Who is John Gonzalez, DDS?
Sometimes patients have trouble fitting my last name to my face, or understanding why I don't speak Spanish. That's because of my unusual parentage. My mother's parents were of Czechoslovakian and Polish Jewish ancestry. My grandfather on my father's side was Spanish from the Canary Islands, while my father's mother was Cuban. And along with my father and mother, I was born and raised in the United States.
In fact, I grew up in Malibu. I went to the Santa Monica/Malibu school system, then onto the University of California, Santa Barbara and finally to dental school at the University of California, Los Angeles where I graduated in 1992.
Growing up, I enjoyed drawing, building many projects and learning how things worked. I won awards in high school for ceramics and spent time in college not only studying the sciences, but also doing sculpting and participating in other art forms. The study of science and mathematics was not easy, but my tenacity allowed me to achieve high grades which propelled me into one of the finest, most sought out dental schools in the country. It was little surprise that upon graduation from UCLA's dental school, I felt comfortable going immediately into private practice.
For thirteen years I worked in a very successful, high profile practice and gained a reputation in the office for being the dentist who could correct complex dental problems. I have a simple, straight forward philosophy about doing good dentistry: It involves following established principles, using my gift for understanding how things work, applying an artistic imagination, having a gentle touch, and most of all treating each and every patient with the utmost care. Patients are not a commodity to be brokered, lied to or coerced into treatment. They are not dollar signs. Patients are to be cared for, treated with respect and honesty. Good dentistry, requires both skill and integrity. I practice both general dentistry, treating patients with common dental problems and procedures, and corrective dentistry whereby I treat those patients who have suffered from severe dental neglect or from poor quality work performed by other dentists, many of whom require extensive dental reconstruction. I have teamed-up with a select group of specialists who perform root canals, tooth extractions, implant placements, gingival tissue work, and other specialized procedures that I prefer to not do so that I can concentrate on what I enjoy most in the field of dentistry. These specialists share my integrity and commitment to excellence.