Dental Anesthesiology
Dental School: Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University
Years in Practice: 24
Dental anesthesiology is our newest Top Dentist specialty, debuting three years ago. When and why did it become a distinct field?
It became a recognized specialty of the American Dental Association in March of 2019. The recognition was primarily driven by the increasing complexity of dental procedures, the evolution of comorbidities within patient populations, the need for specialized training in sedation and anesthesia, and the importance of ensuring patient safety and comfort during the delivery of dental care.
You often work with adults with special health-care needs. What sort of adjustments and considerations do you and your staff make when working with these patients?
Growing up with a special-needs sister and a mother with a Ph.D. in special education, my passion has always been providing care for pediatric and special-needs patients. These populations often experience heightened anxiety about dental visits due to psychological and sensory factors. Having a supportive and well-trained staff, experienced in managing a variety of special health-care issues, is crucial for safe and effective treatment.
Your father and father-in-law were both dentists, and you’re married to the dean of the dental college at Midwestern University. How has having a family full of dentists shaped the way you are raising your children?
Having deep ties to dentistry has influenced both my career, as well as my wife’s. As a young boy, I fondly remember going to work with my father at the Medical College of Virginia, [where] he was a practicing pediatric dentist. I knew early on I wanted to not only be a dentist, but desired to follow in my father’s footsteps and work specifically with children. [My wife and I] also tried to expose our children to a wide array of fields in hopes that they will find something that ignites a long-term passion, much like dentistry did for the two of us.
You co-founded Arizona Dental Anesthesia. How do these services differ from those provided in a hospital or outpatient surgical center?
Office-based mobile sedation and anesthesia services have truly revolutionized the delivery of dental care for a huge segment of the population, especially in Arizona, where this care is commonplace. The cost savings is tremendous, in most instances saving insurance companies and families thousands of dollars for a single procedure.
What’s your favorite “bad for teeth” food or drink?
Venti, extra-hot vanilla oat milk latte with no foam!
What’s the funniest thing a patient has said to you on nitrous oxide?
I was once using nitrous oxide on an 8-year-old boy with Asperger syndrome. He had an incredible obsession with outer space, so we centered the visit around this topic. We did a lift-off countdown when we started to deliver the “space air” and put Wall-E on the TV for him to watch while we completed his restorative treatment. After about 15 minutes, he quickly became nauseated and vomited on both me and my dental assistant, and his first comment after vomiting was, “Houston, we have a problem!”
“If I wasn’t a dentist, I’d be…”
I most definitely would have gone into veterinary medicine or something involving animals. My wife and I have traveled to Africa and the Galápagos Islands multiple times, and nothing makes me happier than observing and photographing animals in their natural habitat.
