Finding a good dentist in not easy. I have been through the cycles a few times dealing with unethical and unprofessional dentists who are concerned more about their pockets then you long term dental health. I have been misguided a few times so it was wonderful to find someone who explains the process with full disclosure and gives you the liberty to make the best decision for you. Dr. Sharma is very professional and thorough with her work. The staff is kind and very helpful through the process. We are glad to finally find a dentist that we can trust. read more

Berkeley Family Dental is wonderful. I have been going to see Dr. Sharma for a decade or more. I appreciate her attention to detail and gentle touch. Her staff is pleasant. I love the new office. The hygienist is very gentle. Thank you so much for your care. read more

I've been in this practice for decades -- long, long before Dr. Sharma took over -- and I wouldn't dream of going anywhere else. Dr. Sharma is efficient, knowledgeable, effective and ever so personable. The entire office is similarly personable and efficient. They're the best. read more

Been with Dr, Sharma for about 10 years. After trying several dentists after moving here from New York, I found her practice, by far and away, to be most reliable and efficient. My dental care with her has been top notch and I highly recommend her. read more

Been going here for years. Always good service! Dental work and hygiene work is top notch.

Bright and Clean Office with friendly staff. Dr. Sharma is a caring and skillful professional. read more

Wonderful doctor and staff! Very easy to work with for scheduling and great care. Would recommend

I've been a patient for several years. Dr. Sharma and her staff are always friendly and professional. Highly recommended!

They are great. Almost all women. Great dentists and hygienists. No pain!!!!! They've helped me recover my smile after years of self-abuse. Dr. Sharma is cool. And the rest of the staff is professional. The Offices are in the Alta Bates Medical center and you can shop after! read more

Great, gentle, caring hygienist and dentist. Great front office staff and beautiful office. I highly recommend this dental office.

I have been going to Dr. Sharma for 10 years and in that time have had nothing but excellent work and service, including crowns. She has a gentle manner, makes sure the patient understands what she is doing, and includes you in the process of determining what should be done. She is the best dentist I've ever had at the numbing injection! Hardly hurts! read more

I've been going to Dr. Sharma for many years and she always does a good, thorough job, regardless of what needs to be done. She explains things patiently and clearly, which I appreciate. Her staff is very professional and friendly. But the best part of her work is she is the gentlest dentist I've ever been to! read more

Doctor Indu Sharma is an artist of teeth! I am ever grateful to her as she can do such great work on replacing old fillings and putting her patients at ease. She has a sensitivity and her entire team creates an incredibly relaxing and peaceful environment, which for me is really important, as I have some anxiety going to the dentist, Dr.Sharma really helps me feel at ease and I highly recommend her. read more

This is the best dentist ever. So nice and friendly. No judgement. Very very professional. Took very good care of me.

I like Dr. Sharma (I genuinely think that a patient's pain hurts her, and she will do whatever she can to avoid it), her wonderful staff (three unusually nice ladies), and her prices (my root canal was cheaper than at the UCSF student clinic!). The only negative would be that the waiting area is a little cozy, but comfortable nevertheless. When you see her, compliment the amazing ramp to the front door (an inside joke). Charles of Berkeley read more

This was written on 1/24/18 with a 1 STAR rating I've been a patient here for 6 years without complaints. However on my visit this week on Monday 1/22/18 my hygienist was constantly coughing, Asking her if she had cold she replied "I have a cough" Well now so do I and its kept me up all night and I feel terrible having contracted her cold. I emailed Dr Sharma a few times & her response was that she wasn't aware that her hygienist was ill. I told her that it's her responsibility to make sure that her staff are not actively symptomatic when treating... gloves and masks non withstanding. I have asked for a refund for that day... a paltry $60. I am waiting for a response. As a retired oncology RN I'm shocked that protocols aren't in place to protect patients on such a basic level. I will update this if I get a response from Dr Sharma This was added on Friday 1/26/10 at 4:30pm (no response yet) Dr Sharma I think enough time has elapsed for me to assume that you are uninterested in discussing this. That's unfortunate. It so easily may have turned into a positive for you if at least you had engaged in some sort of dialogue. Instead you choose to ignore my legitimate concerns or address my suggestions. I am still feeling sick with a relentless hacking cough and the undisputed fact that your hygienist treated me coughing through the entire visit. What you have accomplished (unless you choose to discuss this with me) is losing me as client. Please be advised: I will also be filing a complaint with the California State Dental Board. Do the right thing. Bob Waks RN Retired UPDATE Monday 01/29/2018 9:30am (changed her rating from 1 to 5) Dr Sharma just called me & told me her computer was down which is why she hadn't received any of my emails besides the first one. She was extremely concerned about my illness & immediately offered to refund my copay for the visit. I want to thank her for her response to this unfortunate incident and her willingness to set up protocols to keep her patients safe. Thank you Dr Sharma!!! Bob Waks RN Retired read more

