Timothy J Butson, DMD MSD

If your insurance is accepted here, go to this office! The staff and Dr. are amazing! Gentle, professional, and companionate, all of them. I feel compelled to tip every time I go there, but that would be weird, so I decided to write a review :)

In an era when patient care and customer service is a dying art Dr. Butson creates the new Gold Standard of care. Phenomenal experience.

After trying several dentists in my area and having horrible experiences I decided to try someone in my hometown of Seattle hoping for a dentist I could actually stick with. Luckily I found the place! Other places I’ve been to had everything from painful drillings to impersonal hygienists and even a dentist with bad breath! Dr Buston is always very friendly and is always checking on me to make sure I’m comfortable. Cavities and fillings are never fun, but I can say I’ve had the least painful and fastest experience at this office. They also welcome my daughter when I need to bring her. This place is definitely worth the trip from California

My family has been clients of Dr. Butson for about four years. He is very welcoming and friendly, and likes to check in about how me and members of my family are doing. He kept bringing up that he noticed I had a dry mouth, which I just assumed I could do nothing about, but he recommended a product for it that I have just purchased called Xylimelts. He recommended that I go to the doctor to figure out the root of the problem, which made me think more about trying to seek a solution rather than cope with what I have. That’s a great dentist in my opinion. There are several things that come to mind so this will be disjointed in a way, but I want to be as honest as possible.
Two of his hygienists that I have had cleanings with are very helpful. One of them, I don’t know if she’s still working there, but her attitude was so supportive and focused on answering any and all questions I had and it did feel like she really cared about my dental health. The second one also gave a ton of advice specific to my dry mouth condition and what she personally does for her dental care.
One woman he hired who I encountered on her first day, who I never saw again, just did a very poor job when he was looking away like really lazily flossing my teeth which I didn’t even know how to respond to. Occasionally some of the staff can be condescending.
Dr. Butson and his office are willing to make calls for you and schedule appointments with other related offices for services they don’t provide.
As another reviewer said, I have noticed he curses a little when stressed out/​working on your teeth, which took me a little by shock.
Overall, I get the sense that Dr. Butson cares about his clients. I’m a fan and would recommend.

The worth of a primary care dentist is often found in they handle challenging cases, both in their own chair and in their referrals — how much standing they have in the community to get you in with specialists. As a formerly uncomplicated lady who’s now got an army of dentists on her case, I urge you to see Dr. Butson or somebody like him, even if your oral health is good. He is kind, relatable and almost surreally nice. He’s also highly trained and exacting — he’ll catch that spot of oral cancer, that smoldering infection, that wiggly filling that might not be bothering you yet.
I am lucky to have Dr. Butson directing a team of my oral health doctors. He won my trust back, after years of having a medical problem that affected my teeth and never feeling like I got sound, evidence based advice from the dentists I saw. One offered me 100 units of Botox. Cosmetic dentistry is so absurd — like going to a neurologist and being offered a haircut.
Dr. Butson doesn’t make me feel like he’s trying to do anything but preserve my health and mitigate my suffering. It’s healthcare. He’s undaunted by complexity — he actually seems to enjoy working on such a case. Of note is that Dr. Butson’s presence is so relaxing and soothing that he doesn’t have to use nearly as much local anesthetic. He just… nices the pain away. Well, he works VERY quickly while talking to me — I have a hard time with numbing agents and I’ve been able to get several fillings without them. Before Dr. Butson? I used to need IV sedation for a cleaning. He has so much empathy and ability to read body langyage that I trust him not to hurt me.
If I believed in calling people rock stars, I’d say he’s a total rock star dentist. These five stars will have to do as thanks for the compassion and skill he’s shown over the past year and a half.

Businessman first, professional second!
Dr. Butson insisted on some special procedure that my insurance refused to pay without checking with me first. Then his office demands I pay out of pocket the service provided. He was very gentle and nice when I was there, to get me to trust him and trusted him I did.
After spending $ 600 out of pocket for some nonsense procedure, I quit going to him hoping to find a more ethical dentist.
I agree with another reviewer that I believe Dr. Butson’s office may be engaging in insurance fraud and price gouging patients.

