Location is everything, and for the owners of La Dental in the International District, moving their dental practice to a spot near Kim Son was a no- brainer.

“It was an easy decision. We would still be serving the community that we love, and we had access to the biggest Vietnamese-Chinese buffet in Texas and possibly the United States,” said Dr. Chi V. Nguyen. “We can easily walk upstairs every day for lunch, where we often run into our patients, friends, family and neighbors from the surrounding community.”

Nguyen and her husband, Dr. Tu Minh La, who is also her dental practice partner, are enthusiastic fans of the well-known, locally-owned restaurant. They are also part of the Kim Son family, literally.

Recently, Dr. La’s father, Son La, came to see his daughter-in-law for a dental appointment.

“I asked him if his teeth hurt, and he replied, ‘My teeth don’t hurt. (Tu’s) Mom made me go!

Son La, as you may have guessed, is the “Son” in Kim Son. Dr. La’s mother is “Kim,” and together, they make Kim Son.

“Our family first opened the Kim Son restaurant in Vinh Long, Vietnam. They fled Vietnam in 1979 when the Communist regime took over Saigon,” La explained. “We left with empty hands, but my mother, Kim Su Tran, managed to memorize over 250 recipes that were passed down from her mother-in-law. After working to save enough money, our family opened the first Kim Son restaurant in Houston, Texas, in 1982.”

La and Nguyen established their dental practice in 1997, with their first location on Bellaire near My Hoa Supermarket. When Saigon Houston Plaza and the new Kim Son buffet opened in 2006, La and Nguyen moved to the same plaza at 10603 Bellaire Blvd.

Drs. La and Nguyen of La Dental

Since relocating, Dr. Amit Amin, a board-certified periodontist from New York, has joined the dental practice, expanding La Dental’s offerings.

Dr. La has completed advanced training in the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at the UTHealth School of Dentistry in Houston. He enjoys performing cosmetic veneers, crowns, bridges, and especially extractions, including wisdom teeth extractions.

Dr. Nguyen loves working with children and handles many of their younger patients. “We see patients as young as six months or when they get their first tooth,” Nguyen noted.

The office also provides teeth whitening, dental implants, restorations, bone grafts, soft-tissue grafts, sinus lifts and Laser-Assisted New Attachment Procedure, a minimally invasive gum disease treatment.

Patients who come to La Dental reflect the diversity of the International District. “We have a multilingual staff that speaks Vietnamese, Chinese, Spanish, and English to help make our patients feel at ease and comfortable,” La said.

“When we first opened our original La Dental, this area was still developing. It’s wonderful to see our community grow and become stronger, more united, and inclusive,” La said. “As you drive down the streets, you can see bilingual street signs in Chinese and Vietnamese.”

“Tu is like the International District street signs,” joked Nguyen. “He has Chinese and Vietnamese heritage; both his parents are half Vietnamese and half Chinese.”

After serving the Houston community for over four decades, Kim Son on Jefferson Street in downtown Houston, recently closed due to the I-45 expansion project, leaving the International District location as the sole Kim Son location.

“Our journey began at Kim Son on Pease Street in 1982 and continued on Jefferson since 1993. The restaurant has been a place for families, celebrations, and countless shared meals,” the family posted on social media.

The family also owns Mama La’s Kitchen, which allows them to share Vietnamese culinary treasures with a broader audience beyond the buffet line on Bellaire. Mama La’s products are available at various Asian supermarkets across the country, as well as at Kroger, Central Market, the online Asian market sayweee.com and via Amazon.

“His family puts their heart and soul into their restaurants and products,” Nguyen remarked.

Similarly, La and Nguyen are wholeheartedly dedicated to their dental practice.

Son La with daughter-in-law Chi Nguyen

“We love seeing our patients and fostering connections and relationships. Our patients become our friends, and over the years, they become family to us,” La said.

“We also love our location. Being in this area is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures. Southwest Houston is a very central location, so we have patients coming from all directions. We even have regular patients driving from College Station, Port Lavaca, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.”

For the two dentists, work and even everyday conversations revolve around teeth.

“Our love story even started at a dental visit, my mother’s,” said Nguyen.”I remember his kind eyes behind the mask, and I could see him smiling with his eyes.”

La Dental
10603 Bellaire Blvd., #B102
Houston, TX 77072
281.495.9881

– Dorothy Puch Lillig