By Jerry Markon, Howard Gensler and Robert Stewart
INCISAL EDGE has compiled this list for nearly a decade, and we never cease to be astounded by the sheer wealth of dental knowledge each one uncovers. Trying to measure something as nebulous as “influence” is necessarily subjective, but as the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once noted (in a vastly different context), you know it when you see it.
We see it. And now we present it. We begin with perhaps our unlikeliest No. 1 in these nine years, Health & Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose disdain for fluoridated water brings our profession squarely into the middle of one of today’s most polarizing public-health debates. The list then progresses through a diverse mix of inventors, executives, technologists and more—the whole salad-bar platter combo that offers a portrait of dental-industry influence in 2025.
Have suggestions, comments, criticisms? Someone you’re aghast we left off? Drop us a line at editor@incisale dgemagazine.com and let us know.
1. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
THE WRECKING BALL
NEW
Secretary, Department of Health & Human Services
Washington, D.C.
IT’S HARD TO nail down exactly what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stands for. (We reached out for “The War on Fluoride,” page 50, but did not receive a response.) Yes, he’s a vaccine skeptic, but not necessarily across the board. Yes, he’s mostly against gun control but also kinda for it. And yes, his position on water fluoridation, according to a social media post, is that “fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease.” Certainly, that upends a debate that most dentists and dental professionals considered settled long ago, once science sorted out the difference between fluoridation and over-fluoridation.
Those aren’t the only reasons he’s No. 1 on Incisal Edge’s 2025 list of the 32 Most Influential People in Dentistry. Kennedy has promised to slash thousands of jobs at HHS and shutter entire bureaucracies. That means the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the government’s leading agency for scientific research on oral and craniofacial health, could seemingly be on the chopping block along with at least some or all of its $521.7 million annual budget.
The same goes for Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, NIDCR’s acting director, who is at odds with Kennedy on fluoridation and said in an interview on the NIDCR’s website, “Decades of studies in the U.S. prove that fluoride at the recommended level of 0.7 mg/L is safe and effective at preventing tooth decay.” Likewise figures including Dr. Natalia Chalmers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ inaugural chief dental officer.
At a time when basic research is increasingly underfunded, detractors might say Kennedy’s potential cuts will stunt progress on vitally important projects such as combating oral cancer, tooth decay, periodontal disease and more. On the other hand, his supporters might argue that untethered from conventional wisdom and the way things have always been done, perhaps he’ll find ways to reallocate resources more effectively. Either way, Kennedy wields enormous influence over the nation’s dental health, and unlike his predecessors, he has come out of the gate swinging against one of the profession’s core beliefs. —Edward Kobesky
2. Elizabeth Shapiro, James Schulz, Marko Vujicic
THE ADA’S (MOSTLY) NEW TOP DOGS
Last year: 8 (Vujicic); new (Shapiro, Schulz)
Shapiro: interim executive director, Schulz: head of government affairs, Vujicic: chief economist, American Dental Association
Chicago (Shapiro, Vujicic); Washington, D.C. (Schulz)
DR. ELIZABETH SHAPIRO didn’t just step into a leadership role at the American Dental Association—she stepped into a fire. After the February resignation of Dr. Ray Cohlmia, Dr. Shapiro took the reins as interim chief at a time when dentistry faces inordinate challenges. “Everything we do is centered on creating a practice environment where dentists and their teams can thrive,” she tells Incisal Edge.
With a background in both dentistry and law, Dr. Shapiro is well-qualified for the coming battle of influence with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (see No. 1) and the Department of Health & Human Services, particularly over water fluoridation.
She’ll need all her superpowers. Perhaps never in its 165-year existence has the ADA experienced such internal turmoil, facing accusations of poor financial management and general ire from members. Dr. Cohlmia’s sudden departure was due in part to conflict with the ADA’s board. “They didn’t always see eye to eye,” says a person familiar with the events granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Ray wanted to go in one direction, the board wanted to go in another and they both decided this wasn’t going to work.”
Last June, the ADA sold its Chicago headquarters, its home for nearly 60 years, to Lurie Children’s Hospital for $98 million; it later sold its building in Washington, D.C., as well. Meanwhile, the ballyhooed launch of its Fonteva software platform this past October backfired, causing an array of member-services problems for users. Finally, this October’s SmileCon event will be the last; the ADA decided to shutter it given declining post-pandemic attendance.
