had done on the other side, which basically ruined my mouth. I was sick over this, so my son insisted I get a second opinion. I argued that there’s only one way to handle implants, there was no reason for a second opinion. I was so wrong! The difference was stone age vs. space age.

Dr. Garofolo fit me in again, and in about 30 seconds I was convinced that the ONLY way to go was with Dr Garofolo. He does implants an entirely different way. He designs the replacement teeth FIRST, whereas the old way was for the periodontist to place the implant, then the abutment, and then send you to your dentist with a big “good luck!” for them to create a crown that works. If your jawbone’s not perfectly aligned, this puts you flat out of luck. 

First, Dr. Garofolo images your entire jaw with a CT Scan. Every dentist I’ve known uses a standard X-Ray whole-jaw scan which produces a standard flat image. The CT Scan gives Dr. Garofolo a 3-D image of the entire jaw. He then takes images by hand of your teeth and bite, which are sent to a computer along with the CT Scan results. I watched him design the teeth next, as though he was designing regular crowns. He next brought images of the implants into the bone on the computer screen and showed me how he can adjust the angle of the implant to fit both the jawbone and the tooth at the same time. The computer then created a 3-D print of the jig which is used to mount over your gums to position the drill for the guide holes for the implants. 

I went back two days later, and he installed 4 implants in about 11 minutes with a local anesthetic only. He used a laser to punch a small hole in the gums where each of the 4 teeth would go, inserted the implants using the computer-generated placement jig, and screwed small round stainless steel caps at the base of each implant for healing. When healed, Dr. Garofolo unscrewed the healing caps, screwed in the abutments, took another image, and the computer generated information for inserting the abutments into the crowns – which were then made together as one unit. He screwed the crowns with the abutments already attached to them into the implants - done and perfect. Another 11 or 12 minutes. If anything happens to any of the crowns, he has the files to make a replacement - unscrews the old one and screws in the new one. My periodontist would have split my gums open again with me under general anesthesia for 3 hours, stitches again, healing time, and good luck making crowns now to fit between the abutment and opposing tooth.

If you've ever had an implant, you’ve been thru what I described. Now imagine 4 in a row – 2 of which show when you smile. Most that I’ve seen had the gums lasered away at the base of the crown – you could always see an ugly gap until the gum grew back, which takes years. Dr. Garofolo's crowns are seated below the gumline and appear to be natural teeth growing out of the gums. He also replaced other crowns for me during these fit-in appointments and inserted 2 additional implants. I fly from Charlotte to San Diego to be treated by Dr. Garofolo. I’ve experienced how bad implants can ruin your mouth and don’t want that to ever happen again.

Besides being a fantastic dentist, Dr. Garofolo's a great person that's really concerned about you. He wrote a book about how a dentist should treat their patients, and all the proceeds go to helping with the development of sustainable global drinking water in the future. His staff is wonderful! Your treatment "suite" is beautiful, complete with a thick fleece and velvet blanket, headphones if you want, protective sunglasses and water – either chilled or room temperature, while you're facing a wall-sized picture window overlooking trees and a lake. You leave feeling rested, refreshed, and with fantastic dental results. I won't go to anyone else now but Dr Garofolo.

- Dawn Ruther

- Susan P.

San Diego

- Colleen I.

Poway

- Seanat S.

San Diego

- Michael Glatter