Our team consists of dedicated individuals who are kind, friendly, and caring. Our staff is here to ensure a pleasant experience during your visit to our office.
Our team includes experienced and energetic people whose goal is to communicate well with our patients and provide the best care possible.
A descendant of three generations of health professionals (his grandfather was one of the first African American dentists in the South), Dr. Arnold never considered any other occupation. He grew up “hanging around the dental office,” watching his grandfather work while discussing community politics. His father was a general medical practitioner in Detroit, Michigan. According to Dr. Arnold, “In my practice, one of my primary goals is to eliminate the fear patients have toward dentistry and to present the discipline in a fun and enjoyable way. Dr. Happy Tooth is my way of presenting the issue of dentistry to kids in a non-threatening environment. It also presents dental hygiene as a pleasant learning experience.”
Dr. Arnold attended the same college as his parents, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and went on to Meharry Medical College, the alma mater for his father and grandfather. Good fortune was with him when he was accepted into San Francisco’s Mt. Zion residency program in 1972. Mt. Zion has one of the leading residency programs for dentists in the country and only accepts three graduates per year. Dr. Arnold made a name for himself in the Bay Area when, in 1974, he teamed up with Dr. Collins, author of Your Teeth, a handbook on personal dental care, and Dr. William Pitman, the first African American dentist to open a practice in the East Bay in 1930. Within a year, Dr. Arnold had over 100 patients of his own.
Dr. Arnold is a Fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry, on the hospital staff at Mt. Zion, Herrick, and Alta Bates, and is a member of both the American Dental Association and the Berkeley Dental Society.