19th Avenue Dental Excellence

Dr. Pondstroller is my family dentist, and the best dentist I’ve ever had. I drive all the way from Santa Cruz for all my appointments, and it’s worth it to be worked on by such a skilled, gentle, and knowledgable pro. Totally painless from beginning to end — I actually dozed off during my last filling. (Their assistants are all amazing too, Marvella in particular.) I can’t recommend them too highly — after years of shopping around, I won’t go anywhere else. Thanks 19^th Avenue Dental!

All they care about is $$$$$$, kept trying to sell u staff, Just called in to ask about a bill they sent me and they can’t even explain it…

I am very happy to report that this dentist office lives up to its name by providing me with excellence in service the office staff were pleasant and friendly
The office was beautiful and sparkling clean!
I am looking forward to complete mouth health with Dr Kiisk thanks
Tracie Lopez

I would give a negative star if possible. It’s a hassle dealing with them. I paid off every single dollar they charged me every time I visited, and I never owe them money. But 2 months ago I received a bill from them saying I owed $ 1,130 because delta dental sent me a $ 35 check by mistake. I called delta and forwarded them the damn $ 35 check but they somehow didn’t write off my account completely. There’s a $ 79 balance and I called 5 times over the past 2 weeks, trying to ask them why, and what that is. Every time, they told me the billing lady is out and someone would call me back, and nope, no one ever calls me back… it’s wasting my time dealing with them, and I starting to think this is a scam, I don’t know what kind of game they are playing but I will file a complaint soon.
Avoid them, you can find better dentist…

Mat Kiisk is definitely a every-​tooth-​needs-​a-​crown type of aggressive dentist. And not a very good one at that. He put a crown on one of my teeth 3 times! Finally he gave up and blame on my anatomy. After all that trauma on the tooth, that tooth had to be extracted in a little over 2 years! However, he only charged me once for that crown work.
I was also dumb enough to let him talk me into installing a bridge, (something about good for the opposing tooth.) In about 4 years, one of the abutment teeth developed an abscess and needs to be extracted! There goes the bridge! I truly question this dude’s ability for sound dental judgement. Also, he often blames the patient or the lab, but lacking the ability to look internally, except on how much $$$ his is making.
U-​M would be ashamed if they know how Kiisk practices dentistry.

I am a 74 year old retiree of City and County of San Francisco; I have been to Dr. Kiisk since the 80’s I believe… Dr. Kiisk is exceptionally professional, kind, courteous, patient; he listens to me and is flexible… I am Buddhist and travel a lot (to 45 day silent meditation retreats, etc)…I have had all possible dental procedures and he has been my only dentist in the United States… I unfortunately don’t take the best care of my teeth, and he is rightly chiding about better brushing, gum health, etc… however, he and I get along well… Because I am often not in town, he, and his charming, professional, kind staff always find time for me to have often and long appointments for fillings, crowns, etc… I am Buddhist and have taken Vows of Poverty, Bodhisattva Vows, etc. and have no money to speak of so everyone there allows flexibility of scheduling, amount of dental work to do that I can pay for (I have to save up), but they accept my quirks with comments like «yogi, you’re one of the good ones.» I have noticed that while I am there, we all laugh a lot, mostly at my foolish banter… Thanks you, Dr. Kiisk for giving me such good care, and thanks to your wonderful staff for working with me so smoothly, caringly and flexible… yogi, san francisco

