Deborah McCarthy-Krisanits, DDS

There is a reason why people have a fear of going to dentist. Among those are fear of pain, helplessness, embarrassment. I believe Dr. McCarthy-​Krisanits can be added to those fears with how she treats her patients. Both her and her assistant, Latanya were very rude when I visited her office. There very condescending when they talk to you and have an unfriendly demeanor. Don’t by any chance give them your office phone number. Latanya didn’t hesitate to call my work phone and badger me for when I would come in for my next appointment. My recommendation is to stay very far away.

I’ve been going to here for a couple of years now, and I have been thoroughly happy with her.
Unlike previous dentists, she does not make me feel like an idiot or that i did something atrocious during my cleaning. She and Latanya (her hygenist) are very supportive and nice and are good conversationalists.
She’s done routine cleanings for me, deep cleanings, crowns, and fillings. All pretty quick and well done.

AS GENTLE AS HER FOREARMS ARE STRONG
She’ll get your mouth in order quick and she has the best sidekick ever in her dental assistant. Think of them as a one two punch. I’ve never met such a knowledgeable and on the ball person on that stool…
My mouth was not in order and they found some things that needed attention. If you are thinking you are OK with your dentist you may have a ticking timebomb on your hands. You’ll have meth mouth in a few years…
Be ready to talk about dogs. She likes em.
Also they can be a little directive on getting you in so be prepared to kindly ask if you have to reschedule!

I’ve been a patient here for about 7 years now, and I just can’t say enough good things about them! When I had my first appointment, I hadn’t seen a dentist in ages so I needed a decent amount of work and had crap insurance. Dr. Deborah went more than out of her way to make sure that I could get the care I needed, including going up against my insurance company. Her and LaTanya really care about their patients, and have always provided me with excellent care. I’ve never had any problems with any of the work she has done, nor have I had issues with pain.

I was a patient of Dr. Deb for 10 years. I started seeing her because she worked downstairs in my office building. She and her assistant LaTanya are very nice and very outgoing professionals. Dr. Deb has some of the latest technology and equipment for dental work. On the downside, Dr. Deb can talk over you sometime, and at least with me, seemed to not really get/​hear what I needed from her expertise at times. I’ve recently switched to a dentist in Berkeley — based on another Unilocaler’s recommendation. The new dentist is much closer to where I live and seems very competent, as well.

I’ve been a patient here for well over 5 years, initially because it was so close to my work and then later because I felt like Deborah was a good dentist. I came to this office after going to a dentist who could barely see (he was quite old) with a receptionist who would scream at you in her Eastern European accent if you were 5 minutes late. So the bar was rather low. In addition, I have pretty easy teeth: no cavities, I floss and brush regularly and I want to keep my teeth into old age (because the one regret my grandmother had in her old age was that she didn’t take better care of her teeth).
All that said, on my last 2 visits I felt taken for granted and basically cattle herded into the office and then rushed out once Deborah was done talking my ear off. I do occasionally (30% of the time) appreciate Deborah’s talky talk personality and Natanya’s sense of humor but I now feel as if they both don’t appreciate my business and think that, as a captive (seated with mouth open) customer, I am happy to hear about anything under the sun and then pay the bill.
Despite these feelings, I would really prefer to stay with her and imagine that the situation will improve. Instead, I’ve started asking around and looking for another dentist to cheat with so that I can make a solid decision on whether I should stay or go. I’m leaning towards the latter.

I went to Dr. McCarthy-​Krisanits because she is located close to where I live. I not only didn’t like her way of interacting with me, I found it outrageous that she took x-​rays and told me that I needed $ 1,000 worth of dental work, much of it uncovered by my insurance.
After this, I went back to my old dentist in Albany, CA – and showed her the x-​rays and asked for a second opinion. Of the eight or so «cavities» that Dr. McCarthy-​Krisanits said I needed to work on, my old dentist said she only saw one little area that we might need to watch, although it didn’t need any immediate work. Suffice it to say that I returned my business to my old dentist, and who cares if I have to drive 15 minutes to get to her?