My experience with Dr. Butson was the most negative dental experience I’ve ever had. He did several crowns and bridges for me over the course of a number of appointments. I do not recommend Dr. Butson for the following reasons:
1. His behavior was unprofessional and downright frightening at times. He spoke harshly to his staff and he yelled and swore when things weren’t going well. For example, he took an impression tray out of my mouth, looked at it, and then cursed, «G-​ddammit!» This behavior was in marked contrast to my initial visit where he appeared very gentle and kind. I dubbed him Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde.
2. Without asking me for input, he created crowns that had yellow staining on them for a more «natural look» which I did not like at all.
3. My most serious complaint is that two years after having spent thousands of dollars on this crown and bridge work, it all had to be removed. Large open margins were discovered throughout the work — that means bacteria can get in underneath the crowns and cause decay. Dr. Butson is an experienced prosthodontist and he absolutely should have known better; he should have taken x-​Rays after seating my crowns and bridges to ensure there were no open margins.
In conclusion, my visits to Dr. Butson’s office were a nightmare because of his anger management issues, and in the end, the poor quality work did not make it worth enduring his temper. I recommend you look elsewhere for a prosthodontist who takes pride in his work and who has a pleasant chairside manner.

I contacted Dr. Butson directly regarding my experience with his staff. It seems he supports the behavior of his receptionist. I strongly encourage taking your business to a professional who truly listens to patient’s concerns and who cares about the health and well being of their patients, over making a dollar.

After my old dentist retired, it had been one too many years since a trip to the dentist. I was recommended to Dr. Butson and I must say, he is amazing! He is very personable and down-​to-​earth. He makes you feel very comfortable and very helpful with ways to improve your dental health without making you feel bad. His oral hygienist, Kim, is the best! She makes the process painless (yes, I said it!) and the time flies by.
I recommend Dr. Butson to all my friends and family now!

Dr. Butson is the best dentist around! So is his helpful staff! Best place ever! Highly recommend Dr. Butson in Seattle! Worth the drive or worth the appointment during your lunch break!

I recently started feeling slight dental pain and having gone to Dr. Butson’s once before, left them two messages at work to come into the office. After no reply on the same day, I was starting to feel that the glowing Unilocal reviews may have been wrong…
…turns out, it was the complete opposite!
The office called me back early the next morning (which was actually AH-​MAZING because the slight dental pain morphed into major swelling that kept me up most of the night) and managed to get me an appointment immediately. Dr. Butson went above and beyond in examining not only my tooth but the surrounding areas, diagnosing it was an infection and got in touch with an oral surgeon immediately to book me an emergency consultation the very same day. He cleaned up my mouth (he said it would probably hurt, but it didn’t at all – kudos to his skill), and got me on antibiotics right away. On top of it all, he was extremely sympathetic (kind of what you need when you’re hurting).
Very impressive, and I’m very thankful of their excellent service and care.

Dr. Butson is a very caring and brilliant dentist. He is always on time, listens and asks questions, and has a really gentle touch. Best of all, he is very detail oriented.
I recommend Dr. Butson to friends and family all the time because I think he is the best dentist in downtown Seattle.

Dr. Butson is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He really cares about his patients and is not one of those dentists who make you feel like crap because you have a cavity. I had to unfortunately have a lot of dental work done, but he was so pleasant to deal with that it made it a much better experience. My friend also goes to see him and she had a cold last time and he offered her a blanket. His office seems a lot more high tech than my previous dentist as well. He also gives Starbucks gift cards for new patient referrals which is cool. If you are looking for a dentist, he is the best!

I unfortunately just had to visit a different dentist– due to scheduling and insurance issues– and once again I can say that Dr. Butson is amazing. I now officially hate going to the dentist– and I’d still be happy to visit Dr. Butson.

Dr. Butson is the best dentist I’ve ever had. Not only is he really honestly the nicest man alive, he’s a fabulous dentist who really cares about his patients. He gave me a crown so good-​looking I can’t even remember which tooth it was on.
His staff is great from his dental assistant to the oral hygienists to the front staff… particularly Robert, who patiently assisted me through a complicated billing situation. I was mistaken but Dr. Butson didn’t charge me for the disputed amount.

Dr. Butson’s awesome. He’s been our dentist for over ten years. He specializes in cosmetic dentistry but is a fantastic regular dentist as well.
All those initials after his name don’t come cheap, though. But I’ve made the mistake of discount dentistry a few times in my life, much to my regret. Last year Dr. Butson and Dr. Farhat, the oral surgeon, took care of some botched oral surgery that was done about 14 years ago. My teeth and gums look great now.
Behind the scenes I suspect Dr. Butson may be a harsh taskmaster — he put in many years as a captain in the reserve — but to his patients he is kind and gentle. I completely trust him for all of our dental work.
Note: he recently moved to 1 Union Square and is not at 720 Olive anymore. He validates parking when you use the convention center parking garage.