I've struggled with this place for years. I've never actually met Dr. Sharma, and I don't know the name of the dental hygienist who cleans my teeth most of the time. Whoever she is, she is incredibly nice, though she's one of the more painful dentists I've experienced. Since dental cleanings don't really scare me or make me cringe too bad, I'm honestly happy to put up with the extra pokes here and there because the woman is such a pleasure to talk with and has such a wonderful personality. This dental hygienist aside, all other experiences I've had with this place have been the worst. Its an absolute nightmare trying to book with these people. They won't book more than a couple months in advance, so they put the onus on the patient to call back to schedule the bi-annual cleanings. On top of that, any time you call them to try to schedule something and they tell you "let me take down your information and we will call you back", DO NOT ACCEPT THIS ANSWER! They tell me this almost every time and they NEVER call back. Its honestly starting to seem like this place doesn't want business. Its both perplexing, fascinating, and infuriating at the same time. And why on earth can't they book 6 months into the future. It's 2020, what could possibly be holding them back? I really am not into throwing anyone under the bus, but the woman at the front desk (the person who also answers the phone and never calls back) seems like she just doesn't care about her job at all. She's the root of almost all of my criticisms with this place. Maybe if they replace her the next person will run it more professionally. To clarify, the front desk woman is not mean or especially rude (though sometimes she is just regular rude), she just seems completely unconcerned at all times. I won't say he name, but other reviews mention her specifically. Sharma even responded to one bad review mentioning her and made some excuse, so the office seems determined to hold on to her despite the clear problem (see my EDIT below, maybe that explains it). I very rarely write reviews on yelp, but had to for this place, it's just way way too annoying to have 3.5 stars. On a side note, today, while I was on hold for 10 minutes, I was hearing an audio recording about how they are one of the top rated dentists in Berkeley on yelp. Is this really possible, with 3.5 stars? The recording was also talking about how they have a new service of injecting Botox, which the recording explains is a "perfect fit" for a dental practice. Okay, that's enough. I'm looking for a new dentist now. EDIT: I am just not seeing Britta T.'s review (3/13/2018). I too have Delta Dental. Maybe Britta is onto something and they seem careless towards me due to my insurance. Who knows. read more

My family had been with this office since before Indu Sharma purchased it. Things were more or less OK until recently. The office cancelled my children's cleaning because the hygienist needed to be out, and then... nothing. I'd call and they'd promise to call back with an appointment and nothing. No appointments available, for weeks on end. In the meantime, I went in for my own cleaning, and it became clear that the office had missed a cavity right at root level: both this time and last time (a filling had fallen out, and become filled with goop, so they called it "brushing too hard damage to the root". Once cleaned out it was plainly a cavity, visible even to my six year old). They had no appointment available for a filling, so I got a next day appointment across the street. Sharma's office stonewalled me on getting copies of the X-rays, finally releasing a fuzzy "summary" X-ray that was nearly useless. The new dentist took his own sharp X-rays and found the visible cavity was the tip of the iceberg: the next tooth over had an ugly black crater between the teeth that Dr. Sharma had completely missed. And, there was a third problem: back at the first tooth the X-ray showed the root was retreating from under a decades old prior filling. Underneath: decay. The old filling was slightly cracked and the area underneath was black and soft. So Dr. Sharma missed two of the three actual cavities. Last time she missed the area completely. Mistakes happen. Dr. Sharma could have learned, apologized, and moved on. In fact I gave her hygienist the chance to see the area she had twice told me to brush carefully (the area that was in fact a cavity). A week later, out of the blue, I get a letter from my insurance company saying that "for the interest of all concerned" that my entire family (kids included) would be transferred to a different office. Meaning, Dr. Sharma fired me and my family as patients. read more

