As a preface, I know there are inherent risks for complications whenever there is a medical…read moreprocedure, and I don't believe our experience had to do with any negligence on Katalina and her team. I am writing this review in hopes that no parent will have to go through what we went through.
With that being said, If I could give Katalina zero stars I would. It wouldn't be for her dentistry abilities but for the way she treats her patients.
Katalina was referred to us by our regular dentist for tooth extractions because she is a "pediatric dentist". The extraction itself seemed to go smoothly, from what my wife told me, besides the fact Katalina was short with our son... which mirrors most of the negative reviews regarding her temperament with child patients.
The next day my son started to complain that both his upper and lower jaw was hurting on the side of the extraction. The extraction was two molars on his upper right jaw. We gave him the usual Advil/Tylenol combo, but his pain was worse than expected. I thought he was exaggerating, but when he started to roll around the floor in pain and had a slight fever, I figured something must be wrong. I call with my concerns, and Katalina says to continue with Advil/Tylenol and the lower jaw pain has nothing to do with the extraction and is just coincidence.
The next day, my wife stays home with our son, it seems like the pain has subsided a little, but I notice swelling in his lower jaw from a picture my wife sent me. When I get home around 4 PM, I notice his lower jaw is extremely swollen, he still has a fever, he can barely move his neck/head, and he is in extreme pain. Again, I call with my concerns and they asked for pictures. I send them pictures of the extraction site and his swollen jaw. I get a call back saying this is normal and to continue with Advil/Tylenol. At this time, I press them about his swollen jaw. They said they would call me back, which leads me to believe Katalina didn't bother to look at the pictures. When they call back, I was told if I could get to the office before they close at 5PM they could see my son.
We get to the office around 4:45PM, and I finally get to meet Jennifer who runs the front office. Jennifer is probably the only bright spot for the practice as she facilitated all our communication with Katalina and was super friendly. Upon examining Katalina determined the extraction site was fine and the swollen lymph node was a coincidence and had nothing to do with the extraction. She also told us to go to the emergency room to address the swollen/infected lymph node and there was nothing she could do for us. Basically, she wiped her hands clean of the infection and didn't want to accept any responsibility for it. We leave the office to pursue further treatment, and I ask my wife to call back to get what anesthetic they used in case we needed it for the ER. She called and emailed and never got a response. It was a good thing we didn't need that information.
The rest of the night goes like this:
- We go to Sutter urgent care and urgent care doctor said the infection had to do with the extraction and scheduled us to go to the ER.
- We go to Stanford Pediatric ER (these guys are amazing, the whole staff)
- The ER doctor's assessment was the infection has to do with the extraction
- The on-call ER dentist's assessment was the infection has to do with the extraction. He explained that because all the soft tissue in the jaw is connected bacteria can easily traverse down to the lower jaw from the upper jaw.
It takes another two more weeks of antibiotics before the infection finally subsided. During those two weeks my son had limited movement from his neck and head and was in severe pain and had to miss about a week of school.
I don't have an issue with Katalina's dentistry abilities, but I do have a huge issue with the way she treats her patients and her inability to accept responsibility when something goes wrong. If Katalina had taken the pain and swelling my son was feeling seriously, maybe we could have treated the infection earlier and avoided more pain and suffering he had to endure. Also, if I didn't press to have him seen and they had closed for the next 3 days the infection could have escalated to something much worse. We never heard back regarding the anesthetic that was used even though she knew we were going to the ER. Also, to claim the infection had nothing to do with the extraction and was pure coincidence is extremely irresponsible. Especially when three other medical professionals, including another dentist, knew right away that the infection had to do with the extraction. If my son didn't go in for an extraction there would have been no infection. Obviously, we will never be doing any business with Katalina ever again.
If you are reading this as a parent, remember to always advocate for your children. If something feels off, make sure it gets addressed. You know your children best.