For my website I have chosen to use some pretty obscure fonts in my font family. The most well known font (3rd in family) is Century Gothic, which most computers have.
If you compose to a vertical rhythm this shouldn't really pose much of a problem.
http://24ways.org/2006/compose-to-a-vertical-rhythm
This is totally overkill, but you could use http://www.lalit.org/lab/javascript-css-font-detect and create a conditional.
I really suggest using something like the first method (vertical rhythm) to make then entire issue irrelevant if at all possible. You'll sleep much better at night.