Dr Sharma was very meticulous and patient and caring. Thanks for the excellent time/service Dr Shama. The office/staff are also friendly and very helpful and got the appointments and insurance details patiently and diligently. Definitely recommend this to friends. Brought the smile back in my friend's families too. Thank you Dr Sharma. read more

Although everyone in Dr. Sharma's office is really nice, they are very disorganized. On multiple occasions, they've scheduled me for an appointment and then called me to reschedule at the last minute (so last minute that I was only five minutes from the office when they called me). They also do a horrible job confirming with insurance. They told me that I needed cleanings more regularly than every six months, and scheduled me to have them four months apart without checking with my insurance first. Turns out my insurance only covers two cleanings a year, and since I've already had two this year, I now won't be able to get another one for at least eight months. I also find that I have to probe for information about why I need certain procedures. They don't seem to want to explain things. I much prefer medical professionals who walk me through what's happening to me at each step of the way. I won't be going back to this office -- it's time for a new dentist. read more

I went in for a cleaning as usual yesterday, and the hygienist did a fine job once again. Then, as usual, Indu took the chair to check my teeth -- and found a tiny spot cavity developing at the gum line! I felt the slight pull of her instrument as it hooked into it. She took a clear picture of it for me to see. Then she told me that I could come back to get it filled, or have it done right there and now, because she finished early with her last patient. About 20 or so minutes later, I was out of there, after the fastest, most stress-free and caring filling session I ever had! It was extraordinary! I've been with Berkeley Family Dental for about a decade, I'm guessing. And yes, in the beginning, it was disorganized, but these days it has evolved into an incredible dental practice! Thank you, Indu and all your helpers! read more

Still a very happy customer after almost one year. The staff is superb. When you enter Dr. Sharma's office I am always greeted warmly with a great big smile by the receptionist Natasha. Sadly, Dr. Sharma is not a "preferred provider" on my current dental insurance plan. I choose to pay extra out-of-pocket because I like the service I get here and don't want to switch dentists. This is the only dental office I've been to that is on-time with appointments and don't keep you waiting. The office is clean and uses state-of-the-art equipment. The hygienist is always friendly (even when it's obvious I don't floss as much as I should) and they give constructive suggestions on how I could improve my oral health and hygiene. I've never felt like they were up-selling products or services. They're merely suggestions, and they don't care if you buy stuff from them or from Amazon or Target or nowhere at all. Everyone in this office is the best at what they do. You couldn't ask for anyone to take better care of your teeth and gums. Healthy gums don't bleed. I had bleeding gums for my entire life until I changed to this dental office. My hygienist Michelle treated my gum disease and coached me in improving my home routine until my gum disease was in remission. NO more bleeding gums! These guys are the best! If you are looking for a fantastic dental office, I highly recommend this one. read more

Now a days, getting quality treatment and pleasant dental office trip is getting rare. Last week, I got the rare experience. I visited this dental office. Office has honored my appointment time and I was called in exactly at time I have been given. I have to repeat again. Dr. Indu is gentle and very knowledgeable. As usual, she explained me what is happening. What is recommended next action and how shall I provide future risk. Office staff is very prompt & efficient. My insurance related tasks were already taken care. I highly recommend very few businesses on Yelp. This Dental office is one of them, Thank you Dr. Indu and all staff.! read more

For most of my life, visits to the dentist gave me anxiety and filled me with dread. However, my fear of dental appointments quickly disappeared once I started visiting Berkeley Family Dental, which was a couple years ago. In all my time of being a patient here, they have never failed to please me. The procedures are always trouble-free, fast, and painless. The welcoming way Dr. Sharma and her staff treat you is something you won't be able to find anywhere else, which is another reason why I am always happy with my visits here. I would definitely recommend Dr. Sharma for all your dental needs. read more

