Today’s most talented dental professionals make a mockery of the popular perception of dentists. This year’s 40 Under 40 fizzes with entrepreneurial vigor and clinical excellence.
By Rick Cohen and Chuck Cohen
THE DENTISTS ON our fourteenth annual 40 Under 40 list (page 22) make an impact in two important ways. First, they excel as individuals through their clinical excellence and business innovation. Second, they form an intellectually powerful collective, their influence driven in part by today’s digitally powered collaborative environment. The result? They’re redefining oral health care amid the most rapidly changing landscape the profession has ever seen.
They occupy no standard mold. Some are rising stars just beginning to inhabit their potential; others are established and already influential successes. Not all aspire to high visibility—for every 40 Under 40 alum whose name you know, many more are quietly advancing the art and science of care as mentors, authors, teachers, study club leaders and practice owners offering cutting-edge care to their patients.
That’s why we assemble this list every year, aided by a panel of industry luminaries who pore over hundreds of nominations to arrive at the final roster of honorees—40 general practitioners and 40 specialists.
In honor of this year’s group, we called on veteran storyteller Howard Gensler—whose work spans reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer to screenwriting at Sony Pictures Classics—for an examination of “The Making of the Modern Dentist” (page 74), outlining the ways younger doctors in particular navigate unprecedented industry churn to establish a professional foothold. Current honoree Dr. Andrew Vallo discusses (page 18) why success in podcasting is about more than mere audience size. And Dr. Tu-Anh Vu, from the 40 Under 40 Class of 2022, reveals (page 14) how she contends with staffing shortages and rising wages in her Brooklyn practice.
Cool gadgets? We’ve got ’em, at prices from a few bucks to a several hundred grand. Go behind the scenes at SprintRay (page 12) for an in-depth look at the invention of the game-changing new Midas, which literally turns up the pressure on 3D printing. See why Premier’s cleverly designed ProFlare articulating prophy angle (page 10) is generating buzz among hygienists. Finally, hop aboard the new Benco Dental Mobile Dental Coach (page 80) and learn why experts say dentistry on wheels isn’t just for nonprofits anymore.
It’s hard to believe that until recently, dentistry was widely considered . . . well, a little dull. Pop culture portrayed dentists as malevolent sadists (Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors, from 1986) or ordinary schlubs, like Matthew Perry’s Dr. Nick “Oz” Oseransky in 2000’s The Whole Nine Yards. Not anymore. Today, dentists rule. They’re envied entrepreneurs, clinical hotshots, tech execs, elected officials, celebrated athletes. We wouldn’t dream of taking any credit for this zeitgeist shift. But we’re proud to showcase the doctors who are smashing old stereotypes through talent, moxie and pure hard work.
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