Here's the plain version. Our office sees patients Monday and Wednesday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Tuesday and Thursday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, plus one Saturday a month by appointment. Our phone is answered by a real person every hour of every day. Call (323) 433-6458 on a Saturday night and someone takes your details and holds you the first opening, usually Monday at 9:00 AM. This page is about what to do in between.
The $99 covers the emergency exam and diagnostic X-rays for patients paying without insurance. Treatment is priced separately and quoted to you in writing before any work starts.
Same-day appointments · $99 exam + X-rays · Phones answered 24/7 · Se habla español
Why call now if the office is closed?
Because Monday's first chairs go to the people who already called. A toothache that starts Friday night and waits until Monday morning to dial is behind everyone else who waited too. Calling when it happens puts your name on the schedule while the rest of the Valley is still searching.
The person who answers isn't a recording. They take your name, your number and what's going on, and they flag the situations that shouldn't wait for any dentist so you hear that on Saturday, not Monday.
Evenings are covered two nights a week
Before you assume you have to wait: on Tuesday and Thursday we're open until 7:00 PM. A tooth that cracks at lunch on a Thursday can be seen that evening. On Monday and Wednesday the last appointments run until 6:00 PM, and on Friday until 5:00 PM. A call after closing gets you the first slot the next morning, which on a Monday night means Tuesday at 10:00 AM.
The one Saturday a month
Our office opens one Saturday each month, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, by appointment only. It's not every Saturday, and we won't pretend it is. When you call, ask whether the Saturday opening is coming up; if it is and there's a time, you can have it. If not, the Monday chair is held for you.
When not to wait for us
Go to an emergency room first, then call us for the tooth, if you have:
- Swelling that makes it hard to breathe or swallow, or that's closing your eye
- A high fever along with facial swelling
- Bleeding that steady pressure hasn't slowed after 20 minutes
- A blow to the face with a possible broken jaw, or any loss of consciousness
Northridge Hospital Medical Center on Roscoe Boulevard and Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center off Ventura Boulevard are the nearest hospitals for most of our patients. Hospitals treat infections that are spreading and injuries beyond the teeth; they generally can't treat the tooth itself. Our post on whether the ER can pull a tooth explains the split. For a knocked-out adult tooth, minutes matter: follow that page's storage steps and get to the soonest available care, weekend or not.
Getting through the night: what actually helps
- Pain: ibuprofen or acetaminophen, exactly as the label directs. Ask a pharmacist before combining them.
- Swelling: a cold compress on the outside of the cheek, 15 minutes on and 15 off. Sleep with your head propped up.
- A lost filling or crown: temporary dental cement from a pharmacy, never household glue. Details on the lost filling and crown page.
- A sharp edge cutting your tongue: sugarless gum or dental wax over the point.
- Food packed into a painful spot: warm salt-water rinses; skip the toothpicks.
- A broken denture: keep every piece, wear it only if there's no sharp edge, and bring it all Monday.
What doesn't help: aspirin held against the gum (it burns the tissue), heat on a swollen face (it feeds the infection), and alcohol as a painkiller.
"Dentist open Saturday near me": the honest answer
Searching that on a Saturday will turn up offices with weekend chairs in the Valley, and if your situation can't wait until Monday, using one is the right call; phone us afterward at (323) 433-6458 for the follow-up. What we offer on a typical weekend is the answered phone, a held Monday 9:00 AM chair, and a straight answer about whether your symptoms can safely wait. Many can: a cracked tooth that isn't hurting, a lost filling, a dull ache, a crown in your pocket. Those keep until Monday with the steps above. The ones that can't wait are on the ER list higher up, and no dental office is the right first stop for those.
The Monday plan
When the doors open at 9:00 AM, weekend callers come first. The visit runs like every emergency visit here: the $99 exam and X-rays, a diagnosis you can see on the screen, a written price, then treatment, whether that's a toothache workup, an extraction, a root canal or abscess treatment. Cost and insurance details are on the cost and insurance page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there really a person on the phone at 2 AM?
Yes. Outside office hours an answering service picks up. They take your name, number and symptoms and hold you the first opening. They don't give medical advice, and they'll say so; the dentist calls the shots once you're in the chair.
Do you charge more for a Monday appointment after a weekend call?
No. The exam and X-rays are $99 for self-pay patients whenever the visit happens, and treatment is quoted in writing the same way at 9:00 AM Monday as at 2:00 PM Wednesday. Calling on the weekend costs nothing and gets you the earlier chair.
Can I text or email instead of calling on a weekend?
Call. The number is answered around the clock, which no inbox is, and a two-minute conversation sorts out urgency in a way a message can't. It's the same number, (323) 433-6458, day, night, weekday and weekend.
My tooth stopped hurting over the weekend. Should I cancel Monday?
Keep the appointment. Pain that disappears on its own is sometimes a nerve dying rather than a problem resolving, and the quiet stretch is when treatment is simplest. Let the X-ray decide.