07-16-2023 Baltimore's Best - Flipbook - Page 8
8 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, July 16, 2023
BALTIMORE SUN’S BEST READERS’ CHOICE 2023 PERSONAL SERVICES
BEST DENTIST
DENTAL DESIGNS OF
MARYLAND
8114 Sandpiper Circle, Suite #210, White Marsh.
410-834-4284. dentaldesignswhitemarsh.com
There’s a maxim here that dentists follow, an
immutable rule of numb: Make sure that your
laughter is louder than the sound of your drill.
For the staff at Dental Designs, it’s about making
patients feel at ease. When clients slide into the
chair, the talk is of families, vacations and the like,
both sides catching up on stuff since last they met.
“We [mesh] state-of-the-art technology with
old-school values,” said Nina-Cecilia Santos who,
with her husband, Kai Weng, are dentists who
opened the practice in 2015. “We’re here to show
that dentistry can be fun and doesn’t have to be
feared.”
At present, they have 5,000 clients, two office
locations and several others in the works.
“We’re ‘people’ people who want to elevate the
experience of coming to the dentist as a nurturing, and not a negative connotation,” Weng
said. To that end, on arrival, patients are offered
amenities such as blankets, pillows and aromatherapy candles. They can watch Netflix or Hulu
on TVs mounted on the ceiling, or listen to a
favorite musical genre. Before leaving, each is
given a warm, lemon-scented towel to cleanse the
face.
“We make it easy for people to want to come
back,” Weng said. “That’s the magic sauce.”
Patients have dozed off during treatment, he
said:
“We take that as a compliment. We’d rather you
be comfortable enough to fall asleep than to be
Nina-Cecilia Santos, at the White Marsh office of Dental Designs, the practice she co-owns with her husband
Kai Weng. Dental Designs was named“Baltimore’s Best Dental Practice.” AMY DAVIS/BALTIMORE SUN
white-knuckling all of the time.”
With seven dentists totaling 50 years’ experience, the practice offers everything from routine
work to root canals, and from implants to cosmetic
treatments. Clients range in age from 1 to 99, Weng
said, and include well-known media types “whom
you’ve heard of if you watch the local news.”
Emergencies are a given: A cheerleader who
fell during a routine and chipped a tooth. Or a
party-goer who tried to open a beer bottle with
his teeth.
“We get at least two of [the latter] each month in
summer,” Santos said.
— Mike Klingaman
ACUPUNCTURIST
BRIAN JACKSON & MARCOS
HSU, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
ORTHOPAEDICS/THE WAREHOUSE AT
CAMDEN YARDS
Honorable mentions:
Black Sheep Community Acupuncture
Mend Acupuncture
Cloud 9 Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine (tie)
Zen Path Wellness, LLC (tie)
AUDIOLOGIST
BAY AREA AUDIOLOGY
Honorable mentions:
Harmony Hearing & Audiology (Festival at Bel Air)
Hearing & Balance Solutions, LLC
Audiology Associates
AUTO REPAIR
HOLLENSHADE’S AUTO SERVICES
Honorable mentions:
Jones Junction
Brooks-Huff Tire & Auto Centers
Safelite AutoGlass
Turn to Services, Page 10
Tim Hollenshade replaces shocks on a Chevy Tahoe at Hollenshade’s Auto Services, which has been
voted Baltimore’s Best. His grandfather started the business in 1939 and it has been in the family for four
generations. BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR/BALTIMORE SUN
