EXHIBIT 5.1





                              December 3, 1996



Board of Directors
Gentle Dental Service Corporation
900 Washington Street
Suite 1100
Vancouver, WA  98660


     We have acted as counsel for Gentle Dental Service Corporation (the
"Company") in connection with the preparation and filing of a Registration
Statement on Form SB-2 (the "Registration Statement") under the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, covering 1,562,500 shares of common stock (the
"Shares") of the Company to be sold to the public in connection with the
Company's initial public offering and a warrant to be issued to the
representative of the underwriters (the "Representative") to purchase
125,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock (the "Representative's
Warrant"). The Shares registered include 187,500 shares subject to an
overallotment option to be granted by the Company to the Representative and
125,000 shares to be subject to the Representative's Warrant. We have
reviewed the corporate actions of the Company in connection with this
matter and have examined those documents, corporate records, and other
instruments we deemed necessary for the purposes of this opinion.

     Based on the foregoing, it is our opinion that:

     1.  The Company is a corporation validly existing under the laws of the
state of Washington;

     2.  The issuance of the Shares and the Representative's Warrant has
been duly authorized by the Company;

     3.  The Representative's Warrant, when issued and sold to the
Representative in accordance with resolutions adopted by the Board of
Directors of the Company, and when payment therefor has been received by
the Company, will be legally issued and fully paid, and the Shares subject
to the Representative's Warrant, when issued upon proper exercise thereof
and when payment therefor has been received by the Company, will be legally
issued, fully paid, and nonassessable; and

Board of Directors
Gentle Dental Service Corporation
December 3, 1996
Page 2


     4.  The Shares other than the Shares subject to the Representative's
Warrant, when issued and sold in the manner described in the Registration
Statement and when payment therefor has been received by the Company, will
be legally issued, fully paid, and nonassessable.

     We consent to the use of our name in the Registration Statement and in
the Prospectus filed as a part thereof and to the filing of this opinion as
an exhibit to the Registration Statement.


                                  Very truly yours,


                                  STOEL RIVES LLP