Difficulties abound, in other words. Yet Dr. Shapiro isn’t fighting alone. James Schulz, the ADA’s new vice president of government affairs, has replaced longtime political powerhouse Mike Graham. And economist Dr. Marko Vujicic continues to drive the data behind the ADA’s advocacy.
As interim head, can Dr. Shapiro impose the needed discipline in whatever time she’s granted? The challenge is substantial. —R.S.
3. Max Lin, William K. Daniel, Jim Momtazee
THE OUTSIDE MONEY
NEW
Lin: partner, KKR; Daniel, executive advisor, KKR; Momtazee: managing partner, Patient Square Capital
Menlo Park, California (Lin and Momtazee); Denver (Daniel)
WITH VALUATIONS DOWN and practices pushing for growth, it was only a matter of time until private-equity investors with money to spend came courting. Two recent transactions are emblematic of their growing influence: This January, the venerable PE firm KKR invested $250 million in Henry Schein, the Melville, New York–based health care supplies juggernaut, for a 12 percent position, with the ability to purchase additional shares for a total equity stake of 14.9 percent.
It also gave KKR a role in the potential retirement of longtime Henry Schein CEO Stanley Bergman (see No. 16). Under the agreement, Lin and Daniel—the latter a former executive at Danaher—joined Schein’s board of directors. The announcement came days after revelations that activist investor Ananym Capital Management was planning to nominate new Schein directors, arguing that the firm needs to look for a new CEO. (Neither KKR nor Schein responded to requests for comment.)
Other looming questions include whether KKR will pursue synergies between Schein and its other dental investments, which might soon expand: Industry chatter holds that KKR is in talks to add a large dental lab to its portfolio.
Patient Square’s Momtazee, meanwhile, engineered his $11 billion (assets) firm’s $4.1 billion acquisition of Patterson Companies, the dental health distributor, in December 2024. Patterson will become privately held and maintain its headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the end of the day the deal was announced, Patterson’s market capitalization was $2.7 billion. But that doesn’t mean Patient Square overpaid, according to 32 Most Influential regular Jeffrey D. Johnson, a longtime dental industry analyst at Robert W. Baird: “Patterson has been in flux. Patient Square must see this as a five- to ten-year turnaround opportunity.”
Collectively, the deals reinforce what the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute found in an August 2024 paper: The share of dentists affiliated with private equity had nearly doubled, to 12.8 percent, over the past six years. One of the paper’s coauthors, Anthony T. Lo Sasso, a professor and chair of the economics department at DePaul University, says the PE influx has raised some “alarms” that it will lead to a small number of players dominating the market and dictating higher prices. Yet he hopes as well that disciplined oversight will boost business efficiency to patients’ ultimate benefit. —J.M.
4. Guillaume Daniellot
THE INDEFATIGABLE MAN
Last year: 1
CEO, Straumann
Basel, Switzerland
LAST YEAR’S chart-topper is still making industry waves. Daniellot’s leadership has kept Straumann on a positive trajectory as one of dentistry’s most influential, and profitable, entities.
Despite market turbulence that saw its market cap down more than 15 percent last year, Straumann saw an increase of 13.7% in organic revenue growth in the past year, due in part to Daniellot’s push to build out Straumann’s digital ecosystem. The company recently announced an array of new practice solutions centered on Straumann AXS, a cloud-based system that integrates the entirety of dental workflows (imaging, treatment and surgical planning, 3D printing, AI smile design and much more) into a single secure platform.
One major Daniellot move came this March, when Straumann announced a partnership with SprintRay (see Amir Mansouri, No. 18), the leading provider of 3D printing for dental practices. Straumann Signature Midas, as the new device is known, employs the technology of SprintRay’s Midas Digital Press 3D and integrates it with Straumann AXS and the Straumann SIRIO intraoral scanner, creating a seamless end-to-end solution that scans, designs and prints prosthetic components. Daniellot’s company seems poised for future growth regardless of potential further market ructions—testament to the ways in which the 55-year-old’s nimbleness and creativity keep paying off. —R.S.
5. Pam Reeve
THE NONPROFIT PILOT
NEW
Board Chair, CareQuest
Winchester, Massachusetts
BOSTON-BASED nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Public Health boasts an ambitious mission “to improve the oral health of all,” especially that of marginalized groups. Reeve, the group’s board chair since its founding in 2021, oversees overflowing coffers: In its 2023 IRS disclosure form (the most recent year available), CareQuest reported $2.3 billion in assets.
