La Mesa Periodontist - Sergio Berkstein, DDS

I am so grateful my family dentist recommended La Mesa Periodontist, Sergio Berkstein!

Some background. As I have aged, some of my gums have receded too low. Corrective action by a periodontist is recommended to prevent exposure of teeth roots. My dentist provided two options.
1. Chula Vista Periodontics (separate review) has a new technology called Pinhole Surgical Technique (PST). This is an incision-free procedure that involves loosening the gums and bringing them over the receding area.
2. Skin graft by Dr. Berkstein.

And Yelpers, this is where I screwed up! "Well Monty, I'll take Door #1!". I decided to have Chula Vista Periodontics perform PST procedure. PST was successfully completed, and I visually noted improvement. Improvement, that is, for a couple of days. Then my gums receded back to original position. This "new" PST procedure should also be labeled as inconsistent. I was disappointed that I did not realize PST was hit or miss procedure. As part of PST package, Chula Vista Periodontics will provide free skin graft should PST not resolve issue. Yet unsuccessful PST outcome caused me to lose confidence in this clinic. I was willing to pay money elsewhere to have full confidence in my outcome.

"Well Monty, I'll take door #2!". Entering Dr. Berkstein's office for my initial exam, I immediately felt relief and full confidence in this clinic. Office staff is polite, professional, and responsive. Procedure rooms are exceptionally clean and have state of the art equipment. Meeting Dr. Berkstein was a joy and brought me more relief. I knew upfront results would be perfect. Two weeks later Dr. Berkstein performed my skin graft. Other than receiving injections of Novocain, procedure was pain free. I was then scheduled for three follow-up appointments for monitoring status and removal of sutures. Just over a month following skin graft, Dr. Berkstein took photos and congratulated me on perfect gums!

I hope I do not experience future issues requiring a periodontist. But if I do, I look forward to returning to Dr. Sergio Berkstein!

"L.D"

It didn't take long to realize this was a top-notch place. Very modern decor too. Dr. Berkstein is a high level specialist for dental implants and periodontal issues. I was sent here on a referral from my primary dentist.
I had a loose implant that was wiggling. When I went for the initial visit, they assumed that I would need the implant totally removed based on the x-rays.
This meant removing a titanium screw from my jaw bone. Preparing for hellacious pain.

Luckily, when I went in for the surgery/removal, they just had to just tighten up the screw holding the implant after drilling out the top filling! It was a welcome surprise!
Yay!!! No pain, and, got to keep the Vicodin prescription...!

Most likely will go back to do some gum grafting for another future implant here so we'll see the results of that. We did a CT scan and surprisingly, found an issue with another tooth. Not good news of course. He has the most state-of-the-art equipment and technology here. So far, great professionalism and quality work!

Rich "Rico" M.

Excellent care, great staff! Lovely office!

Val L.

I learned about Dr. Berkstein from a neighborhood app called “Next Door” a while ago when I posted a question wondering if my neighbors can refer me to a good DDS for implants. It took me a while to make a decision to choose Dr. Berkstein over the rest of other names and this was a very good decision since he is everything I looked for in a dentist. He was very kind, professional and I am sure highly experienced with office near Sharp hospital with a very tasteful environment. His staff were incredibly cheerful and professional to make me feel welcomed. I highly recommend this amazing DDS with your gum surgeries and implant needs. Last thing I want to say is his pricing that is highly comparable and perhaps even better than many other places. I know this as a matter of the fact due to prior experience.

Roz Mostafavi