Dr. Don Mungcal is a native of the Los Angeles area and loves serving his neighbors dental needs. Raised in the San Fernando Valley, he completed undergrad studies at UCLA. He received his degree with honors in 1990 after completing the dental program at University of the Pacific Dental School in San Francisco. His post-graduate experience came in part from his role as an instructor at USC Dental School. Within a few short years, Dr. Mungcal established his practice right in his hometown of Los Angeles. Downtown Dental has been serving patients since 1992. The love that Dr. Mungcal feels for LA seems to be reciprocal. He has been honored as a Best Dentist in Downtown in Los Angeles Downtown News for four consecutive years.
Dr. Mungcal stays abreast of cutting-edge dental technologies and techniques through activity in the California Dental Society. He is also a member of several other prestigious dental organizations. He stays up to date with the latest dental implants, general dentistry, and cosmetic dentistry advancements by investing hundreds of hours in continuing education courses each year.
Dr. Mungcal provides care with the goal of helping his patients keep their natural teeth for as long as possible, hopefully for life! This does not merely mean that natural teeth are present, but that they look good, feel good, and function well because of excellent care.
Patients visit Dr. Mungcal for general dental needs as well as for cosmetic dentistry treatments, sedation dentistry, dental implants, TMJ treatment, Invisalign, root canal therapy, teeth whitening, porcelain veneers, and much more.
Dr. Loftus was born and raised up north in Californias capital Sacramento. She attended Syracuse University in upstate New York where she graduated in 2009 with a Biomedical Engineering degree. At first she wanted to an engineer and wanted to build things, but during her sophomore year she took an internship at a Dentist office and she fell in love with the patient-doctor interaction. So after graduating as an engineer she decided to pursue a dental career at USC where she earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.). Dr. Loftus has her fun and she enjoys hanging out with her family, going on hikes and the movies,and taking silly photos of her two year old.
My ultimate goal with patients is to provide dentistry that is comfortable and painless. I want my patients to see the dentist as an enjoyable experience as opposed to a stressful situation all while giving the best care that I can give.
Here at downtown Dental, we take oral health and cancer screenings very serious. This month is November and its the month of oral health cancer awareness and screenings. Every patient we examined thoroughly, we look and we check their lips, tongue and we check for any abnormalities or bumps. At home you should also check to make sure that everything looks okayLeava is going to demonstrate what in oral health cancer screening is and what we examine. So, we first start off by checking all the lips. We make sure that the lips look healthy and that we palpate them, which is touching them and making sure that theres nothing anormal. Then we go into the mucosa and check the cheeks. Were going to look and check the hard palate as well as the soft palate. This might tickle a little. We checked the posterior of the tongue. Do you, Viola, go ahead and say, aaaaaa. We check the lateral sides of the tongue. Go ahead and sit your tongue showed up great. And we also check the floor of the mouth. Get the tongue to the roof of your mouth. Good all clear. Oral cancer is especially important to check the patients who are smokers, alcohol drinkers and we thank you for watching the video.
Dr. Mary Senstad grew up in the Pasadena area and has wanted to be a dentist for as long as she can remember. She earned her Chemistry degree summa cum laude from Chapman University, and went on to receive her Doctor of Dental Medicine at Midwestern University, AZ. Dr. Senstad focuses on preventive and comprehensive general dentistry and performs all dental procedures in a gentle fashion to help patients feel comfortable while achieving their healthy smiles. She is committed to building strong relationships with her patients and promoting trust and communication as the foundation to delivering excellent dental care.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Dr. Tara Mavadat always had a passion for Dentistry and is committed to helping patients achieve excellent oral health and beautiful, long-lasting smiles. She completed her undergraduate studies at The George Washington University in Washington DC. After, she moved to San Francisco where she earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) at University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry. Dr. Mavadat focuses on comprehensive general dentistry with an emphasis on prevention. Her primary focus with every patient is not only to provide comfort and quality, but to assure an exceptional esthetic outcome.
