Donald E Kowalski, DDS

Ugh! What a nightmare this place is! Where do I start…
— I got to the office and they couldn’t find me in the system. They then asked me how I was related to John Smith (I don’t recall the actual name). I said I’m not and I have no idea who that is. They then say «oh… We have you under the Smith family in our system. You’re not related to them at all?» Nope… I’m not. Glad this was my first (and last) visit with them because who knows what personal information they may have sent of mine to this random family.
— I get called in the back. The hygienist was nice and the office is nice. These are the only two good things of this place.
— Dr Dawna walks in. Not a Hello, I’m Dr Dawna, nice to meet you, etc. Any other normal dentist does that, especially when you’re a new patient that’s never met them. But nope, not Dawna. She just walks in and sits down. She checks my teeth, etc. Then she says she wants to fill one tooth because she «doesn’t like the way it looks» although the X-​rays show nothing and it’s not «sticky» like a cavity would be. (If she had asked for my previous dental records, she would know I’ve always had «dark groovy teeth».) I then asked her if it would be possible to put extra bonding on my permanent retainer because it broke off of one tooth and my teeth were starting to shift after spending thousands of dollars on braces and my orthodontist is out of state. She says «No, it’ll help when you floss anyway». Gee thanks…
Needless to say, I never returned here. Recently I’ve found a new dentist that keeps my information in order (not under another family), that shook my hand and introduced himself when I went in for my new patient exam and still is very nice every time I return, asked about my past dental history instead of just assuming, and gladly put new bonding on my retainer so I wouldn’t have to worry about my teeth shifting. How a dentist SHOULD be.
Never recommending Kowalski Dental to anyone!

First of all, I would like to start this review by saying that I don’t really ever write reviews but I felt like in this case it is a MUST.
The office staff at Kowalski is very nice and professional, they were helpful with making/​changing appointments and were very attentive. I had a good experience with the hygienist, he had a great sense of humor and gave me some great tips on brushing and flossing.
That said– when I was told I had a couple of cavities I needed to get filled, I let them know right from the start that I am a nervous patient when it comes to drilling. This was no secret. I had Dawna as my dentist for all the procedures and the first two were alright (nothing to write home about) but the last one was a disaster. Although she numbed me up pretty good I was still having sensitivity and she decided after the third attempt on drilling me to use a «block» as my anesthesia. When she went to inject me, she stabbed me in the lip with the needle and didn’t say anything after I jumped from pain and just went ahead and gave me the injection. She then handed me a gauze and said «here, this is for your lip it’s bleeding where I stabbed it» She didn’t even have the decency to apologize for what she did! At this point I am frustrated and tearing up from the whole experience. She ignores the fact that I’m upset and just walks out of the room to let the novocaine take effect. She then comes back and brusquely finishes the work and has zero sympathy for a patient having a hard time on her chair. The lack of sensitivity on her part shows that she is only there to do her mediocre job and not a single care that there is a person sitting there that might require a little more attention. It took an hour to get one cavity filled.
NEVER going back to this place, it was a horrible experience. I am a nurse and I would never leave a patient in pain and in tears after I injured them.
Go somewhere else, there are plenty of other places around the area.
Regarding the response below… Let me clarify that I am not contradicting myself— it took an hour because she would numb me up, come back in 10 minutes, do something rushed, and then leave me again (x3). She spent very little face to face time with me and would just leave the room for extended periods of time to treat other patients. I couldn’t wait to get out of there!

I have never had issues with Dr. Kowalski’s office, and they have fixed a few fillings that were crappily done a few years back. Additionally…
What I love about this dental office is that they make sure you follow through with your grown-​up obligation to responsibly care for your teeth. My job makes scheduling appointments a little tough, but they always find a way to make my regular cleaning happen (open on saturdays!) I had to cancel a cleaning back in June and forgot/​did not prioritize rescheduling an appointment, so the office called a few times to schedule it, then emailed and texted (twice) to confirm and remind me of my appointment. I LOVE it. Its like they own the fact that nobody likes going to the dentist and don’t expect you to actively pursue an appointment.

The staff at the Groveland office of Kowalski Dental are the best! They always
go above and beyond to make scheduling appointments, procedures, and payments as
easy as possible on the patient.
My family has been going to this office for over 20 years and Laurie, Michelle, Jim, and Dr. G have bent over backwards to keep my family in great dental health, and make
our experience a satisfying one. They are friendly, professional, kind, and make you feel like you are one of the family. They work with you in all situations, and the procedures are virtually painless!
My only complaint is that the secret must have got out how great they are ~ it’s getting
harder to book appointments!
You won’t find a more caring and professional dental office!
Keep smiling~
Kathy A. McDonald and family

Never have had a bad experience

I’d really like to give this office a better review, simply because I think the dentists, specifically Dr. Dietrich, are great and do good work, but unfortunately, my experience with the office in general was less than pleasant. I came to this office some time in 2009 when my husband and I moved to the North Shore. I read many reviews on the office that seemed positive and also went ahead and double checked that it was covered by our (federal) insurance plan. The first few years were great, we had our normal cleanings as often as necessary and I had some additional dental work done, such as fillings, root canals and crowns that came out great. However, over the last couple of years our customer service experience has definitely declined. I had to call at least 5 – 6 times over the course of a few months to have my husband’s insurance information corrected (for the same exact problem), which should have been the exact same coverage that I had because we are under the same plan, but for some reason that concept was difficult for the receptionists to understand. It turns out, his insurance had not even been in their system since the beginning, and we had been paying for services that our dental insurance would have covered, at least in part, for years! Although the office did reimburse us a little over $ 150 at one point for the overpayments, I can’t help but wonder how much more we overpaid because of this mixup that we tried to correct many a time. The last straw was just a few weeks ago when I called to reschedule my cleaning appointment only to be reprimanded rudely by the receptionist over the phone, who accused me of missing/​breaking too many appointments and then proceeded to hang up the phone without letting me speak. I received a letter in the mail a few days after saying they would have to «terminate our professional relationship» because of my missed appointments. I have never experienced being «kicked out» of any medical practice, but it seems to me a very unprofessional practice at best. One of my best friend’s in the Cambridge area, who is also a dental professional, agreed that it was not a practice that most dentists would approve of. Going to the dentist is not the most pleasant experience for most people to begin with and adding bad customer service to the mix only makes it worse. I have since switched dentists and am loving my new Dr, so this might have been a blessing in disguise!

