I've been going to Dr. Hou's practice for over 30 years. He has always been kind and gentle. The only time he got annoyed at me was when I came back to his practice after not having had my teeth checked for several years. By that point I had broken a molar and he had no choice but to do a root canal. He chided me for not coming and expressed regret that he didn't follow up on my absence, thinking I had left town for school. He was miffed because he could have prevented my molar from progressing past the breaking point. I'm telling this story to show he cares about his patients.

I went back to a regular dental schedule after that and he never pushed unnecessary work on me. "OK, let's look at the tooth we put a watch on last time... *tink* *tink* OK it has progressed a bit but still OK. We'll keep watching it." He has retired now, and I hope he enjoys his time off, but I miss that reassuring voice every 6 months.

Submitted Feb. 4, 2019

absolute dogsh*t dentist. i agree with the previous reviews. one pissed off patient? everyone makes mistakes, understandable. how come every review is a pissed off patient, except for the planted ones written by his staff and his family? my problem with him is that he does not even have good hand skills. messed up a basic filling for me, came out within the month, denied any wrongdoing, insisted i must have caused it. go elsewhere and don't think twice

Submitted Sept. 28, 2018

Wow same as most others. Does unnecessary work because you have good insurance. I’ve lost 2 teeth that he “root canaled” on my way to the third. Went to him for 30 years until I realized what a crook he is. Also his nephew root canaled the wrong tooth. And they wouldn’t send my records to my new dentist until I contacted the college of dental whatever.

Submitted Sept. 13, 2018

The receptionist was very rude. Will never go there again.

Submitted Sept. 11, 2018

The absolute worst dentist I have ever been to. It took me years to get a new dentist because it was just based on convenience to go to Dr. Hou. However, I now have a crown that needs to be replaced and a root canal that needs to be done. He is extremely rude and talks about his life as if you are his therapist. Would not recommend to anyone ever. He also takes advantage of your insurance plan if you have one by doing a sloppy job so that you need to come back and get more work done.

Submitted May 19, 2018

Staff are nice, I had to wait sometimes as they would be late with appointments but that is typical of dentist's offices. The problem is that this man caused even bigger problems for me down the road. He did not address my bite problems for my braces, and now I need to get braces and possibly jaw surgery because he did not fix the problems for me as a child. DO NOT GET BRACES FROM HIM.
When I got consultation from several orthodontists, almost everyone could determine the bite problem at first glance. Dr. Hou is an incompetent dentist.
Also, always trying to perform unnecessary treatments and tries to bill your insurance to the max even when unnecessary.

Submitted May 13, 2018

dr. john hou was the person from my childhood who inspired me to begin my ubc dentistry journey because of the distasteful experiences i've had in his chair. he is a general dentist who took a 2 week-long seminar on braces and decided that my complicated orthodontics case was acceptable for his amateur level training (which was verified by orthodontic specialists later in my life). he tried to push a cosmetic procedure that did not address my bite problems during 4 consecutive follow-up appointments, each time forgetting or disregarding my firm previous "no" without any additional clarification or any attempt to re-frame why exactly he believed the procedure was important (it was an enamel shaping procedure despite me expressing that i was very concerned with sensitivity). he consistently provided convoluted answers to my questions about our treatment. he made a tiny chip in my front tooth after one procedure and refused to acknowledge it indicating disregard for basic manual dexterity. he spoke with a condescending tone to me and my mother. he decided not to refer out when my case was beyond his scope of training, and i ended up with worsened bruxism and temporomandibular joint inflammation attributed to his braces. to patientss who are considering him, please consider that there are more qualified dentists who actually possess chairside manner, because vancouver is saturated with excellent dentists who will treat you with respect and perform the procedure right. to his existing patients, if you are unhappy, you have options! in a way i thank him for all of the bitter sentiments he left me because now i aspire to be a more altruistic, honest, and clear dentist when i graduate from the 2022 ubc dmd class. thanks dr. hou!

Submitted May 8, 2018

Tries to rip money off of you for unnecessary procedures. Always trying to get you to do more work on your teeth. Hygienists and receptionists are nice. Got braces done at his office and he keeps trying to convince me that he did a good job on it, although I went for consultations with other dentists who all agreed that he had not delivered the results promised to me. Don't go here!

Submitted Jan. 25, 2018

My family and myself have have been patients for 30+ years. We all think he and his staff are "Superb"

Submitted June 16, 2017

Horrible greedy dentist. Recommends the most expensive treatments just to line his own pocket with money. If you don't go with his recommendation, becomes dismissive and irritated. Disgusted by his practice.

Submitted May 7, 2017