* Dr. Indu Sharma is kind, friendly, and very understanding. She frequently check on my pain during the cleaning and later provided a lot of tips for Happy Teeth. * Making an appointment is very easy. * Reminders are promptly provided. * In addition a lot of +'s. It is great experience having Dr. Indu Sharma on my dental work and I strongly recommend her. read more

Having a great doctor is important and Dr. Sharma is my dentist in Berkeley, CA for a few years now. Her entire team is professional and flexible. Recently due to personal emergencies I had to cancel my appointments at the last minute and her team was easy to work with to reschedule my appointment. We trust her work and her advice completely, and all of her work has been outstanding. I highly recommend her!" read more

Dr Sharma is gentle, genuine and personable, I got a few fillings and a bridge done with her and she made me feel safe in her hands. i tend to cringe when i think of a dentist, but she was very gentle through the whole procedure. I am very happy with her service and will be going back to her for more work next year. I highly recommend Dr.Sharma. read more

Totally disorganized, bad attitude from from the receptionist Lisa, and lots of excuses? They have no appointments for 3 months, just for a simple cleaning! The office manager blamed Obamacare ending but yelp reviews show it is a problem for a long time. They are overwhelmed, avoid them! read more

I've been seeing her for 4 years now. Sure, the office management was not good in the early days. But it's fantastic now: efficient and reliable. Dr. Sharma and her clinical team have always been competent and compassionate. Reaffirmed on a recent emergency visit where she thoroughly investigated a potential gum infection and charged a very affordable rate for it all. Glad I have found her as a dentist I like and can rely on. read more

After I posted the original review, the manager Vic contacted me several times telling me to remove the review or he'd lose his job. I was actually considering editing my review until I received this private message: hi, I saw your x rays as i am final year student i could see 4 cavities in x ray may be the doctors you saw before dr sharma has not seen xrays thats why they told you 2 cavities dr sharma was teaching for past 10 yrs in university of pacific san francisco and she is very consevative dr regarding treatment plan that what i have seen in her trust me you can have second openion with other dr and show him these x ray so what you wrote about dr sharma was wrong and belive me she does lot of treatment for patient who cannot afford for free so i can,t undestand why will she say you regarding 4 cavities instead of two .You promised me that you will edit the contents once you get check i would like you to remove everything you said about dr sharma that was not true.Secondly i talked to my front desk she told me you camr early 35 mts as you wanted x rays right than so all together you wated 20 mts was not an hour.Please stick to your words and edit these contents as if you don,t i will for sure loose my job if you want me to lose my job you can do what you feel like,I am afinal year student inUCSF dental school and that is my only source of earning that is this job please edit that review i promised you that check and i did my part of bargain now you do yours so i can save my job i am father of 1 kid also so please consider that or else i won,t be able to pay my and my son bills.I know you are leaving country so do a good deed to me by removing that review so i can save my job my boss has given me altimatom if that review is not taken care of i will lose my job.ple.................ase. ---------- I responded to him via private Yelp message as well: Dr. Sharma's incompetence has nothing to do with your job, unless you cover up for her, which could cost you your job and potentially your career. My doctors made their own xrays, and if I were you, I wouldn't question competency of a military dentist. I did not ask for xrays the first time I came to Dr. Sharma, she told me I needed to get them done even though I had emailed her a copy of my July 2012 xrays 2 weeks prior to the appointment. I know that she bills my insurance for xrays, so this is another suspicious thing I'm noticing. Your front desk person is obviously on your side. I did NOT come in 30 minutes early. I actually came in exactly on time - maybe even 5 minutes late. I called the office a few minutes before my appointment time (9am on Jan 7) to ask if you validated parking. The response was negative. So it took me about 5 minutes to park and walk up to the 3rd floor. I obviously have a record of that and it can be printed. Please, don't lie in my face as this doesn't really help your case here. You gave me the check to reimburse me for the horrible time I had at your dental office. As an act of a good will, I was considering editing my review thinking you were genuinely concerned about your patients and wanted me to feel better about my experience. Well, now I can see it wasn't the case. All you care about is the number of patients your office can bill. I didn't "bargain" with you. I said I'd edit the review when the check clears, not when I receive it. Don't twist my words. So I am now editing the review. I won't be taking it off, as my experience was real and it is imperative people take it into consideration before dealing with you and Dr. Sharma. You've been way too pushy and I don't appreciate that. Several missed calls from your office in less than 2 hours seems a little too much, sir. Calling me everyday telling me to remove my negative, but truthful review is definitely not okay. I could care less about your job because your Dentist didn't do hers properly. Your statement "what you wrote about dr sharma was wrong" implies that I lied in my review. Well, guess what, since you've gone that far, I refuse to edit my review. As a matter of fact, I wil add this message to the review to show people how shady you people are. Yelp was created for the public to be able to evaluate businesses independently, with no pressure. I don't appreciate the pressure you're putting on me and I will not let it go. Fix your office, not patients' complaints against it. If your dentist was as competent as you're claiming, this review wouldn't be here in the first place. Good luck with your school, and please, don't contact me ever again or I will get a restraining order from you for harassment. --------------- We shall see what he thinks about that. Honestly, all I wanted was my 2 fillings. This drama about reviews is just way to extreme, but I feel that trying to bribe me to remove my review just because it's negative is not a proper way to do business. Especially when it has to do with HEALTHCARE read more