I have been coming here since I was 5 years old and keep coming back. Everyone there is super nice, and his daughter is a dentist there now too. I had a filling that i was picky about and they fixed it for me twice no questions asked. I also noticed the girl who gave them a terrible review also reviewed every strip club in the area so if that doesn’t speak for her character, I don’t know what does. Anyway, I have never had a bad dental experience there, and never had a fear of the dentist because of him. I recommend people to them all the time.

I’m truly surprised that Dr. Kowalski’s office doesn’t have more reviews on here! I’m even more surprised that there’s actually some negative ones posted! I first came to his office back in 2005 when I worked in Beverly, on referral from a friend who has had many good experiences here. Back then, I saw the Dr. a couple times to have my teeth checked for any issues, and he was very pleasant to work with. The hygienists were equally pleasant, and did a thorough job cleaning my teeth. I later moved out of state, but now I’m back in the area. Since I was away, the Dr.‘s adult daughter has joined the office as a dentist, and she brought with her a bunch of cool, new dental technologies. While the office already used electronic medical records and scheduling, it now has all x-​rays processed on their computer system, as well. I always feel like I’m in good hands, and they’ve never suggested I needed some product or service that I didn’t think I needed. As long as I live on the North Shore, I’ll be going here!

I’ve been seeing the staff of Dr. Kowalski’s office for the past 12 years. I’ve even done the North Shore /​South Shore switch (gasp — the horror) and I STILL drive the 45+ minutes one way twice a year to get my cleanings. I started out with Dr Kowalski and had him as a dentist for the first 6 – 7 years. He always had a smile and a story to share. More recently I migrated over to seeing Dr. Dietrich when she joined the practice. I once had an issue with one of my fillings. After I called the office to explain I still had some mild discomfort a few days later, they had me immediately come in to check the filling. A small air bubble had formed between the tooth and the white filling. They corrected it and off I went. They apologized for the inconvenience and was very professional about the entire situation. Its hard a dentist you really click with. Even with the commute, its worth the drive to me.

I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I can’t say enough good things about this place. Nancy the hygienist is awesome, Dr Kowalski has worked on my mom for years and he’s incredible, and recently Dr. Dietrich has done a few fillings for me and I am so impressed with her work and professionalism. Highly reccommended!

Surprised to see a few negative reviews, so decided to share my experience with the Kowalski practice.
Professional, friendly, comfortable and prompt. As Amy mentioned, I really appreciated the technology in the office — it was great being able to view my X-​rays on the screen right in front of me as I’m in the chair. I’ve had the same hygienist for both appointments, and she was nothing but professional, friendly and thorough — she remembered me from my first visit 6 months ago. Dr. Dawna K. was friendly, accessible, professional and thorough afterward — very cool. All of this was on an end-​of-​the-​day Friday appointment, which did not go unnoticed.
When scheduling my next appointment, the hygienist pulled up my dental insurance plan right on the consult screen in the room and verified that my insurance would cover the next appointment regardless of the date of service (the whole 2/​year vs. 1 every 6 months) — thoughtful. I really appreciated that.
I was referred to their practice by Dr. Kiva Skolnick, who had a small friendly/​family practice in Beverly. He sadly retired a couple years ago, and I couldn’t be happier with my experience thus far with the Kowalskis. Na zdrowie! Thumbs up.

I have been going here for years and none of my experiences have been too unpleasant (getting cavities filled is not the most pleasant thing). The staff is always very nice, and Jim who does the cleanings is funny and always keeps me entertained while I am in the chair. Any work I have had done by Dr. Kowalski has been good and he is always upbeat. I also had his daughter fill one of my cavities and she did a great job. I don’t understand all of these bad reviews.

Had to pay an other dentist over $ 800 to repair the damage he did. The other dentist confirmed how awful this was.

Terrible dental work. Put a crown on so poorly it cracked within days. When the crown for my front tooth was made wrong and was too big for the space, he just forced it in and cemented it. It screwed up the adjacent teeth and created a mess. Stay away.

after some HORRIBLE dentist experiences in the boston area (see my other reviews), upon moving to beverly i needed to find a dentist because it had been about 1.5 years since i had a cleaning. on my walk to the commuter rail each morning, i walk past dr. kowalski’s office, so i decided to give it a shot. the parking lot is always full (at 8am!), so i figure if this many people come here, i’ll be okay.
at my first appointment, i had some xrays done, and then the hygenist magically pulled them up on a computer, with a screen right in front of me! i had never experienced this before, and it was awesome. she walked me thru the xrays and showed me the areas of tarter that had built up over the last 1.5 years. did the whole gum check thing (never had that before either, where they see if your gums are receding) and gave me a fantastic cleaning. everything else was great, and the hygenist was super friendly and wonderful.
i’ve since been back for my 6 month cleaning, and had the same hygenist. she said that my mouth was looking so much better (since i’ve been flossing more, although still not enough), and again i had a great cleaning.
great dental office, and i hope to not have to leave this practice for a long time!