Dr. Santiago A. Surillo, DDS, MS operates a 14-chair specialty practice on La Mesa Boulevard in La Mesa Village, board certified by the American Board of Orthodontics and dual-trained in orthodontics and pediatric dentistry at UCLA School of Dentistry. Pediatric dental referrals from the surrounding East County medical community include coordination with Bina Adigopula, MD - Grossmont Pediatrics, establishing an early-intervention pipeline for skeletal jaw classification and interceptive orthodontic treatment in growing patients. A Master of Science in Oral Biology from UCLA produced a thesis on skeletal jaw classifications that has informed the practice's diagnostic and treatment-planning protocols for over 3,000 orthodontic patients across nearly three decades of specialty care. Second-generation dentistry credentials trace to general-practice training under his father's mentorship in Puerto Rico from 1987 through 1992, followed by an Indiana University DDS and UCLA dual-specialty residency completed in 1995. Custom sports mouthguards fabricated from ethylene-vinyl-acetate thermoplastic protect young athletes in contact sports, a preventive-orthodontic service connecting the practice to the youth training programs at White Dragon Martial Arts - La Mesa. Two-phase interceptive treatment uses palatal expanders, space maintainers, and functional appliances to guide maxillary and mandibular growth before permanent-tooth eruption, reducing the complexity and duration of full fixed-appliance therapy in adolescence.