Richard E Schell, DDS

You know, everyone is different, and reading everyone’s comments shows that. If you have a bad attitude and difficult teeth (the teeth at no fault of your own) of course the Dr. will have a harder time making you comfortable. I got all four of my impacted wisdom teeth removed and I was pleased with his work. The extraction only took an hour. Of course I was in pain, he had to drill into my BONE, but he made me feel like everything was alright and that I was alright. If I had been worried, he was willing to squeeze me in to check up on my stitches and take my calls. Otherwise, Dr. Schell gave me clear guidelines of what to expect the coming week after the surgery and prepared me for any ache and fear. On top of that, he patched me up so well, my stitches never bothered me.
Let’s talk about pain now. This is not getting your teeth cleaned. I read everyones comments and everyone agrees, it hurts, a lot. Everyone is different, everyone will have different experiences. I have already had a couple of surgeries which left me at bed rest for weeks due to pain, I know pain, this is like a tickle compared to the other surgeries I have done. That aside, everyone is different, I have a very high pain tolerance so others of you may be uncomfortable. I would say to be safe, just block out your next week and snuggle up with some yogurt or soup and allow your body to heal. I tried to jump back into my normal routine to early and caused myself more pain than I would have been otherwise. Dr. Schell understands this isn’t a walk in the park. Just sit with him and ask him everything before the surgery, because when you wake up, the world will be going at 10 FPS (veeeeeeery slowly).
TO SUMMARIZE: If you’d like a doctor who knows what he’s doing and cares about how you feel, Dr. Schell would be my choice. Dr. Schell couldn’t have been any nicer or accommodating. If I ever need anything else done, I’ll be returning to him, knowing I’ll be in good hands.

All the dentists I have visited in the last 5 – 6 years have been recommending me to get my wisdom teeth removed as they were impacted. But I had been pushing it out as I was not in pain. Finally a couple of months back I started getting pain in one of my wisdom teeth and consulted with Dr. Schell. He did a thorough exam and recommended removal of all the wisdom teeth. His office was able to schedule a surgery for the next day since I was in pain.
The surgery went well (got all my 4 wisdom teeth removed). I was in pain for 2 – 3 days as the Dr had warned me about given my age. But the healing was pretty fast and after 4 days I was able to start eating regular solids and was back to normal in 10 days.

I have an unfortunate history of soft teeth & bone loss & have been going to Dr. Schell since October of 2008. Being in the medical profession I am very particular in selecting the best care providers so I am very surprised by the several bad reviews.
I’ve had seven extractions & 5 implants, two requiring extra special care with grafting & placement. Every procedure was fully explained with all possible options & outcomes, and Dr. Schell took the time to coordinate my care with my dentist & periodontist. I received discharge instructions with each procedure & a follow up call that evening from Dr. Schell to be sure I was doing OK. The office staff has always been friendly & efficient. I have been able to schedule my appointments in a timely manner, & they handled all the insurance submissions letting me know in advance what was not covered. I haven’t had a single complication with any of his work my implants are all functioning beautifully.
I have referred 3 people to him who were all impressed with his knowledge & professionalism. If you are looking for an exceptional and caring oral surgeon, I highly recommend Dr. Schell.

I took my wife to Dr. Schell for a three tooth extraction. The extraction went smoothly and took less than an hour (including the waiting time after). There was no waiting time before the procedure. My wife wasn’t in any pain and the painkillers helped after. The staff was friendly, helpful and answered all questions we had. Also, it was very helpful that we got her medications from them directly, without having to go and wait at a pharmacy after an extraction.

I would highly recommend Dr. Schell and his practice. He did a very difficult implant for me and it turned out perfect. He has always treated me well and I would have any of my friends or family work with him in the future. Overall, great experience!

Dr. Schell attentive and caring to my mother in her nineties when she had one tooth extracted. He took his time and explained the procedure patiently with her and put her at ease. The whole procedure just took minutes with just a local to numb her. Very happy did not go over board and put her out due to her heart. The charge was just the co pay for her insurance with no unexpected fees. Dr. Schell called later in the day to check on her and answer any concerns. Very grateful for Dr. Schell for making the experience relatively painless!
Dr. Schell also extracted my brother’s molars fifteen years ago with no complaints.

Dr. Schell and his staff were efficient and helpful. I had a tooth extracted and was very pleased with the care I received.

