Mr Dan J. Spears

Dr. Dan Spears is just one of the friendly and caring dentists here at Cypress Grove Dental Group. He is passionate about dentistry and the well-being of our patients, and he always listens to their wants and needs and thoroughly explains their treatment options. With a dedication to this process, he believes that once patients understand what is going on (and why), they can make better treatment decisions for themselves. That is key to superior dental care! Dr. Spears grew up in Anaheim and graduated from U.C. Irvine in 1979 with a B.S. in Biology. He worked for a pharmaceutical company in Irvine for a few years before deciding to further his education. Wanting to spend time away from Southern California, he chose U.C. San Francisco, a great school in a great place. San Francisco was especially amazing back then—it was beautiful and before a lot of the commercial interests moved in. There were a lot of independent coffee houses and eateries… and no Starbucks! Initially, Dr. Spears had planned to get a Master of Public Health degree and then work in the public health sector. However, while at UCSF, he was fortunate enough to do an externship at Mt. Zion Hospital and became interested in hospital dentistry. So, after dental school, he chose to go to a general practice residency. Again desiring to see a new part of the country, he was accepted to the GPR program at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Washington, D.C. He recounts that it was a great experience, where he learned a considerable amount in the areas of restorative, prosthodontic, oral surgery, and periodontal surgery. Additionally, D.C. was an interesting and fun place to live, and working with veterans was great. They were from all levels of the services and from all walks of life, and they had wonderful stories. Dr. Spears enjoyed being able to contribute to their health needs. Later, during his second year, he worked a rotation in Pediatric Dentistry (even though it was a V.A. hospital). He worked with the Pediatric Dentistry residents at the nearby Children’s National Hospital (which was a great addition to the clinical education at the V.A.) Next, Dr. Spears had a chance to do a fellowship in hospital dentistry at Danbury Hospital, a private hospital in Connecticut that was associated with Yale University. There, he fell in love with beautiful New England, and it was also another great experience clinically. Much of the workload involved doing O.R. cases with mentally handicapped individuals who could not be treated in a conventional dental office setting. Also, he has the unique experience of his third daughter being born in the hospital while he was on staff there! When Dr. Spears and his family moved back to California, he decided to go into private practice. His prior training and experience led him to seek a group practice, which has a lot of the same advantages as working in a hospital clinic. These include allowing for more immediate sharing of clinical strengths, interests, experiences, and opinions. It also enhances peer consultation and the knowledge of each member of the group. Dr. Spears looks forward to showing you these advantages first-hand when you visit us at Cypress Grove Dental Group!