Conservative, evidence-based care from a board-certified specialist your family can grow up with. Led by Dr. Jon Hurng, trained at UCSF, Harvard, and UCLA.
We would rather be exactly right for the families who want what we actually offer, and honest with the ones who don't. You might be one of ours if:
We explain the evidence, the staging, and the trade-offs of every option, including the option of watchful waiting, so you decide with full information. Education is part of the treatment plan here.
Visit the learning hub →You are selecting a team for your child from infancy through adolescence to young adulthood. We plan across that whole arc: growth, bite, habits, and fears, because we expect to be there for all of it.
Get to know us →The most conservative path the evidence supports, every time. If your instinct says a drill shouldn't be the default answer for a child's tooth, you've found your people.
Read our approach →"We grow slowly, on purpose. A practice built on relationships can't be built any other way. And if we're not the right fit for your family, we'll say so and help you find who is."
Dr. Jon
"It is our privilege to care for people, not just teeth." Our founding principle
Before any drill touches a tooth, we ask: can this lesion be arrested, remineralized, or monitored? If the honest answer is yes, we choose preservation.
Our approach →Our conservative approach follows current caries research, and we teach it to you plainly, trade-offs included, so you decide with full information.
Visit the learning hub →Choosing not to drill is never choosing to do nothing. Every monitored lesion has a documented stage, a management plan, and a defined trigger for treatment.
Read the series →From first cleanings to complex restorative care, every service is delivered with patience, precision, and play.
Gentle, thorough checkups that build comfort visit by visit.
Learn moreTailored, compassionate care for every child, every ability.
Learn moreCalm, comfortable options including nitrous and IV sedation.
Learn moreSoft-tissue laser frenectomy for infants, children, and teens.
Learn moreDurable, esthetic restorations that protect a growing smile.
Learn moreA non-invasive way to arrest cavities and avoid drilling.
Learn moreA protective shield against cavities on permanent molars.
Learn moreComprehensive treatment under general anesthesia at LPCH.
Learn moreThe hallway is lined with the doctors' own childhood photos. It's a quiet reminder that the kid in your chair has a person looking back at them who remembers being there.
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ABPD Board Certified · UCSF Dentistry · Harvard GPR · UCLA Pediatric Residency · Mandarin fluent
Read my biography"Quality pediatric dental care should be accessible, consistent, and most important, enjoyable."
Dr. Jonathan Hurng, DDS, MPH
Board-certified pediatric dentist · UCSF · Harvard · UCLA
Dr. Jon was born and raised in the Bay Area, trained as a bioengineer at UC San Diego before turning to dentistry, and leads the practice Dr. Vernon J. Adams Jr. founded in 1994, the area's original children's dentist. He sees patients from their first tooth through their teen years, including children and adults with special health care needs.
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Founder · Harvard School of Dental Medicine · UCLA Pediatric Residency · Lucile Packard Children's Hospital staff since 1993
Read my biography"Everyone on my team believes that all children are special."
Dr. Vernon J. Adams Jr., DMD
Founder · Harvard · UCLA · Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
Dr. Adams founded Pediatric Dentistry of Palo Alto in 1994 with a vision that still defines it: a practice built to care for every child, including medically complex children and children with special health care needs. His relationship with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, where he has been on staff since 1993, is a big part of why we can care for children with complex medical histories. Two generations of Peninsula families have trusted the practice he built.
Take a video tour of our Menlo Park office and meet the team. Sensory-friendly treatment rooms, calming bubble walls, bear-numbered doors, and a waiting area designed around kids.
The tour begins outside on the sidewalk at 325 Sharon Park Drive, under a blue "Welcome! Pediatric Dentistry" banner with our phone number, (650) 321-6448. The camera passes a "Welcome" sidewalk sign and moves through the glass doors of Suite D3.
Inside is the reception area: a curved white front desk, tall potted plants, wood-and-chrome chairs in the waiting area, and a TV on the wall. The camera then heads down a bright hallway with small painted bear decals on the walls and turns into the treatment rooms.
Each treatment area has a white dental chair, a wooden chair beside it for a parent, a TV mounted above the chair, and framed photos on white and blue walls. Tall glowing bubble-wall panels in teal light separate the chairs. The video ends with a slow pass through the open treatment area.
For kids who feel safer when they know what to expect, we illustrated each part of the office. Show your child these on the couch before the appointment.
Look for the welcome banner.
Most kids don't want to leave.
Open, bright, and full of bubbles.
Kids hear what's happening before it happens.
For three decades, families of children and adults with special health care and medical needs have trusted us with their care. We will be honest: we may not have seen every syndrome or every disease. But we have a long track record of providing excellent care the way it should be provided, through time, expertise, education, and the right hospital partnerships.
We schedule for the child in front of us, not the slot on the calendar: longer or staged appointments, desensitization visits, adjusted sensory input, and siblings kept together. And because we are affiliated with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and El Camino Hospital, when a case calls for hospital-based care your family stays with the team that already knows you.
