Dentists in Van Nuys, CA: Local Guide

Quick answer: Van Nuys, CA has 142 dental practices in the Dental.me directory. 79 are rated on Google, averaging 4.38★ across 6,843 reviews. Top by independent Dental.me Score: MEHRZAD FIROUZBAKHT DENTAL,INC, GOHAR HOVSEPYAN D.D.S., INC., DR. JEANNIE ANN MOLATO D.M.D. Compare them below and shortlist two or three near you to call.

Van Nuys is a city where the ratings vary far more than the average suggests. Across the 142 dental practices Dental.me tracks in Van Nuys, the average rating is 4.38 — the lowest of the ten nearby San Fernando Valley communities we compared, which average 4.45 to 4.79. That single number hides the real story, though. Van Nuys isn’t a middling-rated market; it’s a split one. It has a deep bench of highly rated offices and, sitting right alongside them, a sizeable group of offices with low Google ratings. In a town like this, the skill isn’t finding a dentist. It’s telling the two halves apart.

So this guide is built differently from the usual “top 10 dentists” list. We’re going to teach you to read a crowded, uneven market — because that’s the actual challenge in Van Nuys.

What 6,843 reviews reveal about this market

Of those 142 practices, 79 carry a public Google rating. Between them they hold 6,843 Google reviews — an average of about 87 reviews per rated office. That average is pulled up by a few offices with several hundred reviews: the typical (median) rated office has 17, and 50 of the 79 have fewer than 50. A rating built on hundreds of reviews moves less with any single one than a rating built on two or three. Either way it measures what reviewers wrote, not the dentistry.

But notice that last tile. Only 48 of the 142 practices — about a third — have a website on file. That is low, and it changes how much you can learn before you call: where an office has no site, there is no insurance list or booking page for you to check, so those questions move to the phone. The Van Nuys dentist directory narrows that gap by putting the Google rating, the review count, and the listed specialties into one comparable view, so an office with no website of its own is still something you can compare rather than skip.

The rating spread — and why it’s the whole game

Here’s where Van Nuys separates itself. Break the 79 rated practices into bands and the market almost splits down the middle: a strong top, and a surprisingly heavy bottom.

Read that carefully. 44 of the 79 rated practices — about 56% — are rated 4.8 or higher. That’s a large top tier. But look at the bottom: 14 practices sit below 4.0, and another 14 land in the mixed 4.0–4.49 band. Together that’s 28 offices, more than a third (35%) of the rated market, with Google ratings from mixed to low. Encino and Sherman Oaks look different: 77% and 74% of their rated offices are at 4.8 or higher, and only 4% and 5% are below 4.0 (Van Nuys: 56% and 18%). In Van Nuys, the 4.38 city average describes neither group well — it’s a midpoint between two very different groups.

The practical takeaway: a rating floor is the most useful first filter here. Set 4.8 as your starting line, then let review volume break the ties.

Who the top of the market actually is

Apply that 4.8 floor and rank by review count, and a clear leaderboard emerges. These are the eight Van Nuys offices rated 4.8 or higher with the most reviews behind them:

• Affordable Dental — 4.8 stars across 610 reviews, the most of any Van Nuys office rated 4.8 or higher.
• Mehrzad Firouzbakht Dental, Inc. — 4.9 stars across 609 reviews, one behind, and the highest Dental.me Score in the city.
• Gohar Hovsepyan, D.D.S., Inc. — 5.0 over 539 reviews, the most reviews behind any 5.0 in Van Nuys.
• Dr. Jeannie Ann Molato, D.M.D. — 4.9 stars over 432 reviews.
• Robert Fields — 4.9 stars over 349 reviews.
• Peter Suh DMD, Inc. — 4.8 stars over 269 reviews.
• Nisman & Bacquet, D.D.S., Inc. — 4.9 stars over 254 reviews.
• Elizabeth Rojas — 5.0 over 198 reviews.

Notice the pattern: two offices on the list (Hovsepyan and Rojas) hold 5.0 ratings, while Affordable Dental and Firouzbakht carry the two largest review bases in town (610 and 609). Van Nuys has 26 listings at 5.0, but only 4 of them hold it on 100 or more reviews. Both kinds of number are reasonable starting points for a shortlist; neither measures clinical quality. You can compare every one of them side by side on the main Van Nuys directory page.

Matching a specialist to the work you need

Some Van Nuys listings also carry specialty tags. Tags come from listing categories, not from a check of who provides the service, so confirm with an office that it does the work you need before you book.

Dental implants, cosmetic dentistry and teeth whitening are the most common tags, on 20 listings each. 13 listings carry the pediatric tag, 12 periodontics, and 11 the orthodontics tag (11 also carry Invisalign). The surgical end is thinner: 6 listings carry the oral surgery tag and 6 the dentures tag. 10 carry the emergency dental tag, but Dental.me holds no hours or availability data, so ask an office how it handles an emergency, and how soon it can see you, before you need it.

A vetting method that works in a split market

Because Van Nuys has that heavy bottom tail, calling the closest place first tells you nothing about how it is rated. Here’s a four-step method for working down to the 44 highest-rated offices.

Step one, the rating floor, is the one that does the heavy lifting in Van Nuys. It removes the 35 rated practices below 4.8. Step two weights by volume, because a 5.0 built on a dozen reviews rests on little feedback (16 of the city’s 26 listings at 5.0 have 12 reviews or fewer), while Firouzbakht’s 4.9 across 609 is a deep sample. Step three matches the specialty to your actual need. And step four is the phone call, for what the data can’t confirm. Ask whether they’re in-network for your plan, what a first visit costs out of pocket, and what their hours are (Dental.me holds no hours data). For the review and rating logic behind the Dental.me Score, see our how we rank methodology.

One more reason step four matters so much in Van Nuys: with only about a third of offices listing a website, most fee questions have to be asked by phone, and quotes for the same procedure can differ from one practice to the next. Before you commit to major work — a crown, an implant, or a full course of orthodontics — get the estimate in writing. Dental.me does not publish prices, and our national guide to dental costs gives no price ranges either; it lists what a quote depends on (the procedure, exam findings, insurance and materials), so ask each office for a written, itemised estimate. In a market this uneven, that phone-and-written-estimate habit is what lets you compare offices on more than stars.

When to look just past the city line

If your top pick is booked or out of network, the neighboring communities add more listings. Sherman Oaks (139 practices, 4.73 average) and Encino (243 practices, 4.79) to the south are rated higher on average, while Lake Balboa (3 listings), North Hills (21), Panorama City (52) and Panorama (2) ring the immediate area. For a routine cleaning, staying in Van Nuys and choosing from the top tier is the easy call. For a big-ticket procedure — an implant, full-mouth work, or a second opinion — comparing a Van Nuys office against one in a neighboring community is worth the extra calls.

The bottom line for Van Nuys: this is a market with high and low ratings side by side, and the gap between them is wide. Don’t let the 4.38 average scare you off or lull you in. Use the floor, respect the volume, and start your search on the Van Nuys dentist directory.

Dental.me organizes dental directory data so patients can compare offices with confidence. Use each practice profile and its available website, map, and phone details for current appointment, payment, and care decisions.