Downtown Dental: Kowalczyk Ryan DDS

Dr. K is by far the best dentist I have ever had. I have been going for about 2 years, and the standard of patient care is off the charts amazing. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a new Dentist!

EXPERIENCEnnRaelee (Receptionist):nnThe first point of contact was Raelee, even before coming into the office, she called and texted me with clear details on what I can expect to pay and how the process would go. Crystal clear clarity in communication, no part of the process was unclear. There was an issue with my insurance just before my 11/30/20 visit and she called and texted with specific information so I was not at all surprised by anything. She’s a very sweet, chill person too but her professionalism and communication skills are X-games mode.nnAshley (Hygienist):nnLet me preface this by saying that I am so scared of dentists that over 37 years, I have NEVER gone more than once every 2-3 years and I’ve never opted into deep cleanings despite my nasty teeth needing them. I psyched myself out to get a general cleaning on 10/5/20 (honestly, I was close to canceling the appointment on the day prior out of fear) and I was lucky to have Ashley assigned as my Hygienist. This person is the most caring and gentle professional I’ve ever met in healthcare (and this includes the 7 years I spent actually running a hospital). I’m no stranger to the healthcare setting as I’ve experienced a number of injuries and some serious health issues in my life, Ashley takes the cake on setting an environment where you feel comfortable and you’ll know what’s going on at every moment. She’ll make you laugh, just an amazing, engaging personality but don’t think that she’s not a dental genius. She not only explained what she was doing to my teeth, but she explained what the sounds meant as she was working, what the tingling feelings meant around my gums, how to take better care of each tooth (I mean EACH TOOTH, there’s a way to care for your molars v. your canines v. your front teeth), etc. She checked in with me every step of the way, making sure that I was comfortable, I wasn’t in any pain, even guiding me to control my breathing so I wouldn’t get too worked up (not my proudest moments here, I was nervous to the point of shaking but she picked up on that and calmed me down). How anyone can be so nice, so caring, so gentle and so intelligent at the same time is beyond comprehension. Usually, people with good bedside manner tend to be poor practitioners and good practitioners tend to have poor bedside manner, you get one or the other and based on what your facility has and needs, you hire accordingly. Not Ashley though, her heart is as advanced as her brain.nnDr. Kowalczyk (Dentist):nnAfter working with Ashley, I was nervous to have a new person in the room working on my teeth, but the handoff was seamless with Dr. Kowalczyk coming in and continuing the environment of care and communication. He has a great personality too, funny, engaging, calms you down and explains what he’s doing to you while he’s doing it. Maybe it’s a me-thing but I get most freaked out when I don’t know what’s happening, both Ashley and Dr. Kowalczyk are experts at communicating.nnOverall:nnI’m not going to pretend as though I love going to the dentist now, I’m not exactly looking forward to 6/1/20, but because of Ashley, Dr. Kowalsczyk and Raelee too (from an administrative standpoint), I can say that I now have an appreciation for the importance of dental health and I plan on staying consistent with it moving forward. I guess that’s the point of this review isn’t it? If you think you’re going to come out of this experience wishing you could see the dentist every day for the rest of your life, you’re being completely unrealistic. But I do think if you get the opportunity to work with Raelee, Ashley and Dr. Kowalczyk, you’ll have an appreciation for dental health and you’ll be inspired to care for your dental health enough that you will not let your fear and trepidation stop you from pursuing peak health.nnRATINGSnnRaelee (Receptionist): 5 out of 5nnAshley (Hygienist): 10 out of 5 (I know you might think this is hyperbole, but go see her and you’ll find that I’m not exaggerating on this rating)nnDr. Kowalczyk (Dentist): 5 out of 5

I've had a checkup and a cleaning, and received good dental care and experiences there. I will try and schedule my next appointment with them. I also have some potentially complex dental issues with existing implants and I'm probably going to ask them to help me with that when needed, or for referral.

I had my first really bad tooth ache at 45 years old. Dr. K diagnosed that my tooth was fractured. He got me in quickly, helped alleviate the pain and was thorough with my 'after visit care'. Very knowledge. Friendly staff. Highly recommend and I believe they have a referral program too. Erika S

My experience at Downtown Dental was okay. I’m giving it 2 stars because of the hygienist’s, who were very personable and were the reason I came back. They showed they cared and were very kind. Appointments took months upon months to schedule, sometimes with texts weeks later saying “sorry we are actually unavailable that date now”. The dentist himself was not personable at all, he walked in and said hello and then walked out. Seemed like he didn’t care too much about the patient in the seat. I was suppose to get a call back so I could use up the rest of my insurance before I switched jobs and just never heard back.