I went to this dentist practice when the dentist was Hongyu Yang, and I wasn't impressed with his service. I was actually pleased when I found out that the dentist had changed to Dr Sharma, as I hoped it would be different. Unfortunately, I was wrong. For starters, they are desperate for your phone number. I sometimes run out of phone credit and so am unreachable, and this clearly made them uncomfortable as they asked me today if I had another phone number they could reach me on. Uh, no, I don't think so. Like I want their constant badgering about cleaning appointments anyway. So I saw Dr Sharma today because I had two root canals and crowns done by Dr Yang last year (that I'm pretty sure weren't 100% necessary) and I had some swelling on that gum I wanted checked. She had a look, and asked her assistant to take some x-rays. The assistant wasn't very good, taking multiple x-rays because she couldn't get the x-ray bit thing in my mouth right. Yeah, no worries, extra radiation is cool. So Dr Sharma comes back in and says that it looks like one of my root canals has failed. Oh, and by the way, one of my crowns is being marked for replacement. They're only meant to last ten years, but hey, who cares about that when they can get sweet, sweet dollars for another out of my insurance? She then proceeds to tell me I need a huge amount of fillings, and then drops the cherry on top and says she "doesn't deal" with the endodontist that practice referred me to before, so I can deal with the whole root canal thing by myself. She doesn't offer to send over the x-rays to them, meaning I had to get yet MORE x-rays done at the endodontist later today. She didn't seem remotely sympathetic that there was shoddy work done at the practice before her. As I left, the receptionist asked me about scheduling a cleaning for my husband (wtf, why I am suddenly his proxy), and that was it. Or so I thought. Later tonight, I get a call from the receptionist, wanting to go through my treatment plan. This is the first I've heard of any treatment plan, but whatever, fine, maybe I'll get one or two of these fillings done. She then proceeds to quote me around $250 for the top right section of my mouth, whilst telling me I need fillings on the left and right, top and bottom. I have no idea why it's so expensive all of a sudden, since last time I got a filling it was like $40, same insurance, but I tell her I can't afford it, and ask her which are the worst, as I'll prioritise them. She leaves me on hold for ages, then comes back and says Dr Sharma says they're all really deep, and all need to be done ASAP. Yeah, bullshit. I've no doubt I have a couple of fillings that need to be done, and I was willing to do that, but if you try and squeeze me for all the money you can, I'm going elsewhere. In conclusion, Dr Sharma is just another money-hungry dentist who wants to put fillings in all your teeth, regardless of how much you need them. Avoid. read more

I have been a patient at Berkeley Family Dental for the past few months and it has been such a pleasant experience. I have had about five visits and all the procedures were quick and as comfortable as they could be. Dr. Sharma and her staff are all very friendly. Lisa, the receptionist has been so great. She helped me schedule some of the visits for the short window that my daughter was at preschool and when that wasnt available they didnt mind if she sat in the room with me. I would highly reccomend this practice to anyone looking for a dentist. read more