I just got new dental insurance through Delta Dental and Dr. Kiisk was one of the few dentists who accepted this cheap insurance. Even though he had just 2.5 stars, some of the other dentists available had even less, so I decided to give him and 19^th Avenue Dental Excellence a try. The only thing good about this experience was learning that cheap insurance is not worth it, because you have to deal with dental offices like this one.
In short, all I wanted was a simple cleaning; yet, I left will a bill that would have cost me $ 3,928 without insurance, and $ 1,844 with insurance. This would have been the most I ever paid for dental work in my entire life. Luckily, I did some research and didn’t pay another dime to this practice.
First, I try to make an appointment for a cleaning, and I am told they do not have time for a cleaning on my first visit. They need to do an exam and x-​rays only. I will have to come back for the cleaning. Ok fine, maybe it is precautionary as I am a new patient.
At first things go okay, except I am wary when they begin to show me propaganda videos about an antibiotic used to deep clean gums before even looking at my mouth. There are also posters for this antibiotic scattered all around the office. Then, after my «exam», Dr. Kiisk recommends a deep cleaning (what a surprise), which includes this antibiotic. It is like they were prepping me for the expensive treatment! Do they show this video to everyone and some people actually believe they need the work?
After the painful exam in which Dr. Kiisk pokes all my gums with more force than I have experienced at any other dental office, he also states that I need a $ 600 custom nightguard, 3 fillings for decay, plus other items I didn’t quite understand. My COPAY after «insurance» for all this would have been $ 1,844. Still, I had not received the only thing I actually wanted — a standard cleaning.
I ask again to please be seen by the hygienist for the cleaning. NOW, it turns out, he is available and has time to perform the antibiotic deep cleaning (to the tune of over $ 300 extra than a regular cleaning). I decline the deep cleaning, stating I just want a regular cleaning. The woman in charge of billing actually says to me, «OK, but you understand that will do nothing, right?» Wow. A general cleaning will do nothing? Why do so many people get these every 6 months? She was really pushing me for the antibiotic cleaning.
Now, when I do see the hygienist (believe his name was Gilbert), he was good. Friendly and efficient and got done the regular cleaning as planned. He is the reason this review is not 1 star.
So, back to business, this expensive proposed bill kind of scared me, so I had to see if I actually needed all of this work. Made an appointment with my previous dentist who has 4.5 stars on Unilocal but of course does not accept my current cheap insurance. He looks at the x-​rays and does his own exam. At the end, he tells me I need NOTHING. Sleep well he says, and we will see you back here in 6 months for a regular cleaning. Bye-​Bye bill for $ 3,928 worth of work. Bye-​Bye Dr. Kiisk and 19^th Avenue Dental Excellence. In the future, please try to focus on the patients and not the paycheck.

* I’ve been back here like 7 times in two weeks because they didn’t order my implant abutment and were only ready to do one crown. I tried to get Dr P to postpone so I could do all my crown appointments together but he refused and said it would be «too much work» to do both on one day.
*I got the permanent crown put in last week and it felt and looked horrible. It looks like a wad of chewing gum. It was too high and I told him my bite was uncomfy and 3 days later my crown has now cracked. An entire chip has sliced off the back end of it. So now I have to go in to have my permanent crown literally cut off my tooth, a temp one in again and wait for another 2 weeks for a perm– the whole process all over again. I want to scream!
* I tried the Zoom whitening, dreaming of luscious white teeth. OMG this is incredibly painful, it burned my gumline and I had painful zaps for 2 days. I had to take Vicodine just to be able to talk.
UPDATE: Ive been back multiple times since and Dr Ponstroller explained it was the labs fault who kept making the crown abutment incorrectly and he felt terrible about it. Ive had more work now and will keep going to Dr Ponstroller as my main dentist. Also, I LOVE THE RECEPTIONIST! Now rate it higher

2^nd time coming back here, they just told me what filling I had to do by paper and literally just gave me the quotes after I got my teeth cleaned. I wish they would take the extra few minutes to show me the cavity (EVERY DENTIST HAVE DONE THIS FOR ME MY WHOLE LIFE) before anything.
Dr. P. need to really look at my teeth and not just the x-​rays.
4 stars for customer service
5 stars for the dentist who cleaned my teeth
3 stars for filling
1 star for billing

Gilbert Lee was fantastic and did an excellent job at cleaning my teeth. He is concise and a perfectionist. Dr. Ponnstroler is very effective checked every single tooth and used some state of the art equipment that I’d never seen before. My teeth were stained pretty bad and Gilbert did a great job. I drink a lot of coffee. Any upsell suggestions are just suggestions. You don’t have to do them just because they are suggested. I thought it was a good suggestion to have the Velscope exam to check for oral cancer at an additional $ 25, but passed. That does not mean I won’t consider it in six months. I wrote this because I they did a good job, and I feel like that these had reviews do not do this place justice. It is a good practice.

Dr Kiisk always gives me stellar dental work. I feel bad for him having to stare into my mouth I did allot of damage to my mouth before he got to work fixing my smile. Thank you for the great work.
It’s great to have a dentist that has never caused me any pain.

I’m usually very scared to go to the dentist; this is the first time I felt confident to be in the right hands
Even when it was my first appointment with Dr. Kiisk, I can say I was very impressed with his work, he is very professional, gentle and efficient
Dr. Kiisk makes you feel relaxed and explains everything you want to know. Another thing I appreciate of this Dr. is that if you go for an specific problem, he respects that, focusing on it without pushing for other procedures that you may need (or not) although he would mention them and give you the alternative to check for other problems in a future appointment.
The office people are very nice and professional as well, I would definitely recommend this dental office to may friends.

