Orthodontist in Mission Viejo CA
Experience You Can Trust, Smiles You’ll Love
We are a family practice that builds long-term relationships by providing excellent service with empathy and compassion.
Welcome to Ocean Valley Dental!
If you’ve been searching for an orthodontist in Mission Viejo, Ocean Valley Dental is worth a closer look. Dr. Robert F. Murray, DDS has offered orthodontic treatment alongside full-service general dentistry since 1990, meaning clear aligners and metal braces are planned with your complete oral health in mind, not in isolation from it. Two experienced doctors, a hygiene team that has stayed put for over two decades, and diagnostic imaging most general offices don’t carry make this practice a capable home for your orthodontic journey.
Our Mission
The morning ritual at Ocean Valley Dental is a spoken one. Before the first patient arrives, the team recites together: “We are a family practice and we build long-term relationships by providing excellent service with empathy, compassion, and respect.” In practice, that means a doctor who tells you plainly when something needs attention and when it can wait, and who builds your orthodontic plan around what your bite, jaw, and dental health actually call for, not a standard protocol.
Providing World Class Dentistry in South Orange County
At Ocean Valley Dental, your trusted dentist in Aliso Viejo, we offer a comprehensive range of dental services to meet the needs of your entire family.
Implants
Tooth loss creates a gap that no amount of confidence can simply fill, but the right solution rebuilds what’s actually missing beneath the surface. At Ocean Valley Dental, titanium implant posts anchor directly into your jawbone, giving crowns, bridges, and dentures a locked-in foundation that holds steady through every meal and conversation. Patients who never found conventional dentures tolerable often discover that implants are the comfortable, lasting fit they’d stopped hoping for.
Your journey as our patient begins with a personalized assessment that shapes a placement plan built around your anatomy, not a template. Our orthodontist-level attention to bite and jaw alignment guides every step before the implant post is placed chairside in roughly one hour. From there, your bone bonds with the titanium naturally, and once healing is complete, your final restoration slots in without touching a single healthy surrounding tooth.
Veneers
Worn enamel, stubborn discoloration, and slight irregularities in size or length can quietly chip away at how comfortable you feel in photos or face-to-face conversations. Porcelain veneers bond to the front surface of each tooth, correcting multiple cosmetic concerns in a single, cohesive treatment rather than addressing them one procedure at a time. Because every shell is individually sized and shaded, the finished smile looks balanced and entirely your own.
Our process opens with a detailed look at your current smile alongside what you’re hoping to change, giving our team a clear target before any preparation begins. We then remove only the thinnest sliver of enamel necessary, preserving as much of your natural tooth as possible while creating a reliable bonding surface. Ocean Valley Dental seats your permanent veneers at a second appointment, and a consultation with an orthodontist isn’t needed. By that final visit, the transformation is complete and ready to last.
Invisalign & Orthodontics
Alignment issues rarely stay cosmetic. Our Invisalign & orthodontic options give you a clinically guided path to a straighter smile without defaulting to a single solution for every patient, because mild spacing concerns and complex bite corrections simply don’t require the same approach. Clear aligners suit many cases beautifully, and for others, traditional orthodontic treatment delivers the kind of controlled movement that gets lasting results.
Choosing between aligners and conventional orthodontics starts with understanding your bite, not guessing at it, which is why Ocean Valley Dental begins every case with a thorough clinical evaluation before any recommendation is made. An orthodontist referral isn’t always necessary; our dentist manages both treatment paths in-house and stays involved throughout your progress. Each follow-up visit lets us confirm that tooth movement is happening on schedule and make adjustments before small deviations become setbacks.
Crowns
Root canal treatment cleans and seals a tooth, but it leaves behind a structure that’s more brittle and vulnerable than before — a crown is what actually secures that tooth for the long haul. Beyond post-treatment protection, crowns also correct teeth that have always been poorly shaped, heavily discolored, or too fractured to function reliably on their own. Porcelain and ceramic materials give each restoration genuine strength alongside a color match so accurate that the crowned tooth simply reads as part of your natural smile.
Our dentist identifies the specific reason a crown is needed before any preparation takes place. Ocean Valley Dental captures a precise digital impression after reshaping the tooth, feeding accurate measurements directly into the fabrication process rather than relying on guesswork. Visiting an orthodontist addresses alignment, but when structural coverage is what a tooth actually needs, crowns deliver a result that holds up through years of daily use.
Oral Surgery & Extractions
Some dental problems develop gradually with no obvious symptoms until the damage is significant enough to threaten nearby teeth and bone. A tooth buried beneath the gumline, one that has split below the margin where a crown could hold, or a molar with infection spreading toward the root of its neighbor — these are the cases where oral surgery & extractions shift from optional to necessary. Addressing them decisively, rather than waiting, shortens overall treatment time and reduces the complexity of any restorative work that follows.
At Ocean Valley Dental, our dentist reviews your imaging in full before scheduling any procedure, because a well-planned extraction is faster, more comfortable, and heals more predictably than one approached without that preparation. Anesthesia is administered carefully to keep discomfort minimal during the appointment, and recovery instructions are specific to your case rather than generic handouts. Unlike bite correction work that an orthodontist handles, surgical care here focuses on eliminating active threats to your oral health.