Reviews
Rating 4.6 out of 5 based on 156 reviews
Sort by
newest oldest highest lowestBahar Rejepgulyyeva
a year ago
I made an appointment for tooth extraction with Orthodontist's letter with this place and they refused to extract my teeth even though I have a letter from a doctor. Instead they were trying to sell me their service for Invisalign even though I am in the process with another place and I already have braces. They tried so hard to sell their service while I am just there for tooth extraction. They didn't do anything to my teeth and charged me $99 for the visit. Just a joke!
Jack Rutherford
a year ago
Everyone that works here makes going to the dentist that much easier. Kind, compassionate, quick, communicative, and efficient as hell, these folks make the whole experience enjoyable. Highly recommend.
Megan
2 years ago
They were able to schedule me for an appointment right away, which I really appreciated. Pria the dental assistant was very warm and welcoming. The Dentist was rather impersonal - I prefer someone more engaging. I went here because I wanted 2 fillings done since my normal dentist is on an extended vacation. My regular dentist quoted me $110 after insurance for the fillings. Downtown Dental refused to do my back filling without a crown, and quoted me around $1,400 after insurance. They did do a panoramic X-ray and found an additional cavity my normal dentist didn't find (I'm eager to get his second opinion). It seems like they offer top of the line care, but it's definitely not practical for all.
Mike
2 years ago
Place is a scam. Your insurance is out of network which means you pay the difference of what their fees are compared to your insurance contracted fees. Also, they are very pushy with unnecessary treatment. Love to push their 'deep cleanings' and 'Invisalign'. The way they run their office is like an used car dealership. I found this with a little research. This is on Indeed for an ad to hire a new dentist. Seems like they can't keep one and this ad should say it all. Here is a little part from their ad that makes me very uneasy with this place "In the beginning, you will be required to learn how our owner and lead dentist performs hygiene exams. You will not have the green light to do exams until our owner sees your ability to communicate so clearly and directly when educating patients that they start signing up for treatment." So basically when you can oversell them in expensive unnecessary work????
Matthew Lloyd
2 years ago
Like everyone, the dentist isn't always the best experience. But this group of people have been nothing short of professional, kind and empathetic. Location is everything to me as well and so happy they're back downtown. If I could give them 10 stars I would! Priyam is the best!!!!
Carlo Giovanni
2 years ago
Staff was very friendly and the location was clean. However, I was disappointed because I made my appointment and provided my insurance information 2 weeks before my appointment. Today I showed up and provided my insurance information again... they began doing work and X-rays then came in to let me know they operate out of network ... they still charged me $160 bc they did X-rays ... that I wouldn't have agreed to if they had informed me that they aren't working with my insurance. They wasted my time and made me pay for something I shouldn't have had to pay due to their lack of transparency.
Michael Supanick
2 years ago
I was a patient here from 2019 to 2021 before I moved out of LA. Most of the cleaning visits were fine. However, anyone who goes here should be aware that they may try to force Invisalign on you. My previous dentist in a different state offered Invisalign, but they never mentioned it to me. In fact, they often mentioned that my teeth were in good shape in terms of alignment. However, on my first visit to Downtown Dental in LA, I had x-rays taken, and upon inspection, the dentist told me that I needed Invisalign due to the poor alignment in my back teeth. I was a student at the time and didn't have a steady enough income stream to consider it, so I told them that I would hold off. Next time I go in, they tell me that they "found a discount" on Invisalign, even though they knew that I was still a student and still didn't have the income stream to afford it. On a later visit, I had a different dentist, who proceeded to provide me with a completely different reason for needing Invisalign, wholly unrelated to the reason the initial dentist provided. So, it seemed that they were ultimately trying to pull a fast one on me as a patient because, I assume, they have a financial incentive to sign up as many patients as possible for Invisalign. This was ultimately confirmed after I moved and made my first visit to a dentist in my new location. I asked them whether Invisalign was necessary, and she and the hygienist both said that there was absolutely no need and were shocked that anyone would suggest it in the first place. So, if you are going to go to Downtown Dental, beware that they might use coercive settings and tactics to force Invisalign on you. If they do, strongly consider getting a second opinion.
