san francisco dentist

Potrero Hill Dental: How We Met

Many people have asked us how Nancy and I met, so here is our story!  The short answer boils down to this: four years ago we began our dental careers as associates at the same local dental practice here in San Francisco. A few days later, we found out that we were also working together at another dental office in the Bay Area!

Though having identical resumes was our initial common ground, we quickly learned that we shared so many other things in common: a passion for photography and hiking, a shameless love for corn (roasted, boiled, canned, yellow, white, you name it!), similar family backgrounds (we both have 2 brothers and coincidentally enough both of our fathers raise koi fish), a healthy sense of humor, and an endless commitment to providing the highest level of patient care possible.  While our friendship grew naturally from our common interests, we developed a mutual respect for each other clinically and more importantly personally as we continued to work together side-by-side as associate dentists. We discovered that we both shared a philosophy of practice based on providing our patients with exceptional, quality and honest treatment as comfortably as possible.

Over the years, we ended up as associates at practices at opposite ends of the Bay Area, but we kept in close contact and our friendship grew. When there was an opening in the Restorative Dentistry Department at the University of the Pacific where Nancy worked, she recruited me to join her department as a clinical instructor. I was honored to teach with Nancy as a faculty member, and this gave us the opportunity to engage in teaching and continue our dedication to uncompromising clinical excellence.

About a year ago, Nancy began to look into starting a dental practice and approached me to join her in the endeavor. The timing wasn’t quite right (I was in my third trimester of pregnancy) so we tabled the discussion until we were both ready to jump in with both feet.  

One weekend this summer, my husband Tim, baby Claire and I decided to tag along with Nancy and her fiancé as they celebrated their anniversary in Tahoe, and we re-hashed the idea of starting a dental practice together -- this time there was nothing stopping us but our own inhibitions. Sometimes you have to commit to something with everything you have -- all your resources, energy, time, effort and attention.  We knew this dental office in Potrero Hill was one of those things, so we took a deep breath and dove right in.  With a little resourcefulness and relentless motivation, we went from talking about the idea over breakfast to standing on the corner of 19th and Vermont one week later, crossing our fingers and hoping to call this beautiful neighborhood and space our home. 

- Jane

PS. Check out our instagram and facebook for more updates on our construction progress!