Yet it reported just $20 million in unspecified program services expenses, a figure nearly matched by $19 million in salaries and benefits. CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan (No. 6 on this list last year, who left last November for the same role at AARP) made $1.2 million in 2023. “Dentistry has had high hopes that CareQuest could have a growing impact in oral health,” says a senior oral care official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We’re still waiting.”
Reeve, who earned $150,000 in 2023, did not address questions about 2023 spending in an emailed statement. But she pointed to more than $12 million in 2024 grants to 91 oral health groups, adding that CareQuest is actively searching for a new CEO and reviewing its strategic plan.
“As a young organization, we are proud of what CareQuest Institute has accomplished in just a few short years,” she wrote. “We continue to learn more about the most effective ways to advance our mission.” CareQuest’s holdings come primarily from the 2022 sale of its majority stake in DentaQuest, the U.S.’s largest Medicaid dental benefits provider.
The institute is part of a complex structure that includes a private foundation and a for-profit impact investing and innovation advancement firm, along with a dental benefits firm serving employers and residents throughout the Bay State. Whither its spending priorities? That’s the key question. —J.M.
6. Wardah Inam
THE AI ORIGINALIST
Last year: 12
Founder and CEO, Overjet
Cambridge, Massachusetts
“DENTAL AI IS HERE.” That statement on Overjet’s website is undeniable, almost banal. Yet Wardah Inam’s company gets a pass—after all, it was the first major player in the dental artificial-intelligence space, long before ChatGPT and DeepSeek became household names.
“Our focus is to create the definitive AI platform for dentistry,” Inam says. Its goal, she adds, isn’t to replace dentists’ most common and useful tools and devices but to be a hub that integrates every facet of dentistry from front office to back, invoicing to imaging. Overjet’s recently launched ReviewPASS, for example, gives patients instant calculations on their treatment costs and coverages—all while still in the chair—acting as the connective tissue between practitioners, patients and providers.
With five FDA-approved products, more than any company in dental AI, Overjet has been able to capitalize on its innovation, raising a total of $133 million, including $53.2 million in a Series C round at a $550 million valuation.
“Every day, I see the impact of our technology on real patients,” Inam says. “Overjet has detected more than 80 million suspected oral diseases and counting. I know that catching just one issue with AI can change a patient’s quality of life.” —R.S.
7. Stephenie Goddard
THE LEGACY BUILDER
Last year: 7
CEO, Glidewell Dental
Newport Beach, California
AFTER MORE THAN 50 years heading the eponymous company he founded in 1970, the legendary Jim Glidewell handed over the CEO keys to the world’s largest dental lab to Goddard in 2022. She had joined the company 16 years earlier after a stint at the World Bank and had served in numerous Glidewell executive positions before becoming CEO.
Long a leader in research and development, Glidewell not only creates its own products; it also supplies equipment for offices to do lab work in-house. Since taking the helm, Goddard has overseen continued growth—Glidewell has more than 5,000 employees and has produced over 35 million BruxZir crowns—but her primary focus has been on the customer experience, improving the predictability of lab outcomes and facilitating the still-very-active founder’s vision for the company. “Even as a global lab, we know many of our customers by name,” she says. “It’s an exciting time: We’ve surpassed 10 million preventive care devices delivered and have several major product launches on the horizon.”
Glidewell (the company), meanwhile, is a global presence with manufacturing facilities in California, Chile, Germany and Colombia. Goddard is committed to supporting female dentists, creating Guiding Leaders in 2019. The free program has offered education and networking opportunities to more than 100 women. —H.G.
8. Doug Brown
THE INNOVATION FINANCIER
Last year: 4
Managing partner, Dental Innovation Alliance
Raleigh, North Carolina
WHEN BROWN DEBUTED on this list at No. 4 last year, he preached the virtues of innovation, saying the advent of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies held great promise for an industry that, like any other, needs to embrace rapid change.
He has put his money behind his ambitions.
Over the past year, Brown’s venture capital firm, Dental Innovation Alliance (DIA), has invested in companies including Perceptive, a Boston-based startup building an AI-powered dental robotics system (see “He, Robot,” Incisal Edge, Spring 2025), and Pearl, a West Hollywood, California–based dental AI leader in X-ray analysis.
His perspicacity regarding the rapid adoption of dental AI tools has helped DIA emerge as the leading dental industry VC fund, known in particular for seeking out promising small companies looking to scale. It has invested in ten early-stage businesses since its 2022 launch, selecting those from a pool of some 1,300 that sought dollars and support.