10 stars! I needed bone grafts and implants for my two (2) front teeth. I chipped them when I was 7 and have spent thousands over the years at a dentist in Beverly Hills re-​doing my crowns and dealing with my compromised tooth structure. At 55, I was referred to Dr. Schell from a friend who he did implants for. Dr. Schell did an excellent job thoroughly explaining the long process I needed to go through in order to produce the very best results — both structurally and aesthetically. I had 4 surgeries (2 bone grafts and 2 implants) and I could not be more pleased with the confident, meticulous and compassionate care I received from Schell and his staff. The implants on each front tooth aligned perfectly. Dr. Schell called me after each surgery to check how I was feeling. Schell worked closely alongside my new dentist Dr. Isaac Huang who did the actual crowns last week — and they look 100% perfect and they feel as solid as a rock. Dr. Schell is clearly superior from my years of experience as a dental patient.

I came here to get my first two wisdom teeth extracted. During my consult, Dr. Schell seemed very knowledgeable and put me at ease, explaining everything in detail. That is the ONLY reason they get one star.
The day of the surgery I felt that everyone was in a rush. The minute it was over I didn’t even have a chance to come to completely and they were already kicking me out of the office. They gave me a prescription and a little card with post care instructions and I was on my way.
Immediately after the numbness wore off I was in excruciating pain, I’m talking about level 10 pain and I consider myself to have a high tolerance for pain. The Vicodin wasn’t working, icing it wasn’t working it was just shooting pain through my jaw. My mom called them for me because all I could do was cry and lay down. They, as in whoever answered the phone, said it was normal and to just take more Vicodin as needed. I couldn’t eat or hold anything down so the Vicodin just made me more sick. This lasted for 5 days and didn’t get better until about the 6^th or 7^th day. We called the doctor about two more times but they just kept saying it was normal. Which it WASNT. My face looked like it had a three golf balls inside my cheek. No attempt or concern to explain or find out if there were any complications in the surgery NOTHING. I literally just waited the pain out for 6 or 7 days.
This happened last summer, and the only reason I’m writing this now is because they honestly made me feel like I was crazy. Yesterday I had my other wisdom teeth pulled out at a different office and it was a TOTALLY different experience. This is my second day and although there’s a little bit or pain which I can now see is a NORMAL pain, I know I wasn’t crazy. DO NOT COME HERE.

Very professional, highly competent, and great communication throughout, including personal follow-​up phone calls. Office staff is very friendly and professional. Highly recommended!

UPDATE:
A couple days shy of one month from my insane visit to Dr. Schell (other review below). Of course no one called to check on me after the surgery however 3 weeks after the surgery Dr. Schell decided to not call me, but my husband, to attempt to talk about what had happened that day. Maybe it took him a few weeks to really comprehend what he had done or maybe he found out that I was swarmed by dozens of attorneys wanting to work with me on this and that the state knows my full account. Either way, this isn’t the 50’s and calling a patients husband instead of the patient is not only rude but incredibly unprofessional. If he had something to say to try and justify this he should have called me.
While on with my husband he had zero answers as to why he did what he did however ended the call with asking my husband to ask me to take down my Unilocal review. Good to know he tries to hide his chop shop by asking people to take down negative things that are the truth. He then called my husband again a few days later telling him that they would be re-​funding our money claiming it was an insurance error but I don’t know a lot of oral surgeons that personally call to tell you that, that’s more of a front desk thing. He was calling to attempt to smooth things over with a couple hundred bucks. Also the amount of follow up appointments I have had to go to with other specialist and surgeons to fix the job he did is staggering.
This has nothing to do with money. This has to do with people being aware that this man should not be practicing. Despite some of the other reviews below I want people to know what when I posted about him in a FB group of 20k people over 70 ppl had comments about them having a horrible experience, someone they know having an awful one OR being aware he has a reputation of being sketchy as hell.
I would say don’t go to him but hopefully he won’t be in practice for much longer so you won’t have the option to risk damaging your mouth.

Thank you so much for taking care of my mother. Like the rest of my family, she had nothing but great things to say. She healed without any pain, and I really appreciate your follow up call.

This is more like a 4.5 stars. My husband was referred to Dr. Schell, he was very friendly and charismatic along with both of the office staff members that we interacted with, one of which even gave my 2year old daughter paper and highlighter to make Daddy a picture while we waited for him. My husband’s surgery went well for having such rooted impacted teeth that were pushing on others causing all kinds of problems as they should have been taken out 20years ago! It would have been 5 stars if I didn’t feel so rushed, they didn’t say if he had dissolving stitches or any stitches at all, the front desk woman did refer me to the pamphlet for questions and I had it done before so I knew what to expect. It was nice we got his meds in the office saving us a trip to the pharmacy! The price was a bit more than projected because they had to use more anesthesia, but that happens. Overall a great experience!