A philosophy is only as good as the daily disciplines behind it. These are the standards we actually run the practice on. It is the difference between a neighbor and a chain.
Usually much sooner, and urgent calls always come first. When you reach out about your child, waiting in silence is not acceptable, so we made it a measured standard, not a hope.
Clinical quality assurance is a standing weekly discipline here. We review our decisions, our documentation, and our outcomes before anyone asks us to.
We are building a practice, and a community resource, designed to serve this area's families for the next thirty years, not just the next appointment.
Cost anxiety keeps too many families away from early, conservative care, the kind that saves teeth and money. So we made access a standard, not a slogan.
We are proudly in-network with Delta Dental, the plan most of our Palo Alto and Menlo Park families carry, so your benefits go further here.
Whatever your plan, we will verify your benefits before the visit and give you a clear written estimate before any treatment. No surprises, ever.
Our in-house membership plan, through Clerri, covers routine preventive care for a predictable monthly or annual fee and discounts other treatment. Ask our team for details.
A short, simple list to make the first appointment go smoothly.
Book online through our portal, or call (650) 321-6448. We'll ask a few questions about your child and find a time that works.
What to expect →New patient registration, health history, and insurance info, all online. Saves time at the front desk.
Open the forms →Walk them through our office tour photos or watch the welcome video. Familiarity makes the first visit easier.
Take the tour →Healthy kids are a community project. Since 1994 we have believed a practice should be part of a city's foundation: a resource families lean on, not just a place they visit twice a year.
Dental health education for local preschools and elementary schools, because the best cavity is the one prevented in kindergarten.
For educators →A curated directory of the pediatricians, feeding therapists, and access-to-care resources we refer our own patient families to, because we know the people behind each one.
Family resources →Donated care days, local sponsorships, and partnerships with organizations that serve kids, reinvesting in the community that has trusted us with its children for three decades.
How we give back →Straight answers in plain language, the way we would want them as parents ourselves.
Start by asking how a practice measures success. We measure it by the oral health and welfare of your child, not the treatments we perform. Founded by Dr. Vernon J. Adams Jr. in 1994, Pediatric Dentistry of Palo Alto is the area's original children's dentist, a community practice rather than a chain, practicing conservative, evidence-based care. We stage every lesion, reach for prevention before the drill, and explain every trade-off plainly so you decide with full information.
We are the right fit if you want a long-term partner in your child's health: a dentist who explains the why, takes the most conservative path the evidence supports, and expects to know your family for years, not visits. If a different style of practice would suit your family better, we will say so honestly and help point you in the right direction. Fit matters, and there are never hard feelings.
We are in-network with Delta Dental, and all insurances are welcome. We will verify your benefits and give you a clear written estimate before any treatment. No insurance? No problem. We offer an in-house membership plan through Clerri so cost never has to come between your child and honest care.
By the first birthday or within six months of the first tooth, whichever comes first. Early visits are short, gentle, and mostly about building comfort, and they let us coach you on habits while prevention is still easy.
Because staging matters, and structure removed is gone forever. Early lesions can often be arrested or reversed with silver diamine fluoride, sealants, fluoride, and documented monitoring, sparing the tooth a lifetime of re-treatment. When we do restore a tooth, it is because the evidence says it is time, not because filling is the default.
Modern digital imaging uses a fraction of everyday background radiation exposure, and it finds problems while they are still small and reversible. We image based on evidence and your child's individual risk, not on a set schedule.
It is what we do best. From tell-show-do to nitrous oxide to full sedation when genuinely needed, we match the support to the child, and we never treat fear as an inconvenience. Parents are welcome in the room at every visit.
Yes. It is core to who we are, not an accommodation, and it includes adults with special health care needs. We have a track record of more than three decades of care built on time, expertise, education, and affiliation with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and El Camino Hospital. We adjust visit length and structure, offer desensitization visits, provide sedation and hospital dentistry when appropriate, and coordinate with your child's physicians and therapists.
Call us at (650) 321-6448 right away; urgent calls are prioritized first. For a knocked-out permanent tooth, hold it by the crown, rinse gently, try to reinsert it, or keep it in cold milk and call immediately. Severe pain, swelling, or trauma all warrant a same-day call.
More questions? Visit the full FAQ or call (650) 321-6448.
Our Sharon Park office sits minutes from Palo Alto, Stanford, and Los Altos. We don't serve these cities as a market; we belong to them. Many of today's patients are the children of children we once treated.
Sharon Park Drive, with easy access from Sand Hill Road and Alameda de las Pulgas. A neighborhood office, not a clinic.
Menlo Park families →The community we were founded to serve in 1994, and still our largest family of families.
Palo Alto families →A short drive for families who want a specialist relationship worth the trip, before school or after pickup.
Nearby communities →Whether your child is due for a first tooth or a first opinion you can trust, come see whether we're the right fit for your family. In-network with Delta Dental. All insurances welcome. In-house membership plan available.
