For Dr. Jason Schepis, becoming a go-to for pro athletes was the springboard to launching a small DSO and producing gourmet frozen food for celebrity brands.
BY EDWARD KOBESKY. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DR. JASON SCHEPIS
WHEN TMZ CAME CALLING for the inside scoop on Team USA hockey player Jack Hughes’s widely publicized Olympic injury in February, Dr. Jason Schepis (right) politely declined. In an era when exposure is currency, restraint is a foreign concept to many. But it’s just part of the game for the New Jersey–based pro sports dentist who, for nearly two decades, has treated the NFL’s New York Giants, NHL’s New Jersey Devils, soccer’s New York Red Bulls and the Seton Hall University Pirates.
He would later treat Hughes—the star who scored the gold medal–winning goal for the U.S. at the 2026 Games—quietly and without fanfare, once the media whirlwind passed. In the business of high-level sports, even necessary care waits for athletes to have their moment. As a team doctor, you either get it or you don’t.
“If you do something stupid, you’re gone immediately,” Dr. Schepis says. That’s because teams fiercely guard their strategies and play injury reports close to their chests. “From the outside, these organizations seem big. They’re not.” If you want to be like Dr. Schepis, ego takes a back seat. Sometimes, so does your family, because when your teams are on the road, you are too. “NHL playoffs can run from mid-April to late June,” he says. “You have to figure out the logistics, or you can’t do this job.”
Trial by Fire
Luckily, Dr. Schepis had a mentor who taught him the ropes. Dr. H. Hugh Gardy—one of the pioneering figures in organized-sports dentistry and founder and past president of the International Academy for Sports Dentistry—was nearing retirement and looking for someone to take over both his practice and his team responsibilities. But Dr. Schepis didn’t simply inherit the role. He earned it.
Before taking the reins, he spent a year shadowing, observing and absorbing the unwritten wisdom of professional sports medicine. “It was like a one-year residency,” he says. “You go to games, sit with trainers, watch how everyone interacts. You learn what to do and what not to do.” It had a profound effect. In 2007, shortly after graduating from dental school, Dr. Schepis found himself walking onto the field at his first assignment, a New York Giants game. He was 27 years old.
The moment he’ll never forget came sooner than expected. Standing quietly with the other doctors immediately after kickoff, he heard his name called. Suddenly it was like an explosion: A trainer rushed toward him. A player had broken his jaw. “I’m trying not to panic,” he says. “The cameras pushed in. My phone starts ringing. People are texting me saying, ‘I see you on TV!’ ”
Questions came flying at him from every corner. How long to heal? Would the player miss games? Agents, front offices and reporters all had a stake in the answer. “That was when I realized how interconnected everything is,” Dr. Schepis says. “Everything you say is under a microscope.” From that point, his approach was cemented: Keep a clear head and never let competitive pressure override clinical judgment.
Timing vs. treatment: Jack Hughes’s postponed dental care highlights the realities of caring for elite athletes.
No Margin for Error
People who think the spotlight equals glamour will get a reality check by hanging with Dr. Schepis. “The biggest mistake you can make is being starstruck,” he says. “No photos. No autographs. Just do your job.” Professional locker rooms operate on trust, and that trust is fragile. Humility matters. Head athletic trainers keep only those clinicians who understand the culture. “They want someone who acts like they belong,” Dr. Schepis says. “Be discreet and be available.”
A legacy ENDURES: (Above) Dr. Schepis with his mentor and friend, the pioneering sports dentist Dr. H. Hugh Gardy. (Below) Rinkside with his family.
One of his most surreal moments was treating pro-hockey legend Jaromir Jagr late at night. “I’m doing a root canal,” Dr. Schepis says with a laugh, “and I realize I used to play as [Jagr] in a video game when I was a kid.” Then there are decisions that involve psychology as much as dentistry, like managing younger players who, like Hughes, must weigh agents, endorsements and public image alongside clinical advice. “You have to understand their timelines,” he says.
“If you don’t, you’re going to get frustrated.”
Perhaps the most intense cases are the ones fans never hear about. Dr. Schepis recalls a Giants player suffering severe wisdom tooth pain the day before the NFC Championship game. With police escorts waiting outside to rush theplayer to the airport, Dr. Schepis performed an emergency pulpotomy under extreme pressure. “That’s when we said, ‘We need to start fixing these things before the season,’ ” he says.
Textbooks Don’t Teach It
Somehow, Dr. Schepis has managed all that and more: raising a family with his wife while building a highly respected practice—S Dental & Specialties in Rochelle Park, New Jersey—that continues to grow with no advertising or insurance participation. While his sports dentistry grabs headlines, Dr. Schepis works a very normal four-day week alongside a deep bench of skilled associates and a loyal team. His philosophy is simple. “Be a 100 percenter,” he says. “There are plenty of 90 percent dentists. Very few people do everything at 100 percent.” He believes great assistants and hygienists are worth paying well because they enable dentists to practice better, not faster. Patients tell him and his staff that they feel the difference.
AMONG GIANTS: (Inset, clockwise from top left) Dr. Jason Schepis with legendary New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, quarterback Daniel Jones, defensive end Osi Umenyiora and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Over time, those instincts led him to expand beyond a single practice. He acquired insurance-based offices, invested in real estate, hired a business manager and began developing a growing DSO model called Smile Styles. “It’s about building a business, not just an office,” he explains. “Let dentists focus on dentistry. Let professionals handle revenue, HR and operations.”
“Be a 100 percenter. There are plenty of 90 percent dentists. Very few people do everything at 100 percent.”
That entrepreneurial drive extends well beyond health care. During the pandemic, Dr. Schepis partnered with his brother in an upscale food manufacturing venture producing branded products for celebrities, including ice cream for Snoop Dogg and frozen pizza for Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. Unlikely? Not really. It mirrors his approach to dentistry: Identify opportunity, assemble the right team and build scalable systems. The celebrity aspect wasn’t new. What was new—which he now applies back to health care—were lessons in supply chains and operations.
Built to scale: From developing the Hydro-Pulse Whitening Flosser to partnering in a food manufacturing venture and launching a DSO, Dr. Schepis applies the same business discipline across industries.
Game for More
Some middle-aged dentists contemplate cashing out successful practices or transitioning into purely executive roles, but not Dr. Schepis. “I’m only in my forties,” he says. “Why would I stop?” Now supported by associates who can cover games and share responsibilities, he’s positioned to enjoy both sides of his career: treating everyday patients and elite athletes alike. Every week brings something new, unpredictable and demanding. And that’s exactly how he likes it. For someone whose career has unfolded under pressure, amid bright lights and elite competition, staying in the game is only natural.
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