Dr. Sharma is a wonderful, kind dentist.....but expect to wait...I have an HMO policy and I waited over an hour to be seen. The office is in mediocre shape and not what I would consider to be state of the art. You may want to look elsewhere for your for your next dental experience. read more

Dr Indu Sharma helped me recently with a crown replacement. She is kind, sympathetic and very professional about her work. Everything was laid out in front of me clearly and upfront. The staff is equally good and professional. Thanks to Lisa for helping out on appointments. Finally got a good family dentist. Thanks for you help, Dr Sharma and Team, keep it up! read more

I fully agree with everything the patient below wrote. I signed up for Yelp just to sing Dr. Sharma's praises.

This is more of a complaint vs true review, because I never got to see the doctor. For a week I had been calling to make an appointment, given the run-a-round each time. I'm suspicious they discriminate against patients with particular types of insurance: Delta Dental USA (a California Covered group). The first day (Monday), when asked who my provider was, they mentioned that as of 2018 they no longer accept Delta Dental USA, however I reassure them that I have been assigned to their office since 2017. Unfortunately there was an issue with my info online. No big deal, got it squared away first thing the Tuesday morning, called again. Was told they're busy, but will be called back. 1/2 day rolls by, I decide to call (by now the reception knows who I am), told they can't look anything up until 4:30. Get a call around 5 saying they can't get info because apparently getting online is something that can't be done after a certain hour, and I'll be called Wednesday AM. That never happened. Thursday they're closed. Friday morning, left a message to for someone to call me back - which of course never happened. So I call again in the afternoon. Spoke to someone (new person) who's first question was "who's your provider?" I answer, and they ask if I'm aware of how my insurance works and I again confirm that I've been assigned to their office since 2017. While I had been patient with the excuses all week, I told the person I was in urgent need of a dentist and my waiting around to make something happen all week has only caused the situation in my mouth to become more painful. However, since it's now 3:30, the computer has been turned off, so they can't pull up my info, and I should call back Monday. FFS - really??? Not sure why I was even asked about provider if I couldn't be helped anyways, or why a computer can't be turned on (I'll give the benefit of the doubt on that last one, I don't work in their office or know how their system works). Anyways... I do feel that the excuses and false promises to call back are in relation to having an insurance that's not preferred, which is discrimination, and one that people should be aware of. read more

So as a context, I have had, well, not great dentists in the past. Whenever I needed work done (a cleaning or a cavity filled), it always came along with a lot of discomfort or straight-up pain. With Dr. Sharma and her staff, I have finally been able to put that fear to rest. With my initial cleaning, as well as my two cavities, I have experienced only slight discomfort (the unavoidable discomfort of having things shoved into your mouth). I have had no pain with the drillings, beyond the first pinch of the local anesthetics. Her technicians are very friendly women, and her desk staff are solid. Dr. Sharma is very down to earth, warm and skillful. I easily relax in her care. One thing I did experience on all three of my visits was waiting. I was there on time for our appointment, but they were not. Dr. Sharma did acknowledge and apologies herself for one of these. I know the medical profession from the inside, and know that it can be challenging to keep up with patients that come in late themselves and other issues. Nonetheless, these experiences convey to me that either there is a lack of respect, or that the office is not self-regulated enough to get me in on time. The longest I waited was 20 minutes extra. This is the reason for 4 stars. Besides this, I have no critical feedback. Go see Sharma! You will be happy you did =) read more

Be careful! If you want to move on, they will charge you $25 per person for releasing X-Ray copy. My husband and I decided to see a new dentist, we want to take our X-Ray records with us, they charged us $50 for sending the X ray copies by email. Very Unreasonable! read more

I love my dentist! I have been to many dentists in my life, and Dr. Sharma is the best of them all (with apologies to my cousin). She greets me with a warm smile, and has great technique administering novocaine. She is considerate and careful, and she recently did a wonderful job on porcelain veneers for my lower front teeth. They look and feel great. I have complete confidence in her, trust her 100 percent, and recommend her to all my friends. read more

Dr. Sharma is WONDERFUL! Very skilled and takes her time listening to you. Minimal wait as well. Highly recommend this place.