Brown tells Incisal Edge that DIA has “made substantial progress over the past year” and is advancing toward its ultimate goal of a 25-company portfolio “that will modernize and transform dentistry.” He and other fund executives would not comment on rumblings that they’re working on raising a new fund. Industry rumors tab it as high, potentially, as $80 million, which would make it one of the largest dental VC funds. Industry innovation is imperative. Smart picks could benefit dentistry at all levels—and make DIA a bundle. —J.M.
9. Dan Wicker
THE FINANCIAL PLANNER
New
Managing partner, Cain Watters & Associates
Dallas
CAIN WATTERS IS now the country’s largest financial and accounting firm focused on the dental market. “Dentists enter the profession with years of clinical training but little preparation for the financial realities of practice ownership,” Wicker tells Incisal Edge. “At CWA, we want to close that gap.” With $3.5 billion in assets under management, Wicker—who has been with the company nearly three decades—is looking to continue to build CWA and offer additional services. “In 2024 CWA acquired CFO Ortho to expand our accounting and bookkeeping services,” he says. “This year, we expanded our services even more with a packaged offering for business owners, as well as personal financial planning for associates. I’m excited about the opportunity to add more services designed to meet the needs of the dental industry.” CWA owns Elite Dental Alliance, the nation’s largest dental group purchasing organization, with 3,400 members—together, they have more purchasing power than Heartland Dental (see Pat Bauer, No. 20), the largest DSO with 1,800 offices. —H.G.
10. Chris Steven Villanueva
THE PLACID PARTNER
Last year: 14
CEO, MB2 Dental
Carrollton, Texas
ALTHOUGH DENTAL service organizations (DSOs) have been buying up independent practices for some time, Dr. Villanueva’s MB2 Dental began teaming with them as the first DPO (dental partner organization) nearly two decades ago. Frustrated as a practicing dentist because he spent so much time not doing dentistry, Dr. V, as he’s known, founded MB2 Dental in 2007. The company, based in the Dallas area, helps doctors pool the benefits of linking up with a larger organization, such as shared services and access to capital, while retaining the independence and autonomy of a private practice.
It has now partnered with more than 700 general and specialty practices across 43 states, expanding its reach by five new states in 2024 alone. This growth led to a third recapitalization, this time with the private-equity bigfoot Warburg Pincus, which last November infused $525 million at a vaulation north of $3.5 billion. Since Charlesbank Capital first acquired a majority stake in MB2 in 2021, MB2’s revenue has grown by more than 30 percent each year. Dr. V’s low-key, Zen-like management style belies the company’s growth, but he espouses a “happy workforce, happy life philosophy,” and MB2 works hard to get to know potential new partners to make sure they’re a good long-term fit. As he said in a recent YouTube clip, “I’m going to merge my business with yours because we have the same values.”
Should those values require doing some of the less glamorous work a practice might require to set the proper tone, so be it. MB2 will get its hands dirty. “My loyalties are with my partners,” Dr. Villanueva says. “If we provide great care, everything else is secondary.” —H.G.
“My loyalties are with my partners. If we provide great care, everything else is secondary.”
11. Sonia Williams
THE BENEVOLENT CREDITOR
Last year: 16
Senior vice president and general manager for dental,
CareCredit
Stamford, Connecticut
WITH THE ECONOMY unsettled and patients cutting back, how they pay when they do visit the dentist is more important than ever, and Williams exerts influence over those decisions. As a top CareCredit executive, she helps oversee its health-and-wellness credit card, which the company says is accepted at nearly 80 percent of U.S. dental practices. That makes CareCredit easily the No. 1 facilitator of fee-for-service dentistry.
CareCredit is also now offered by Synchrony, the consumer financial services company. Data show that CareCredit is a significant driver of dental payments, making dentistry a major contributor to Synchrony’s profits. In 2023, growth in Synchrony’s Health and Wellness platform contributed to double-digit growth in overall loan receivables of $10.5 billion, according to a proxy statement Synchrony issued last June. Interest and fees on health-and-wellness loans increased 19.2 percent.
“Concerns about the economy are driving consumers to focus more on saving, which will likely [affect] how they prioritize their dental care,” Williams tells Incisal Edge. “Our hope is that by offering various financing solutions, we can help people access the credit they want.”
