The dentist office of Dr. Ken Schweifler is your local dental home in Los Altos, CA. We offer general, cosmetic, and restorative dental services for the lifelong care of a healthy, vibrant smile. Dr. Schweifler is native to the Los Altos area and is proud to be a 3rd generation dentist serving our local community and many surrounding towns. Dr. Schweifler emphasizes the importance of maintaining your oral health for the enjoyment of your best quality of life. A healthy smile will support good physical health and well-being.

Health Centered Dentistry allows Dr. Schweifler to take a more comprehensive approach to your dental care when you visit with him. Our Los Altos dentist office welcomes children and adults and we provide age-appropriate dentistry and oral hygiene advice. It is our goal to support the health, comfort, and beauty of your smile with personalized dental care.

We believe that every human being has unique needs and desires for their dental future. In my experience, I have found that most people share similar dental goals. Generally, they want to avoid dental problems, avoid the need for treatment, and avoid the loss of teeth. They want to eat comfortably and have a pleasing smile. Unfortunately, the traditional dental model has as its emphasis, the treatment of disease, with little focus on educating patients on causes of disease and preventive solutions.

We think and act differently. Whether your current dental risks are low or high, our goal is to take the necessary time with you, to truly understand what your needs and desires for dentistry are, and to empower you with the education that will greatly reduce your dental risk over the course of your life. As health coaches, it is our mission to help you maximize your own health potential, period.

Biorejuvenative dentistry is an underlying principle of the dental care we offer in our Los Altos family dental practice. Dr. Schweifler strives to maintain the natural structure of your oral system with dentistry that is designed to address underlying problems that may be causing discomfort, bite problems, and even cosmetic concerns.

As the 3rd generation of Schweifler dentists, I feel I was destined to follow the path of my father and grandfather. I didnt grow up thinking that. In fact, I think I resisted the thought because I felt I wanted to create my own unique niche. However, as I matured and was considering a future career, dentistry clearly offered the best of 2 passions for me: the ability to interact with people and help transform their wellbeing and doing it by working with my hands.

Being immersed in dentistry as a child and watching my fathers fulfillment of partnering with patients to achieve healthy outcomes only solidified my decision. As a private practicing dentist, he was able to be his own boss, create a balanced lifestyle, and be an active father. These were also selling points for me in my career decision-making.

Dentistry has changed quite a bit since my father was in practice. As has occurred in medicine, dentistry is shifting in the direction of a larger group and corporate dental practices, often offering rushed, remedial care to a large volume of patients.

I have resisted this trend because I dont believe its in the patients best interest. From experience, I understand that people want to avoid the need for dentistry and to reduce their dental risks through sound preventive strategies. Offering patients a comprehensive view of their own unique dental condition and offering them preventive strategies to reduce their long-term dental risks is my passion. We have created a unique patient-serving culture that is designed to do just that.

I have a passion for learning and therefore continually seek to further my knowledge by training with the most premier dental educators in restorative dentistry, implant dentistry, and cosmetic dentistry.

With a Masters in Public Health, I am committed to providing dental health education in several different areas. I am involved in community service, including independently organizing a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis where I bicycled over 2,300 miles from Maine to New Orleans. I enjoy giving dental prevention talks to various organizations in the local Los Altos and surrounding communities, and writing dental health articles in local newspapers.

My wife and I enjoy spending time with our three children, supporting their growth, and nurturing their love for the outdoors. We love skiing, snowboarding, biking, hiking, and anything that maintains a continually adventurous lifestyle. I also love music, playing drums and guitar, and cooking for family and friends. I feel blessed to be raising my kids in Los Altos, where I grew up.

One of my greatest joys is having the opportunity to volunteer at one of my childrens schools to provide dental education. This event was for kindergartners. The kids are amazing and they have a lot of fun learning and interacting with the stuffed puppet.

Dr. Ken Schweifler is a general dentist in Los Altos, CA with over 15 years of experience helping patients enjoy optimal oral health. Our family dentist office is your local resource for the long-term maintenance or restoration of your natural smile. We provide personalized care with a holistic approach designed to support healthy teeth, gums, and overall physical health.

Routine dental care is the foundation of lifelong dental health and also supports the maintenance of your physical health. A healthy and stable smile plays an important role in disease prevention and can decrease your risk of cardiovascular and systemic related diseases. We recommend that you visit with us twice a year for dental exams, teeth cleanings, and screenings for oral health concerns such as tooth decay and gum disease.

Dr. Schweifler uses a comprehensive diagnostic approach to your dental care using the Dawson Academy principles of complete dentistry. A more thorough evaluation takes into account not only the condition of the teeth and gums but also the function of the jaw joints and the fit of the bite. These latter aspects of your smile can play a key role in long-term dental health and the comfort of your bite.

When I ask my patients what they want for their dental future, their responses tend to center on the same goals. They want NO DENTISTRY. They want to prevent dental problems, avoid tooth loss, avoid pain, and preserve what they have. They want to avoid the unnecessary expenditure of time and money for dentistry and avail that time and energy for other life pursuits.

We believe that helping patients achieve this goal of NO DENTISTRY requires a complete exam and a Master Plan for dental health. We believe that without a plan, patients tend to make reactive, short-term decisions that arent consistent with their long-term desires.

The majority of dental disease (gum disease, tooth decay) is caused by bacterial plaque and our immune reactions to that plaque. The dental hygiene experience in a typical dental practice emphasizes teeth cleaning, spending all or the majority of a visit removing the bacterial plaque that a patient hasnt managed to remove on their own. Very little or no time is spent on preventive education and coaching on effective home care techniques so that a patient can better control their own oral condition on a daily basis.

The problem with this model is that once removed, bacterial plaque can return within 24 hours, especially if a patients oral home care practices are inadequate. So, the rationale for 2 covered cleanings per year from the typical insurance company clearly isnt centered on achieving health and preventing future disease.

Our dental philosophy coincides strongly with the old English proverb Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. The focus of our hygiene program is to actually help you achieve your desired dental future, one free of disease. We believe this occurs through raising your awareness of your own condition, giving you more effective strategies to control plaque, and coaching you to a higher level of oral health.

We know from experience that patients that can control plaque and inflammation at 90% or greater on their own, have far less disease and far less dental intervention over the course of their lives. From visit to visit, our hygienists can coach you to help raise these scores as you become healthier from your own improved self-management. This program works ideally for those patients who want to be active participants and want to take their healthcare into their own hands.