Our History
Four decades of
saving teeth
Our practice has provided specialist endodontic care from this same Laguna Hills address since 1983. For 30 years, patients and referring dentists across South Orange County knew the office as Laguna Hills Endodontics, and that name still means something in this community. Today it operates as Saddleback Valley Endodontics, carrying those same standards into a fifth decade.
Our Story
From Laguna Hills Endodontics
to Saddleback Valley Endodontics
1983
Founded as Laguna Hills Endodontics
The practice opened with one purpose, which was saving natural teeth through specialist-level care. Dr. Steven N. McNicholas, Dr. Frank J. Wilkinson, and Dr. Leslie Werksman grew it into one of the region's most trusted endodontic offices. The classic golden oak cabinetry still lining our operatories dates back to those early years.
30 Years
The name dentists trusted
For three decades the office was known throughout the area as Laguna Hills Endodontics. Generations of local dentists sent their patients here, and sent their own families too, which is the kind of referral no amount of advertising can manufacture. That reputation was built one case at a time.
A New Chapter
Becoming Saddleback Valley Endodontics
As the patient base widened across Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Lake Forest, and Rancho Santa Margarita, a single-city name no longer matched the map. Saddleback Valley Endodontics reflects the whole region the practice now serves. The address, the team, and the standards stayed exactly where they were.
Today
The same mission, carried forward
Dr. L. Björn Jönsson joined in 2005 and practiced alongside the founders for roughly 15 years before leading the office into its current chapter. He now works with Dr. Charles Tatosian and Dr. Wayland Chu, all three board-certified Diplomates of the American Board of Endodontics. That inherited standard is now paired with GentleWave, CBCT scanning, and Zeiss surgical microscopes.
The Doctors Who Built It
A legacy in good hands
Dr. McNicholas, Dr. Wilkinson, and Dr. Werksman spent their careers building a reputation for skill, honesty, and real care for the person in the chair. All three have since retired, though the expectations they set still shape how cases are handled here, right down to how a diagnosis gets explained to a nervous patient.
Dr. Jönsson, Dr. Tatosian, and Dr. Chu now work in those same chairs, bringing more than 65 years of combined experience to what the founders started. The discipline behind that original reputation carried forward with the practice, along with the training and dedication it takes to sustain it. A difficult case gets the time it actually requires, findings are explained without hedging, and a savable tooth is treated as worth every extra minute. The referrals that arrive each week suggest the standard has held.
Meet Our TeamReady to schedule?
Experience the care four decades built
Some patients arrive on a referral from their general dentist, and others have known this office since the Laguna Hills Endodontics days. Either way, the tooth in question receives the same specialist attention it would have received in 1983, with considerably better technology behind it. Call us at (949) 581-8890.
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