Cesar Chaidez
2 years ago
I called to make a teeth whitening appointment for 2, and upon asking about why the price was twice the amount of any other cosmetic salon in the area. The woman on the phone said that I should "give them a call then" and hung up the phone instead of explaining the price. Not the best customer service. Wouldn't recommend.
Hristina Milojevic, PhD
2 years ago
This review was edited from the original. I'm still glad I did some of my restorations here but... Pros: - they're very efficient / fast - you can get an appointment very quickly - Dr. Loftus & Henry were great to work with, kind, informative, etc. - they fixed a tooth that 2 other dentists said needed a root canal, without a root canal, just an onlay. I was really thrilled about this! - I'm very whimpy but they were pretty nice to me and tried their best to make me feel comfortable and didn't give me a hard time for being kind of a pain in the butt. - they used distraction techniques to help me relax - they never emailed me back about new cost estimates with my 2nd insurance, which was a blessing, considering I found a new dentist with better prices in the mean time, who generally seems to work better for me Cons: - welp, they misdiagnosed a tooth as needing a root canal and I'm happy to report that my new dentist just cleaned it out without one, and this was done in consultation with an endodontist who said root canal at that stage of cavity (close to nerve but not on it) was too extreme - they were brutal with local anesthetic... swirling the needle - I also felt the drill or some discomfort from it even after 5 shots and basically counted through the discomfort so Dr. could finish. When I did my most recent restoration elsewhere, I couldn't stop shaking before they began, thinking it'd be like this again. (Luckily it wasn't.) I found out from this other place that up to 12 shots of lidocaine could be given safely, so why the heck wouldn't they give me more that day? - If I hadn't specifically asked for an onlay, I would have not been offered it. - THE PRICES... Whatever these people quote you at, look for a 2nd and 3rd quote elsewhere. They were a good choice for me at the time, but I'm so glad I found my new dentist with normal prices. For reference: an onlay and a filling here cost me $1400 out of pocket, all my restorations were quoted at like $6k out of pocket, and they recommended general anesthesia at whopping $1200/hr, or total over $7k for the time needed. If you're neither a celebrity nor an executive nor have Delta Dental, I really don't recommend this place for you, even if you have an insurance or two. But they do offer financing through CareCredit if you're set on going here. If you just need some cavities cleaned out and restored, for the love of god, don't assume it's meant to cost you like $10k... Find a general dentist with normal prices who works with multiple insurance types!
Ami Weldehana
2 years ago
Pariyam and Jessica and one boy I don't remember his name they are really the best. The place is really clean and they really did good job I get deep cleaning. Thank you so much much respect.
Esprit Smith
3 years ago
Being fairly new to LA, I needed to find a new dentist and am really glad I stumbled on this practice. I have some jaw issues that make most dental work tricky, uncomfortable and often painful. But everyone I've interacted with here has been top notch. The dentist was as gentle as possible, all things considered, and really seemed to go out of her way to make sure I was comfortable -- super duper grateful for that. The hygienists and assistants are extremely knowledgeable and friendly, and scheduling was way easier than I've experienced at other places in LA. Highly recommend.
Janine Ratteray
3 years ago
I have always been afraid of the dentist! When I first moved to LA and started going to Downtown Dental. It is super convenient for me and Allison, Fern, Dr. Mungcal and all the staff have always made me feel very comfortable and at ease. I have had a few crowns which have been lengthy procedures but no complaints at all!! Happy to recommend my new dentist to all my family and friends!!
Erin Beaurem
3 years ago
Downtown Dental takes such great care of me and everyone is nice and efficient!