I saw the 2 stars here and thought, «Ouch.» But bear in mind, most of these reviews are from 2006 so I’m sure things have changed since then. I’ve been with this dental office since September 2012 and maybe it’s because my last dentist was scary (painfully scary) but I think this place isn’t bad.
The first time I came here, they immediately identified problem areas that time and time again, other dentists told me not to worry about. Apparently, the deep grooves on my back teeth could have caused some serious damage and one of my back teeth had decay that needed to be removed. Instead of just writing it off, they addressed the problem and fixed it right away at my next appointment. My insurance covered half the cost and I was more than happy to take care of the problem before it got worse. They were totally thorough and professional about it, which I appreciated a lot.
Otherwise, I’m just here for my 2x yearly cleanings and if you’re here for that too, I’d definitely go with Gilbert for your hygienist. He’s really easy to talk to and makes cleaning your teeth a totally non-​painful experience. And hey, have a nightguard or retainer? They have a machine that cleans it for you! Those things get gross: truth: Bring it to your appointment and they’ll clean it as you have your teeth cleaned :).
In terms of dentists, I’m with Dr. Ponstroller. He’s pretty matter of fact and doesn’t waste your time when he’s checking your teeth. And while that might rub someone the wrong way, I don’t plan on spending more time at the dentist’s than I have to so it’s just fine with me! So far, nobody has tried to sell me anything and everyone has been nice and professional so otherwise, no complaints here! However, if you’re going to cancel your appointment, do it at least 24 hours in advance. Otherwise, they charge you $ 50!

You know what? I have been going to Mat Kiisk for almost 7 years now. Why? He knows what he’s doing, he replaces my amalgam fillings with porcelains, and he and his team keep me looking awesome. Paul is always fun to shoot the breeze with, and Rae is the best hygienist I’ve ever had. She’s THOROUGH, and she taught me how to floss. I love you guys!

We have been going to dr Kiisk and Rae dental hygiene for years. They are consistently on time, clean, caring, helpful, accommodating and informative. The whole staff has always been there for us on short notice etc. We appreciate the genuine care we get. Thanks all for everything you do!

great smile cuz of dr kiisk !!!
he’s a wonderful dentist

BEWARE, COME IN TO BE SOLD! This place is all about making your experience a TEN by getting you a SNORE GUARD. You would think that a dentist would focus on your teeth rather than try to sell you on unnecessary products. They located a filling that needed to be replaced. By far the worse filling job I have ever had. After the numbness stopped, my tooth felt uncomfortably uneven. My tooth became extremely sensitive. Also, I got there 5 minutes before my appointment and still waited another 25 minutes to be seen. This place cranks people in and the fastest way out. Poor service and poor quality. BTW they make you sign so many waivers to cover their ass, it is not funny. I did not bother to go back to be sold or fix my filling. Did the smart thing and found a competent Dentist that actually does a good job.

And finally, I was told that I had two cavities that need attention, so I decided to get a second opinion. I enrolled as a patent at the Dental School at California University, San Francisco, and was told that there was one cavity that needed attention. Just proves that the blood suckers are out to rob you.

Matt Kiisk’s office continues to send me bills and threaten me for an appointment that I missed. I have told them I won’t be paying this due to their underhanded practices, their styrongarm tactics and general incompetence, but they want their $ 100 so much that they are willing to hound me. To recap: they scheduled me for one thing, then performed services I did not ask for or want. Then they tried to get me to pay for those services. They custom-​built a night guard for me and charged me $ 500, but the darned thing didn’t fit. It was painful and actually made my jaw pain worse. When I went back to report it and have it fixed, the doctor just filed it down and left sharp edges along the gum line.
These people are horrible. I would not recommend them ever.

Dr. Kiisk GAVE me a cavity. This is not a joke. I went here for a routine checkup and he tells me I need a new crown on a tooth that was doing just fine. I made the mistake of letting him perform this «improvement», at over a thousand dollars. 6 months later I am having pain in the tooth NEXT to it, and I go in, and he tells me «you have a cavity because the crown that I put in was faulty, and was trapping bacteria and caused another tooth to become infected. You need me to do a filling on this other tooth, right away!»
He point blank told me that HE cause me to have a new cavity as a result of his procedure.
I called and talked to the receptionist multiple times asking for a refund and their routine answer is «call back next week». 3 weeks in a row.
Absolutely horrible. This is a dentist who RUINS HEALTHY TEETH ON PURPOSE.