Dr. John E. Tillner Jr, DDS, Chula Vista CA

Dr Tillner is extremely professional and caring. Most recently our family used him for wisdom teeth extractions and the procedure went perfectly. His calm and caring manner and extensive knowledge are why we use him for any of our oral surgery needs.

Wish I could give a negative star. My daughter was mistreated by staff, causing anxiety. She asked to see her mother and was told that she could not, even though the procedure had not started. We asked repeatedly and then I stated that my daughter has rights if she is having anxiety (She is 22, but still has rights) and the accomodation of having a parent or trusted friend at least during anesthesia is a right (The new surgeon we have called had no issue). Doctor told my daughter that we were rude (My wife was saying nothing) and that "I do not want to operate on you if you do not have faith in me. " No one said we did not have faith in him. He came out, told us that he does many of these each day and is capable (seems to be the theme. No one said he was not good). He said no "box" was checked off for anxiety and that I was confrontational because I was talking about rights. I responded "Confrontational? Wow. " At which point he refused to do the surgery. Mind you, my daughter is an adult and as such his relationship with her is the only criteria to do surgery. The comment about her having rights being confrontational is also troubling. Later, when she found a different surgeon, he refused to send the panoramic xray without a $350 payment, despite the new surgeon telling us that this is traditionally done as a courtesy. Again, the refusal to proceed was his not ours. As a side note, my daughter spoke with a friend who said that she had the procedure several years back with a dental surgeon who made her cry. They then realized it was the same doctor. While his treatment and ego are infuriating, the purpose of this review is to have clear information out there. If anyone thinks that I am being inaccurate or exaggerating, you may notice positive reviews of other dental or medical professionals from me. I am sure that Dr. Tilner is quite capable, but I hope that his attitude changes. What would have happened if he had just taken a moment to explain instead of being worried about what anyone thought of him or equating dental anxiety or parental concern with doubt of ability.

In response to the comments below: he did not try to speak. He came and accused. No one yelled at any time. No one raised voice with him. No one immediately made demands, or at any point. Finally, accusing me of lying about the $350 is ridiculous. That did not come from me but from the office of the dentist who requested it. However, this will just be a back and forth.
There is nothing false about my review.

OMG! If you need a tooth extracted, an implant or any major oral surgery, look no more! Dr Tillner and his amazing staff are competent, caring and will answer all your questions and schedule you ASAP!
My 18 year old son, a college student, at Santa Barbara fell on his chin hard riding his skateboard and went to to Local ER. He cut his chin deep requiring stitches, fractured teeth and broke his left jaw hard enough to cause bleeding in his ear. The ER called the on call SBarbara OS and he never came in to assess my son’s broken jaw!
We called Dr Tillner the next day in San Diego and his attentive staff called us back and after speaking directly to Dr Tillner they immediately assessed the situation and scheduled us the next morning to get his jaw wired shut. We drove down to San Diego that night and saw him at 9: 30 am. They answered all our questions, did conscious sedation after an 8 hour fast and was resting and comfortablly on the heal!
That night Dr Tillner personally called my son to check on him and review his post op instructions. He’s not loving the liquid diet but will recover from this soon!
My son is back in San Diego studying for his finals in 2 weeks!

Thank You soooo much Dr Tillner and staff!
Kelly and Kyle

Dr Tillner was fantastic, after my extraction I had pain only one day, I healed very quickly love this doctor and his staff they we’re friendly and comforting. Recommend this doctor to everyone

My husband got his wisdom teeth extracted and had a pleasant appointment.zule in front desk helped him with all the process and provided him with excellent service -

Got my 3 wisdom teeth out by Dr. Tilner. I was so nervous because this was my first surgery going totally under anesthesia and I was so scared due to hearing wisdom teeth horror stories. Recovery was fast and literally painless… I did not feel any pain whatsoever after. He’s a great oral surgeon and knows what he’s doing!

I was very nervous about getting my wisdom teeth removed but as soon as I sat in the chair and Dr. Tillner walked me through everything as I was being sedated made me feel at ease. My husband was so surprised it was quick. Would definitely recommend.
As for the staff, Jasmine was probably the nicest one there. The rest of the staff, needs some training with bedside manner. Please introduce yourselves when you bring the patients back, we’re anxious enough as it is.

Dr. Tillner himself was very nice, but the staff on the other hand was very rude and unprofessional. Make sure they check your insurance before they start your x-rays if you're getting a consultation. The woman who x-rayed me was very unfriendly and invited me back before I even finished filling out my form which is what they use to look up to see if you're covered. After the consultation is when they decided to tell me that I wasn't covered and had to pay $200.00 out of pocket. I thought I was covered, but it is their job to make sure that I am. I could afford it, but other people don't have the same circumstances and can be blindsided with paying $200.00 up front. 0 stars if I could.

* I want to update my review, and say that I received a voicemail from Dr. Tillner and he apologized, he was unaware of this incident and refunded me! Thank you for being timely and responsive to my experience, it's appreciated. *

I had my impacted wisdom teeth out by Dr. Tillner and it was such a great experience. I did intravenous sedation and woke up like nothing happened. I didn’t need to take any pain killers while healing, just ibuprofen. His staff is so helpful and nice. I recommend him to all of my friends and family.

I got referred to Dr. Tillner by my dentist to fix an issue with my gums. Dr. Tillner and his team helped and guided me through the procedure that i needed and everything went very smoothly. My recovery was fast and my follow ups where quick and painless. I guess going to your oral surgeon is not so bad when they know what they are doing.

I’m so happy we chose to take kid #2 to Dr. Tillner for wisdom teeth removal, (as opposed to our first experience traveling downtown with kid #1). He’s close to Eastlake, parking is easy, his staff are friendly, he’s fairly priced and the experience was fast and efficient. We were in and out in less than an hour. My son had no complications and no stitches to be removed. We were very pleased.