Gabriella Belpre
3 years ago
I had such an amazing experience at Downtown Dental. I was traveling from out of state and developed severe tooth pain and they were able to fit me in next day. Youstina and Allison made me feel so comfortable and assured I received adequate care at their offices!
Nadia Tursi
3 years ago
Generally I hate the dentist and avoid going at all costs, but I'm new to LA and needed to find a new regular dentist. I was referred to Downtown Dental by Youstina and I'm so glad I went. Allison, Brenda, and the rest of the team made sure I was comfortable and talked through every step of my visit. Happy to call this my new regular office.
Maya Hobbs
3 years ago
I got a deep cleaning here today and it was so quick and painless. My teeth look amazing! Thank you Fern for making me feel so comfortable and for being so caring of my dental health!
Hristina Milojevic, PhD
3 years ago
This review was edited from the original. I'm still glad I did some of my restorations here but... Pros: - they're very efficient / fast - you can get an appointment very quickly - Dr. Loftus & Henry were great to work with, kind, informative, etc. - they fixed a tooth that 2 other dentists said needed a root canal, without a root canal, just an onlay. I was really thrilled about this! - I'm very whimpy but they were pretty nice to me and tried their best to make me feel comfortable and didn't give me a hard time for being kind of a pain in the butt. - they used distraction techniques to help me relax - they never emailed me back about new cost estimates with my 2nd insurance, which was a blessing, considering I found a new dentist with better prices in the mean time, who generally seems to work better for me Cons: - welp, they misdiagnosed a tooth as needing a root canal and I'm happy to report that my new dentist just cleaned it out without one, and this was done in consultation with an endodontist who said root canal at that stage of cavity (close to nerve but not on it) was too extreme - they were brutal with local anesthetic... swirling the needle - I also felt the drill or some discomfort from it even after 5 shots and basically counted through the discomfort so Dr. could finish. When I did my most recent restoration elsewhere, I couldn't stop shaking before they began, thinking it'd be like this again. (Luckily it wasn't.) I found out from this other place that up to 12 shots of lidocaine could be given safely, so why the heck wouldn't they give me more that day? - If I hadn't specifically asked for an onlay, I would have not been offered it. - THE PRICES... Whatever these people quote you at, look for a 2nd and 3rd quote elsewhere. They were a good choice for me at the time, but I'm so glad I found my new dentist with normal prices. For reference: an onlay and a filling here cost me $1400 out of pocket, all my restorations were quoted at like $6k out of pocket, and they recommended general anesthesia at whopping $1200/hr, or total over $7k for the time needed. If you're neither a celebrity nor an executive nor have Delta Dental, I really don't recommend this place for you, even if you have an insurance or two. But they do offer financing through CareCredit if you're set on going here. If you just need some cavities cleaned out and restored, for the love of god, don't assume it's meant to cost you like $10k... Find a general dentist with normal prices who works with multiple insurance types!
Cesar Chaidez
3 years ago
I called to make a teeth whitening appointment for 2, and upon asking about why the price was twice the amount of any other cosmetic salon in the area. The woman on the phone said that I should "give them a call then" and hung up the phone instead of explaining the price. Not the best customer service. Wouldn't recommend.
Ami Weldehana
3 years ago
Pariyam and Jessica and one boy I don't remember his name they are really the best. The place is really clean and they really did good job I get deep cleaning. Thank you so much much respect.
ogechi onuigbo
3 years ago
Staff was really nice, but they put pressure on me to come in. I need to get my wisdom teeth taken out, I personally was looking for a place that was equipped to perform the procedure. The lady I spoke with on the phone said that they did perform wisdom teeth removals, I told her I would call them back. She called me back, I didn't call them back. She in a way pressured me to come in. When I came in, it took them an hour to tell me they couldn't perform the procedure. Waste of my time. They charged my insurance for looking at my teeth for 2 minutes. I don't mind that they charged the insurance, just upset that they pressured me to come in just to waste my time.
Load more