Pegel Family Dental (Terence B Pegel DDS) - San Diego, California

Kate L.

Dr. Pegel, Jr.’s attitude and professional demeanor is arrogant, rude, and uncalled for. I’ve been a patient at this clinic since I was in high school (~20 years) and his father, Dr. Pegel, Sr. was such a kind, professional dentist. At some point his son was brought in to the clinic to eventually take over when his father was to retire, and oh my goodness was that the worst decision. I would be ashamed of my son speaking to patients the way he does and horrified how disrespectful he acts. I went in for a chipped front tooth. I was lying on the chair and pointed to the tooth and his immediate response was pompous and rude, “Yeah I’ve only been doing this for ** many years, I can see where the chip is.” So then he shaved it down and handed me the mirror. He didn’t even round the tooth out or try to make it symmetrical to my other tooth. When I asked, he said well your other tooth is naturally longer. Annoyed that I didn’t praise him for a BAD attempt to do anything at all. (The whole point was to mirror symmetry so that the chip was not visible.) At that point I put the mirror down and thought to myself I would rather go see ANY dentist in San Diego to finish this work than let him do anything more to my teeth because he had no respect for me nor my wishes in shaping the chip on MY tooth. I will never come back here again. They asked if I wanted to schedule a cleaning, and I politely declined. I’m disgusted by his attitude and I will happily share this information with everyone I know not to use them as dental providers. What a disappointment of a person and “professional”- I can’t imagine how they have any business with his demeanor. I have seen him many other times at the clinic checking in after the hygienist finished the cleaning- he’s never been nice or professional, but this is the last time I waste my time at this place. Please see pictures below for before and after his poor work. Can you imagine a dentist sending someone out still looking like this. You can still see where part of the chip was!

Davit G.

First visit to this clinic with Dr. Joshua, and it was a terrible experience. He rushed through the exam/evaluation, showing no interest in my dental history or the issues I was currently facing. The entire assessment lasted barely 3 minutes, during which he only glanced at areas flagged by AI as potential cavities.

As a new patient, I made a genuine effort to bring my records and communicate the past trauma I’ve experienced from dental procedures and the persistent pain I was dealing with. He couldn't care less. Shockingly, he suggested I return for 6 filling procedures, saying he might be able to diagnose the issue then. When I asked if he could provide a diagnosis during this visit, he replied that he had other patients to attend to.

I took up less than five minutes of his time. Despite that, he was aloof, unsympathetic, and gave off the impression that his priority was to get me in for another visit that will lead to more profits, not patient care. When I asked for advice on managing my pain, his response was, “Try chewing on the other side.” Unbelievable.

This experience felt like a clear example of a dentist more focused on profit than providing competent or compassionate care. I wouldn’t recommend this clinic to anyone.

Luly Z.

My husband and I are both physicians so we appreciate excellent patient care and good old fashioned follow up and treatment when necessary.

We truly appreciate Dr. Pegel (both Terence and Josh) for the attentiveness they’ve given us over the years. They’re careful not to over treat and we really value that.

We value them so much that when our children have had emergencies, we have brought them in to the office to been by them rather than by their pediatric dentist. They have always treated us like family and you cannot put a price on that. We are truly grateful for them and the entire office.

Craig B.

Started with Dr. Pegel 29 years ago. He, and now his son, have taken great care of my teeth. Friendly, professional, and easy, and they keep up to date with the latest dental tech. I left San Diego for 8 years and had to find several new dentists - none compared. When I returned here I was gladly back with Pegel Family Dentistry right away.

iris S.

13 years with Dr Pagel. All experience and treatment are awesome no matter it is big or small. They have top hardware investment on dental machines and many new tools making the treatment experience real no-fear. Fantastic numb procedure without pressure, awesome root canal skill and crown machine is on site. My husband had one excruciate tooth pain at weekend, called Dr Pagel office and get treatment on same day, really appreciate.

Greg H.

I have been going to Dr. Pegel's office for over 25 years. Nothing but excellent service and my wife and I completely trust every recommendation they make. They are meticulous and make you feel comfortable with every procedure, no matter how invasive it might be. When my patients who live in the area ask about a recommendation for a dentist, without hesitation I give them the phone number to Pegel Family Dental.

caroline N.

Dr. Joshua Pegel does great work! It had been quite some time since I had any major dental work done so I was a little nervous. He quickly made me feel at ease and made me feel confident with his knowledge and expertise. His dental assistant was also very kind and knowledgeable.

Alicia G. M.

I had a terrible experience in this clinic a few years ago. I booked an appointment for a cleaning. Once onsite they also took x-rays since it was my first visit to this dentist and told me that I needed to fix 7 new cavities. This sounded weird to me since I had only developed 2 cavities in more that 30 years and to develop so many in just a few years was unlikely. In addition, I could not see them in the x-rays. I asked for a second opinion and the other dentist found only one cavity that she fixed. A few years later, a third dentist just told me that I dont have any cavities besides the 3 already fixed previously. I have never returned to Dr. Pegel's clinic.