Root Canal Therapy
Sensitivity that lingers after eating, a dull ache that comes and goes, or a tooth that suddenly feels different when you bite down are signals that something is happening inside the tooth, not just on the surface. Root canal therapy targets that interior problem by clearing out damaged or infected pulp, sterilizing the canals, and sealing the tooth so bacteria cannot re-enter. Treating the tooth this way preserves the natural root, which continues to support your jawbone in a way no replacement fully replicates.
Our dentist at Ocean Valley Dental makes sure the area is completely numb well before any instrumentation begins, which is the single biggest reason patients leave surprised by how routine the experience actually felt. Each canal is cleaned and shaped methodically, then filled with a biocompatible sealing material that stabilizes the tooth from the inside out. Recovery is straightforward for most patients, and once the tooth has settled, a crown is placed to give it the biting strength it needs. No referral to an orthodontist required, just a fully restored tooth handled entirely in-house.
Meet the Team
Dr. Robert F. Murray is known for two things that don’t always go together: a genuinely calm chairside manner and an injection technique gentle enough that patients specifically mention it. He works six days a week by choice, bringing the same focus to a routine orthodontic adjustment that he brings to a complex surgical case. Associate Dr. Elizabeth Le, DMD grew up in Sacramento in a family where dentistry is the household profession, her father and both brothers are in the field, which gives her a natural ease in walking patients through clinical information.
She earned her DMD from UCLA School of Dentistry on Dean’s and Regent’s Scholarships, completed a hospital-based AEGD residency at VA Long Beach covering prosthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and oral surgery, and holds active membership in the ADA, AGD, and CDA. Outside the office, she hikes, dances ballet, and travels with her husband and their dog, Oakley.
Story of the “Coral”
Coral is not a plant but a living animal. Its function is to house, feed and provide security to 90% of the fish in the ocean. These tiny creatures are among the world’s greatest architects, and although they grow less than an inch per year, they ultimately become one of the largest structures on the planet. We take our mission statement seriously and understand that earning your trust takes time, empathy and compassion. Over time, we hope to create the safe environment that you turn to for all of your dental needs.
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Why Choose Us
Ocean Valley Dental Is the Practice Mission Viejo CA Residents Find When Looking for an Orthodontist!
Patients who find this practice tend to stop looking, not because switching is inconvenient, but because there’s genuinely no reason to. Honest treatment, a team that knows your name by the second visit, and a doctor who treats every case like it matters. If that sounds like the kind of practice you’ve been looking for, 949-831-4655 is where to start. And if you’d rather get a feel for the office before committing to an appointment, the Ocean Valley Dental Facebook page is a good first step, patients say walking in for the first time felt surprisingly familiar.
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FAQs
How does the CBCT scan change my orthodontic consultation?
Most orthodontic evaluations rely on flat X-rays and physical measurements. The CBCT imaging used here adds a third dimension, bone volume, root position relative to adjacent teeth, jaw joint anatomy, and nerve pathways all become visible before any orthodontic plan is finalized. For patients with bite pattern issues or a history of jaw pain, that data often surfaces contributing factors that change the treatment sequence. You leave your first exam with a more complete picture of your oral health concerns than a standard consultation provides.
What should I know about Invisalign vs. metal braces before my first appointment?
Both orthodontic options are available and both have cases where one clearly outperforms the other. Metal braces handle complex dental displacement and significant bite correction more predictably, particularly where root torque is involved. Clear aligners suit patients with mild to moderate misaligned teeth who prioritize aesthetics and removability. The right orthodontic option depends on your specific bite pattern, bone density, and life-long overall wellbeing goals, and Dr. Murray will walk you through that comparison directly after reviewing your imaging.
How does the practice manage orthodontic care alongside existing dental work?
Patients with crowns, implants, or active gum disease require a coordinated approach before orthodontic appliances can be placed. Because restorative work, periodontal maintenance, and oral surgery are all available in-house, the sequencing happens as a unified plan rather than a handoff between providers. Dr. Le handles the cosmetic and restorative components of complex cases, and she and Dr. Murray develop the treatment timeline together from the start. Patients rarely need to look outside this practice to complete their full orthodontic plan.
Does anxiety about dental treatment affect orthodontic care here?
Dr. Murray is formally trained in sedation dentistry and offers both medication-assisted and general anesthesia options for patients who need them. In practice, many patients who arrive anxious find that his pace, methodical, explained step by step, unhurried, handles most of the concern before any sedation is even discussed. The team adjusts to the individual: if you need more time between steps, you get it. Dental anxiety is taken seriously as a clinical factor, not treated as a scheduling inconvenience.
What happens if my teeth need work before or after orthodontic treatment?
Orthodontic treatment often surfaces or follows restorative needs, a tooth that needs a crown before braces can go on, or veneers that make more sense after alignment is complete. These are situations this practice handles without sending you elsewhere. Dr. Le’s work in cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, and full smile makeovers means patients pursuing both functional bite correction and an improved aesthetic feeling can have the complete orthodontic plan mapped out before treatment begins, with a clear view of what comes after.