Going forward, Williams says she has projects in development to help make patients more aware of financing options to “help reduce their fears of cost.” —J.M.
12. Bill Dorfman
THE SOCIAL STAR AVANT LA LETTRE
Last year: 9
Dentist, multimedia influencer
Los Angeles
NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author. Featured on Oprah and Larry King, Extreme Makeover and The Doctor. More than 2.3 million followers on Instagram, 100,000 more than when he appeared on this list last year. Celebrity doc Dorfman might just be getting started.
His status as “Hollywood’s Smile King” comes primarily from the high-profile work done by his private practice, Century City Aesthetic Dentistry, which has served A-listers including Mark Wahlberg, Britney Spears, Anne Hathaway and Usher. He has leveraged his following to educate millions on the benefits of oral health—and, naturally, to promote his products, primarily POOF! Teeth Whitening Strips and KickBallz caffeinated chewing gum.
Gaining a sphere of influence through mainstream media and reality TV, however, increasingly seems like a relic. Most influencers now are discovered online, making it harder to gain prominence, perhaps especially for dentists of a certain age. Dr. Dorfman (and his oft-photographed abs) are 66. Who might the next face of dental influence be? See “Social Networkers,” page 60, for some possible candidates. —R.S.
13. The Midmarket Mentor
New
Thought leader
Anytown, USA
DESPITE THE EXPLOSION of successful midmarket group practices—what some call small DSOs—no single individual has emerged as the go-to thought leader among their executive ranks. Why? One possible reason snapped into focus when we asked Dr. Ryan P. Robinson if he was aware of any contenders. “I have my head down working on my own DSO,” demurs the CEO of Newark, Delaware–based Freedom Dental Health.
Which makes sense. Robinson’s group spans 26 locations and more than 350 team members, likely leaving him—and others like him—with no time for the kinds of things that typically build on stature, like hosting podcasts or doing speaking engagements. And they seem to like it that way. The typical midmarket CEO is sharp both clinically and entrepreneurially, still sees patients at least part-time and knows how to scale the efficiencies of larger DSOs for tightly clustered mini-constellations of practices like Robinson’s.
Back in 2019, we coined the term “entrepreneurial dentist” for what were then upstarts and outliers just beginning to nip at the heels of large DSOs. It no longer fits. Midmarket groups are now, by our estimation, the practice market’s fastest-growing segment. They’re nimble and scrappy to a fault; sometimes the dentist-CEOs are among the group’s biggest producers. They’re also using debt rather than equity to grow quickly and maintain total control because their owners see little risk. That, however, is where the similarities between them end. In fact, according to Dr. Jonathan Mason, cofounder and chief clinical officer of New Jersey–based Select Dental Management, “I don’t think a single influencer is needed in the space, since so many midmarket DSOs are set up differently.”
Dr. Mason, whose group has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies, believes anyone aspiring to the throne of midmarket thought leader needs substantial street cred: “They will have to have been through the ups and downs of starting a DSO and coming out ahead on the other side. Someone who can share their knowledge and be vulnerable about what worked and what didn’t is who people will follow.” In the meantime, Dr. Mason points to “great knowledge sharing” among leaders at conferences like DEO and ADSO for helping the segment thrive while we wait for a pivotal figure to materialize—and from our vantage point, there’s nowhere to go but up. “I think the biggest difference I’ve seen in the past few years is the acceptance of DSOs across dentistry.” —E.K.
“Someone who can share their knowledge and be vulnerable about what worked and what didn’t is who people will follow.”
14. Gordon J. Christensen, John Kois, Frank Spear
THE WARHORSES
Last year: 19
Christensen: founder, Practical Clinical Courses; Kois: founder and director, The Kois Group; Spear: founder and director, Spear Education
Provo, Utah; Seattle; Phoenix and Seattle
THESE THREE AGAIN. Who could have seen it coming? Presumably everyone, because as long as they keep doing their thing, they’ll always have a place in these pages.
We’ve spilled plenty of ink over the years regarding the tireless Dr. Christensen, now a vigorous 89 years old, whose speaking schedule with Practical Clinical Courses and his indispensable Clinicians Report, published since 1976, have maintained him as a leader—not just a figurehead—of driving dentistry’s collective knowledge forward.
Dr. Kois, 75, stays busy with his prosthodontics practice in Seattle while continuing to helm the Kois Center, which he says is dedicated to delivering the “latest advances in esthetics, implants and restorative dentistry through cutting-edge continuing dental education.” It celebrated its thirtieth anniversary last year.
