Karen D Sakuma, DDS

Don’t bother if you are on Apple Care. Recently my 20 year job ended as did my dental benefits. Obama said sign up for state insurance or be fined, so we did. Now with WA State Apple care we are discovering that nobody wants to take the insurance in Kirkland, Redmond etc. The dentists don’t like that the State is paying them less. OK I get it but this dentist treated my mother for 10 years and made THOUSANDS off of her. In spite of that, and the fact that I said I was willing to pay out of pocket at the time of appointment for anything not covered, they turned me away with a dental infection. Nice.

Karen has been my dentist since I was a little girl. She is so caring and professional. I can’t believe there are negative reviews for her. She runs a tight ship in her office, but she is a very good dentist and all of her staff is very knowledgeable and caring as well. She is very dedicated to her patients and always provides exceptional care. I would highly recommend Dr. Sakuma to anyone!

I see a previous Unilocaler wrote a very negative review about Dr. Sakuma. When I read this, it almost made me cancel my appointment. But, I saw on another online site that Dr. Sakuma had a few hundred great reviews, and since she is located next to my office, I decided to give her a try. I am glad I did, since I think she is a great dentist.
Dr. Sakuma fit me into her schedule quickly when I broke a tooth, even though I had never seen her before. I had only been in for a cleaning with the hygienist for the first time several weeks before. Dr. Sakuma was a bit rushed because she had someone else whom they also had to fit in with an emergency at the same time as I was there, but I didn’t feel any of the things the previous Unilocaler stated. Dr. Sakuma took the time to explain my options for repairing the tooth — with no pressure or extra expensive work pushed on me. In fact, she fixed the tooth in a way that was not only less complicated, but also less expensive than I had expected. In addition, cosmetically it looks and feels great. There was no pain and she worked quickly. I don’t know what else I could say about her to emphasize what a great dentist she is. Her staff were all kind and amazingly helpful, especially Marie who researched the insurance information and got my previous dental records from another dentist very quickly while I was there. Dr. Sakuma is my first choice for a dentist now, and I am hoping to keep seeing her in the future, even though I live in Seattle and could find someone in my neighborhood there. I thought she was great.

Both my husband and I visited Karen Sakuma on separate days at the recommendation of a friend. Both my husband and I had (independently) terrible experiences. Our appointments lasted well over 3 hours — who has that kind of time without it being scheduled in advance??? Dr. Sakuma was clearly backed up with appointments. She was condescending towards her staff — assistants, etc. She yelled at them and bossed them around in a derogatory manner. She recommended aggressive and expensive treatments for both my husband and I. (Please note, neither of us have cavities and are regular brushers/​flossers.) Dr. Sakuma made negative comments about our previous dentists and orthodontists and the «poor» job they did. Regarding the recommendations for aggressive treatments, she did NOT follow up with either of us as promised. She may be good for some people, but there is NO WAY that we will ever go back. Plus, I have already shared experiences with friends asking for recommendations. My advice to them: «Choose any dentist in Kirkland except for Dr. Sakuma!»