GUIDE · UPDATED AUGUST 2026 · RE-VERIFIED QUARTERLY
The best pediatric dentists in Park Slope, by need
Picking a dentist for your kid in Park Slope is not really one decision. A two-year-old's first checkup, a seven-year-old who cried through the last cleaning, a family that wants everyone seen in one Saturday morning, and a Sunday appointment because nobody can leave work midweek are four different problems, and the right office depends on which one you have.
Three picks, by what you actually need. Each one is built around a named New York-licensed dentist we matched to a state dental license, confirmed is currently registered, and cleared against the state's disciplinary record. That last part is why this list is short, and it is the most useful thing on the page.
Best for a first visit and a nervous child
Park Slope Kids Dental Care
$$ · pediatric only · sedation-certified · PSP-listed
The dedicated pediatric practice, built around Dr. Tanesha Francis on 4th Avenue between Butler and Douglass. Kids only, which means the office, the staff, and the pace are all designed around a child who has never sat in a dental chair. Francis is separately certified by New York in Dental Enteral Conscious Sedation, a second license the state issues and lists on its own, which matters if your child is genuinely frightened rather than just fidgety. It is the name that comes up most on Park Slope Parents for children's dentistry.
- Address
- 150 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
- Phone
- (718) 488-0200
Best for the whole family in one office
Park Slope Dental Arts
$$ · pediatric + ortho + oral surgery · widest hours
The one-stop option on 3rd Street, and the pick when you would rather not manage three relationships. Dr. Nancy Yu covers the pediatric side; she took her dental degree at the University of Maryland and her pediatric residency at Brookdale here in Brooklyn. What makes the practice genuinely different is what sits down the hall: a board-certified orthodontist and an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in the same office, so a kid who needs braces or an extraction is not a referral and a new set of forms. Parents and grandparents get seen here too, and it is open Saturdays until 3.
- Address
- 506 3rd Street, Suite 1, Brooklyn, NY 11215
- Phone
- 718-962-0300
Best for a child with special needs
Midtown Dental Group Park Slope
$$ · Penn, Columbia, CHOP · special needs · open Sundays
The pick when a routine cleaning is not routine, and the deepest training on this list. Dr. Yasmin Tontat took both her dental degree and a Master of Public Health at Penn, then a pediatric residency at Columbia and New York Presbyterian, then a LEND fellowship in neurodevelopmental disabilities at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Public health plus neurodevelopmental training is a rare pairing in a neighborhood practice, and it is the background you want for a child whose needs do not fit a standard fifteen minutes in the chair. She describes her own approach as holistic and non-judgmental, which any parent who has sat through a bad visit will read correctly. The practice around her is a general family group on 8th Avenue with the most forgiving hours here: open to 8 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and open Sundays.
- Address
- 300 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215
- Phone
- (718) 499-5323
| Plumber | Best for | Cost & availability | Verified by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Slope Kids Dental Care | Best for a first visit and a nervous child | $$ · pediatric only · sedation-certified · PSP-listed | NYS license · clean record |
| Park Slope Dental Arts | Best for the whole family in one office | $$ · pediatric + ortho + oral surgery · widest hours | NYS license · clean record |
| Midtown Dental Group Park Slope | Best for a child with special needs | $$ · Penn, Columbia, CHOP · special needs · open Sundays | NYS license · clean record |
In short: Park Slope Kids Dental Care for a first visit or a frightened child, Park Slope Dental Arts when you want the whole family plus any braces or oral surgery under one roof, and Midtown Dental Group for a child with special needs or an appointment that has to fall on a Sunday.
| Practice | Best for | Open | New York license |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Slope Kids Dental Care | A first visit or a frightened child | Tue to Sat, closed Mon and Sun | #055486, registered to Jun 2028 |
| Park Slope Dental Arts | The whole family in one office | Mon to Sat, to 7pm Tue and Thu | #055263, registered to Aug 2027 |
| Midtown Dental Group | A child with special needs | Mon to Fri plus Sunday, to 8pm Tue and Wed | #062910, registered to Jan 2028 |
Every license above was confirmed Registered, with no enforcement actions, on the state's own verification search on August 23, 2026.
When should a Park Slope kid first see a dentist?
Earlier than most parents expect. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry puts it at the first tooth, or the first birthday at the latest.
That first appointment is not really a procedure. It is a count, a look, and a conversation about brushing, bottles, sippy cups and fluoride. Its actual purpose is twofold: catch decay while it is still a spot rather than a filling, and make the chair boring before it ever needs to be scary. A child who has been three times for nothing much is a very different patient at five than one whose first visit is for a toothache.
Frequently asked questions
- When should my child first see a dentist?
- The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry says a child should see a pediatric dentist when the first tooth appears, or no later than the first birthday. That feels early to most parents, and it is meant to. The first visit is largely a look, a count, and a conversation about brushing, bottles and fluoride, and its real job is to catch problems while they are still small and to make the chair boring before it ever has to be scary.
- What is the difference between a pediatric dentist and a family dentist?