Though he’s retired from clinical dentistry, Dr. Spear, 73, continues to be active in esthetic and restorative dentistry education, traveling the world to teach and lecture at a breakneck pace.
These three titans are testament to the vigor and longevity conferred by simply loving the game. This energetic trio are endlessly passionate about dentistry, and their decades of commitment have been an extraordinary boon to the profession through all their good works. —R.S.
15. Sarah Chavarria
THE INSURER OF FIRST RESORT
Last year: 10
CEO and president, Delta Dental Insurance
San Francisco
CHAVARRIA DEBUTED here last year at No. 10, and in the last 12 months her results are a challenge to assess, as she has maintained a relatively low public profile—and because Delta Dental of California did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
She has a big job: Delta Dental of California and its affiliates provide benefits to more than 31 million people across 15 states and D.C.; there are 39 independent Delta Dental firms nationwide. In 2023, Delta California reported assets of $4 billion on its Form 990 nonprofit organization tax filing, with $6.1 billion in revenue against $5.9 billion in expenses.
With overall patient traffic down slightly in recent years, dental insurance companies are more important than ever in giving patients incentive to keep regular appointments. Chavarria, who took over in January 2024 as Delta Dental of California’s first female CEO, oversees more than 2,200 employees. One major issue she will soon face: the national effort to implement “dental loss ratios”: that is, increasing the portion of premium revenue spent on patient care versus administrative expenses. Legislation to this effect has been introduced in more than 20 states since 2023, according to the ADA.
Delta California’s chief dental officer, Dr. Daniel Croley, made it clear he’s not a fan, writing in a 2023 opinion piece that loss ratio legislation is “counterproductive” and will lead to higher premiums. How will Chavarria cut this Gordian knot? The next 12 months should offer an answer. —J.M.
16. Stanley Bergman
THE MAN ON THE FULCRUM
Last year: 5
CEO, Henry Schein
Melville, New York
NOW IN HIS thirty-sixth year as CEO of Henry
Schein—an astonishing tenure for the head of a large public company—Bergman, 75, runs a business that no longer has the wind at its back. Yes, Schein is still the world’s largest provider of products and services to dentists and doctors. Yes, it generated nearly $13 billion in sales last year, has more than 25,000 employees and a market cap over $8 billion. But its stock price has languished for nine years, customer demand has softened, acquisitions haven’t merged smoothly, a 2023 cyberattack walloped sales and activist investor Ananym Capital Management is looking to cut costs and upend the board of directors.
Will Bergman fight, bow out or play a painful game of what you might see on Succession? Ananym owns around 471,000 shares of Schein, worth around $35 million at press time. That’s as nothing compared to Vanguard Group’s 14.73 million shares (12 percent) and the 12 percent stake secured by private-equity giant KKR (see No. 3) in January. If Bergman wants to stay, he’ll need to make allies of those two. Boardroom tussles aren’t necessarily good for business, but they’re great theater—or television. Don’t touch that dial. —H.G.
17. Jacob Paulsen
THE MAN WITH THE SCANS
New
CEO, 3Shape
Copenhagen, Denmark
PORTIONS OF this list are necessarily speculative, our estimation of which industry rising stars look poised to assume the mantle of true industry leadership in the years ahead. Such is the case for Paulsen, 3Shape’s shiny-new CEO, who started his job in April after the resignation of Jakob Just-Bomholt, its chief executive for five years.
Paulsen now helms one of the world’s leading—and most profitable—intraoral scanner companies. 3Shape generated $506 million in revenue last year thanks largely to the release of TRIOS Core, its most affordable scanner to date.
Looking ahead, the company recently announced a new intraoral scanner and software duo. The TRIOS 6 and complementary TRIOS Dx Plus “help dentists detect key oral health conditions, including surface and proximal caries, plaque, tooth wear and gingival recession,” Paulsen says.
Its scanners are of exceedingly high quality, and their continued development will be Paulsen’s top priority. “Our intraoral scanners are a cornerstone of who we are, and we remain deeply committed to that space,” he says. “That said, we’re always exploring new opportunities and innovations that complement and expand the ecosystem around scanners. The field is evolving rapidly, and we want to stay ahead of that curve.” —R.S.