I was extremely worried about my 6 year-​old son going thru the anesthesia for his unavoidable tooth extraction at this such young age UNTIL my consultation with Dr. Shell. Doctor understood my concern and professionally explained all the procedures to ease my worry. The surgery went very quick and smooth which was beyond my expectation. Afterward, doctor called to follow up the recovering progress right after surgery and a week later. His admin. staff, Victoria, on the other hand, was also extremely helpful on dealing with my LOUSY insurance company always-​changing policy. I was very grateful to have Dr. Shell took care of my son and his staff”s extra effort on my insurance claim. Finding a good oral surgeon with great support admin. team needs intensive research and is not easy. Dr. Shell and his team is for sure one of the excellent oral surgeon team that you might want to consider. Thank you all for everything you did to take care of my son.

Dr Schell is a very nice doctor but I have been very frustrated with the rude admin lady there over a 10 dollars overcharge that she refused to adjust/​refund. It’s not much but her overcharge fails my FSA claims and creates a lot of painful work to reconcile difference between insurance, FSA account and dr office.
Be aware of this especially if you are trying to use your FSA account here.

Our daughter was afraid of having her wisdom teeth pulled. Hated the thought of going under anesthesia. Dr. Schell and staff eased her concerns by professionally explaining the process, calmed her fears and made her feel comfortable.
Her recovery time was quick and experienced much less pain than she expected.
What a relief for her and more for us!
Thank you, Dr. Schell.

Had a very painful problem molar surgically extracted by Dr. Schell and his team yesterday morning. I have to say that it was the most pleasant dental and probably even medical experience I’ve ever had in the last 10 years.
Dr. Schell and his staff were so kind, attentive, and answered my and my family’s questions before the surgery to make sure we were comfortable. I have a sensitive stomach and can have a lot of anxiety during procedures, so instead of reducing the anesthesia to avoid nausea like my family asked him to, he checked in again once I was in the surgery room and we decided to use the same amount of anesthesia but more of the anti-​nausea medication coupled with it. This attentiveness means a lot to me, because most doctors in any profession haven’t cared enough to listen to what I need. He even joked with me about my tattoo of a Sanrio panda bear that looks like his rabbit — and it really does!
Some history: I have a really lengthy track record with different dentists with this same tooth, from
1. Having the metal filling done when I was 18 because the tooth had a cavity, by a very rude dentist whose dental assistant cut my gums from front to back with the suction device because they weren’t paying attention… and didn’t really care that they’d cut me so badly.
2. Then another dentist replaced the original metal filling with a porcelain crown (which we paid cash for), then removed the porcelain crown because I was in pain when they didn’t initially pay attention to my need for a root canal. Did the root canal and put a temp filling, and then the dentist moved out of town and I had to switch, then the temp filling fell out.
3. Then had a different dentist replace the porcelain crown but wouldn’t fix my bite because she was upset that she was finishing another dentist’s work and said I was wrong in telling her my bite was off — but my bite WAS off… so I had another dentist fix my bite.
4. Then the porcelain crown fell out in my sleep and was probably swallowed, and had another dentist put a temporary crown on it at the same time she did 10 other fillings with almost no novocaine when I only verbally consented to having «a few» fillings done… and then the temporary crown fell out.
5. Then the tooth progressively fell apart over a year and a half because I am so traumatized by this and other major acts of negligence by dentists… so eventually, 10 years after the very first filling, the tooth became infected and has been causing me headaches, and earaches, and it needed to be removed it with surgery.
The moral of the story: Surgery sucks, and some doctors suck too, but if I ever needed to have such a procedure again, I will only ever go, and refer my friends or family, to Dr. Schell.

Excellent experience. I had a consultation for all four of my wisdom teeth to be extracted. The consultation was very informative and professional. I felt extremely comfortable making the arrangements to move forward with the procedure. My appointment was equally prefessional. The entire procedure was done under an hour. Although I am still recovering and slightly sore, I do not have any swelling or bruising.
I was given clear instructions after the procedure. And I was even called hours after the procedure to make sure I was doing well. For something that I have been dreading for so long it turned out extremely well.

Dr. Schell and his staff were wonderful to work with. I just had all four of my impacted wisdom teeth removed and I couldn’t have had a more smooth procedure. Dr. Schell made me feel very comfortable and answered any and all questions I had. My recovery is going smooth, and I thought it was very nice of him to call and check up on me a few hours after the procedure and then again today to see how I was doing.
I would definitely recommend Dr. Schell to anyone else in search of a good oral surgeon.

I needed to have two wisdom teeth removed and found Dr Schell through my insurance company (Aetna). He was a pleasant doctor who can be serious and professional but is also warm and accommodating. He was happy to answer my questions and meet any requests that I had.
I had my teeth removed this morning and am recovering well! Dr Schell and his staff were very pleasant to deal with and I am very happy with my experience with them.
Thanks, Dr Schell!