- Pediatric dentistry is a recognized dental specialty. Per the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, a pediatric dentist completes two to three years of specialty training after dental school and limits their practice to treating children. A general or family dentist can absolutely see a healthy child for a routine cleaning, and many in Park Slope do it well. The specialty earns its keep with the harder cases: a toddler's first visit, a genuinely frightened child, a kid with special needs, or anything beyond routine.
- Is board certification meaningful for a pediatric dentist?
- Yes, more than it is in cosmetic dentistry. Because pediatric dentistry is a recognized specialty, a dentist who is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry has completed the accredited residency and passed the board's examinations. That is a real, checkable credential rather than a marketing label. Note that it is separate from state licensure: New York licenses and registers the dentist, while the board certifies the specialty, so it is worth confirming both.
- How do I check a pediatric dentist's license in New York?
- Dentists are licensed by the New York State Education Department's Office of the Professions, statewide, not by the city. Search the OP online verification by license number or name with the profession set to Dentist (050), and confirm the record reads Registered with a registration date still in the future. Then open the Enforcement Actions tab on the same record, which shows any professional-discipline action. There is no login and no fee. We ran both checks on every dentist here and all three came back Registered with no enforcement actions found.
- Why does this guide list only three pediatric dentists?
- Because a credential has to attach to a named person who is actually still there. Three of the most visible children's dental options in Park Slope did not clear that bar. One clinic on 7th Avenue advertises several named pediatric specialists, but the ones we checked either carry a general-practice taxonomy, are registered at a Queens address, or have no New York provider record at all. A well-reviewed practice on 5th Avenue names no dentist anywhere on its own website; its team page is a set of cartoon characters, and the one dentist associated with the location in public records has since moved to Washington State. A third, a long-running solo practice, has left its 6th Avenue address, which a different adult dental practice now occupies. None of them is accused of anything. We simply could not confirm who the licensed pediatric dentist at the Park Slope chair is, so we did not list them.
How do you check a pediatric dentist's license in New York?
New York licenses dentists through the State Education Department's Office of the Professions, statewide, not through the city. It takes about two minutes per dentist, there is no login, and there is no fee:
- Registration. Search the OP online verification by license number or name, with the profession set to Dentist (050). Confirm the record reads Registered and that the "registered through" date is still in the future. A license can exist while the registration has lapsed, which is why the status line matters more than the number.
- Discipline. On that same record, open the Enforcement Actions tab. It shows any professional-discipline action against that licensee. A clean record returns "No Enforcement Actions Found."
Two things worth knowing. The address on an OP record is the licensee's mailing address, not the office you will visit, so do not use it to find the practice. And board certification is separate from all of this: the state licenses the dentist, while the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry certifies the specialty.
All three dentists here came back Registered, with no enforcement actions found, on August 23, 2026.
Why is this list only three names?
Because we could not confirm who the licensed pediatric dentist is at three of the neighborhood's most visible children's dental practices.
A credential belongs to a person, and a person has to actually be in the chair. So we find the named dentist behind a practice, trace them to a license, and then check they are still there. Three well-known options did not survive that:
- One clinic on 7th Avenue markets several named pediatric specialists. Checked one by one against the federal provider registry, the names either carry a general-practice taxonomy rather than pediatric, are registered at an address in Queens, or return no New York provider record at all.
- A well-reviewed practice on 5th Avenue names no dentist anywhere on its own website. Its "meet the team" page is a set of cartoon mascots. The one dentist tied to that address in public records is a genuine board-certified pediatric dentist, but she has since relocated to Washington State and now appears on a practice site there.
- A long-running solo practice, which we had drafted into this guide, turns out to have left its 6th Avenue address. A different dental practice, for adults, occupies that storefront now. The dentist's New York license is still registered and clean, and directory sites still list him at the old address, but we could not confirm a current Park Slope office, so he came out.
None of the three is accused of anything, and any of them may be perfectly good. Parents there may be delighted. But "a licensed pediatric dentist works here" is exactly the claim this guide exists to check, and we could not check it, so we did not print it. If any of them publishes a named, New York-licensed pediatric dentist at a confirmable Park Slope address, we will re-run the checks and revisit.
That is also the single most useful thing you can do yourself before booking anywhere: ask which dentist will see your child, by name. Then spend two minutes on the state site.
How did we vet these dentists?
Two filters, in order. The named dentist: using the federal NPI provider registry we matched each practice to a specific dentist carrying a Pediatric Dentistry primary taxonomy and a New York dental license number. The license: we then confirmed on the NYS OP verification search that each license is currently Registered, noted the registration-through date, and opened the Enforcement Actions tab on every record. All three returned no action.
Where a practice's own site and a registry disagreed on an address, we used the practice's site, because provider registries lag moves badly. That same lag is why we cross-check a dentist is still actually there.
This is not a hands-on clinical review, and nobody pays to be on this list. Written by Victor S., founding editor of The Park Sloper. Park Slope is our neighborhood and the only one we cover. Last refreshed August 23, 2026; next refresh November 2026.
Related on parksloper.com: the broader best dentists in Park Slope guide, covering general and family care, implants and emergencies, and the best cosmetic dentists in Park Slope, vetted the same way against the public record.