South Bay Orthodontics, Dr. Michael Sunwoo — Local services in Cupertino

These are, hands down, some of the best doctors I've worked with in any specialty anywhere. Not only that, their reception staff are the best I've ever dealt with in any health care profession.

I was born with a severe underbite that affected my ability to eat and breathe. In 2014 I was referred to Dr Kasey Li for surgery, who sent me to Dr Paul Lee for the orthodontics portion of the correction. Since then I've been working with Dr Lee and now Dr Sungwoo in their Cupertino office (they also have a Milpitas location).

Dr Lee was very encouraging while remaining realistic. I was scared and unsure about what would happen, and he helped me understand and stay calm. Because of working with him, I was confident going into surgery, and even when things didn't go 100% as we'd hoped, I was confident I'd have a good result because I trusted Dr Lee.

If there is a problem, he fixes it. If I need something changed or adjusted because it's hurting, we work to find a solution that relieves my pain while still having the orthodontic benefit I need.

He's also a perfectionist, which isn't always a good thing but it is in this case! I can't count the number of times he's apologized because he can't get my bite entirely perfect, because I just don't have enough bone for moving the teeth to be safe. It turned out that I needed bone and tissue grafts just to get started because otherwise I didn't have enough bone for orthodontics to be safe. He referred me to the best doctor in the country for the grafts I needed, and he's been great about working around the restrictions this placed on what he could do when. I'm thrilled with my new mouth! We still have a while to go before it's done, but I can bite things now, and I can breathe!

Also, his administrator, Kathy: literally the best I've ever met in any health care related thing, ever. We've all had that doctor who is great but has the spacy receptionist, or the administration staff who double-bills you, or who puts in appointments wrong and blames you, or... the list goes on. But Kathy has been absolutely fabulous and I can't say enough good things about her. She's training some new staff, and I have faith that they'll be as good as her when she's done.

Recently, Dr Lee has recently added Dr Sunwoo to the practice. I wasn't sure at first, because Dr Sunwoo is pretty young, but it's been great! Dr Sunwoo is amazing. I haven't seen him on his own very much yet, but he always looks in on my mouth and we chat about stuff every time I go in. He's very calm and collected, and like Dr Lee he's willing to change things around if they're really hurting too much for me to handle. It's been wonderful having them collaborate on my case.

I speak English as my only language, and everyone in the office speaks English well---not always a guarantee here in the Bay Area. However, if you don't speak English well or at all, they have you covered. I think there's someone who can translate in-house for almost all of the major East Asian languages, as well as Spanish, and probably even more that I don't recognize. I'm pretty sure Dr Lee speaks several of them fluently (I want to say Korean and a Chinese dialect?), and his office staff speak many more.

In two years of working with them, I've had to go in for unplanned adjustments all of three times. If you've ever had braces, you know what a big deal that is. They've always been willing to slide me into their schedule, and incredibly gracious even when it was my own silly fault.

In short, I'm incredibly pleased with Dr Lee and his...

I would give a 0 star if possible. When making the appointment over the phone, the assistant asked me if I would be ok to have the kids to take X-ray there. I said I'd rather not, and was told that the doctor might not have the most accurate treatment plan to show me. I said ok.

I took my kids there on a Monday afternoon. It's a small office. The receptionist reminded us that the doctor could only discuss rough treatment plans w/o x-rays. I acknowledged it. After filling out a bunch of paperwork and having a staff taking photos of both kids' teeth, we were asked to wait for the doctor in a small room. Dr.Michael Sunwoo showed up after 10 mins of waiting. He took a glance of the photos and asked if they could get the kids to take x-rays. I said I was interested in learning about the treatment plans and I'd be fine if the plans were not exact. I'd be open to having kids take X-rays once the treatment starts. Dr.Sunwoo said there's no point talking about the plans without panoramic x-rays. The next moment, we were shown our way out.

Dr.Sunwoo came across as someone who's impatient and rude. It appears his highest priority is to secure a business rather than treating people with respect and attention. I certainly wouldn't trust him to do orthodontics on my kids. To say the least, they should have trained their staff with clear instructions: if I had been told x-rays are pre-requisite for the initial consultation, I wouldn't have wasted 1.5 hours taking my kids to their office...

I (42 year old) went to get a tuneup from my childhood work and decided to do a bit more to set myself up for the second half of my life. Dr. Michael Sunwoo is extremely engaged. If he had been my Orthodontist when I was young, I suspect my outcome would have been better 25 years ago. He explains everything in detail as does his staff. I get to see him working with his normal (younger) patents when I visit. He is extremely patient and is clearly working toward the best possible outcome.

What I appreciated most was his honestly regarding what treatment I should select. I wanted the best possible outcome and he took his time to explain metal and ceramic braces as well as Invisalign options. For my tolerances, classic metal braces were the best choice. I also suggest you consider them even if older. If you are honest with Dr. Sunwoo, he will give you the opportunity to make the best choice for you.

He also treats you like an adult (I am an adult so that is great). I secretly think he is happy to have someone to talk to for a moment throughout the day that is closer to his age.

5 years later at 48, I am still wearing my retainer and my teeth look great and are in awesome shape. We moved, so I am sad that my son is having his teeth adjusted in Ohio. But the lessons I learned from Michael...