This guide is built from the registry records behind those listings, which hold addresses, ZIP codes, provider type and registration dates. It offers no ratings, since none exist in that data. What it offers is a straight account of what is available locally and what requires a trip.
What is listed in the Excelsior
All 31 listings sit in one ZIP code, 94112, and the concentration on a single street is extreme. Mission St accounts for 26 of them once you add the 24 filed as Mission St to the 2 filed as Mission Street, which are the same road recorded two ways. Alemany Blvd, London St and Onondaga Ave have one each.
Twenty one of the 31 are registered to individual practitioners and 10 to organizations. The names include several that share a surname or a practice identity, such as Alfredo E Dela Rosa, DMD, Alnette A Dela Rosa, DDS and Dela Rosa Dental Corporation, which is a reminder that separate listings do not always mean separate offices.
Twenty three of the 31 were registered before 2010, and the oldest goes back to 2005. That is close to three quarters with fifteen years or more under the same registration at the same address.
- 31 practices listed, from 1,886 across San Francisco
- 27 general dentistry, 4 specialist or clinic listings
- 26 on Mission St, the rest scattered
- One ZIP code, 94112
- 21 individual practitioners, 10 organizations
- 23 registered before 2010, oldest in 2005
How to choose between them
Practically speaking, this is a neighborhood of general dentists. Twenty seven of the 31 listings handle exams, cleanings, fillings, crowns and simple extractions, which is most of ordinary dental life. Since they are almost all on the same street, distance will not separate them. Ask instead whether you see the same dentist each visit and how they deal with someone calling in pain.
The flip side is that anything specialized means leaving. There is a single orthodontist and a single pediatric dentist, and nothing at all for gum surgery, root canal specialists, oral surgery or complex restorative work. Ask a prospective general dentist where they refer patients, because that referral will decide a lot.
None of the 31 publish a website or opening hours in the registry, so calls do the work. Confirm new patient status and whether they are in network for your plan.
If you need something the Excelsior does not have
Four specialties have no listing here at all: endodontics, periodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery and prosthodontics. Each points elsewhere in San Francisco, about 3.5 miles away, where the numbers are large: 71 endodontic listings, 82 periodontic, 64 oral and maxillofacial surgery and 57 prosthodontic. It is a single trip across the city rather than four different journeys.
The neighborhoods immediately around are all small. St. Mary's Park has 9 practices at 1 mile, Portola 7 at 1.8, Bernal Heights 7 at 1.9, Outer Mission 5 at 0.9, Crocker-Amazon 4 at 0.5 and Glen Park 4 at 0.8. For general care they widen the choice a little, but not dramatically.
Insurance and paying
Network status is the first thing to pin down. In network means the practice has agreed rates with your plan, so your share is calculated from a discounted fee. Out of network means it has not, and the difference between the fee charged and the amount your plan allows may be yours to pay.
For anything beyond an exam and cleaning, ask for a written estimate showing the procedure codes and have your plan pre authorize it. This matters most for specialist work, which here will be happening somewhere else in the city.
The registry behind these listings holds names, addresses, credentials and specialty codes. It holds no fees, no opening hours and no insurance networks, which is why claimed listings matter, because claiming is how a practice supplies those details itself. None of the 31 in the Excelsior have been claimed so far.
If it is urgent
For a broken tooth, a crown that has come off or pain that is escalating, call the general dentistry listings along Mission St and ask directly for same day care. Almost the entire neighborhood is on that one street, so working down the list is quick, though with no hours published you will not know who is open until you call.
Go to an emergency room instead of a dentist if swelling is spreading toward your eye or down into your neck, if you are having trouble breathing or swallowing, if you have a fever with facial swelling, or if bleeding will not stop. Those signs mean infection or blood loss that needs treating now.
If nothing here can fit you in, search outward by distance at dentist directory.
Questions patients ask
How many dentists are in the Excelsior, San Francisco?
There are 31 dental practices listed in the Excelsior, out of 1,886 across San Francisco. Twenty seven are general dentistry and the remaining four are one pediatric dentist, one orthodontist, one dental anesthesiology listing and one dental clinic. All of them fall inside ZIP code 94112.
Are most Excelsior dentists on Mission Street?
Yes. Mission St accounts for 26 of the 31 listings once the entries recorded as Mission St and Mission Street are combined. The remaining three are on Alemany Blvd, London St and Onondaga Ave, one each. Almost the whole neighborhood's dental care is on a single road.
Where do I go for a root canal specialist near the Excelsior?
Not to the neighborhood itself, which has no endodontic listing. The nearest concentration is elsewhere in San Francisco, roughly 3.5 miles away, with 71 endodontic practices listed. The same trip also covers periodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery and prosthodontics, none of which are listed in the Excelsior.