18. Amir Mansouri
THE 3D MOGUL
Last year: 20
Cofounder and CEO, SprintRay
Los Angeles
FEW TECHNOLOGIES of recent vintage (AI excepted) have promised to transform dentistry as much as widely available, relatively affordable 3D printing. SprintRay, founded in 2014, is leading the charge, aiming to make this critical tool ubiquitous in practices around the world.
To that end, in October 2022 it secured $100 million in Series D funding led by SoftBank—the Japanese investment house led by the mercurial Masayoshi Son—to expand its operations throughout Europe and North America. Mansouri makes noise via splashy releases of new products and technologies like the Midas Digital Press 3D Printer—developed through a partnership with Straumann (see No. 4). Likewise the launch of Digital Press Stereolithography (DPS), a patented technology that uses hydrodynamics to create an environment in which a resin’s viscosity is no longer a barrier to speed or accuracy.
All work and no play makes Amir a dull boy, though, so this additive-manufacturing Ph.D. last year cut a playful YouTube video to promote the Midas in which he uses the product to design and print while riding in a Tesla Cybertruck. With marketing as innovative as its partnerships and devices, SprintRay’s future seems bright indeed. —R.S.
19. Karim Mansour
THE BATTLER
Last year: 26
President, Solventum Dental Solutions
Paris, France
SOLVENTUM’S SPLIT from 3M in April 2024 looked to be solid, one of the biggest spin-offs of its kind. When Mansour debuted on this list last year, we wrote that the new dental unit “seems like a slam dunk.”
It hasn’t been quite that—maybe more of a successful free throw—but when Solventum reported its fourth-quarter 2024 results in February, it hailed what it called a solid performance, with 1.9 percent total sales growth. But the Minnesota Star Tribune calculated that adjusted profits for Solventum’s four divisions fell more than $100 million compared to their performance as part of 3M a year earlier.
Enter legendary activist investor Nelson Peltz, whose Trian Partners has taken a roughly 5 percent stake in Solventum and is pushing it to focus on its medical/surgical unit, which might mean its dental division would then be divested. “Solventum’s growth and margins are at historic lows, and the Company has not created an expectation for meaningful improvements going forward,” Trian wrote in an open letter to shareholders in January.
The dental division, which has more than 1,750 employees, contributes 18 percent of Solventum’s $8.3 billion in 2024 revenue, Mansour told investors in March.
Jeffrey D. Johnson, a longtime dental industry analyst at Robert W. Baird, says he believes Solventum will stick with dental, praising its recent launch of 3D-printed aligner attachments that he said would save chair time for orthodontists. “I honestly don’t think the dental division is going anywhere,” he adds. “It’s a business that will stay with Solventum, and you’ll see innovation pick up now that they are a stand-alone entity.”
Mansour, who brought 25 years of 3M experience to his role, is brimming with optimism. “It’s remarkable what we’ve achieved over the past year,” he tells Incisal Edge. “We stood up a new company, launched a fresh brand and united our team, all while exceeding our financial commitments in 2024.”
He declines to comment on Peltz’s assertions, though he acknowledges that “the environment has brought challenges.” He adds, “We know where we’re headed, and we’ve positioned ourselves for continued innovation-driven growth.” —J.M.
“It’s remarkable what we’ve achieved over the past year. We stood up a new company, launched a fresh brand and united our team, all while exceeding our financial commitments in 2024.”
20. Pat Bauer, Robert Fontana, Steve Thorne
THE TRIUMVIRATE
Last year: 13
Bauer: CEO, Heartland Dental; Fontana: CEO, The Aspen Group; Thorne: founder and CEO, Pacific Dental
Effingham, Illinois; East Syracuse, New York; Irvina, California
WE LINK THIS trio so often you’d think they were conjoined triplets. The Three Mouthketeers of the DSO have all long been rumored to be planning a public offering; so far, none has. All have expanded this past year, but the pace of practice adds has slowed.
Heartland now claims more than 1,800 practices in 38 states, Pacific supports more than 1,000 practices in 24 states and Aspen more than 1,300 across 46 states. Their growth stems not just from dentistry;
Pacific and Aspen have been keen to partner their dental services with other medical ones. Pacific, in partnership with MemorialCare, has opened a first dental-medical practice and trademarked the term mouth-body connection. This summer, Aspen will celebrate the second anniversary of TAG University, a sort of CE program on steroids that has expanded its dental offerings and welcomed veterinarians and other professionals. Like Henry Schein, Heartland has gained private-equity colossus KKR (see No. 3) as a prominent investor. Schein has been a strategic partner of Heartland, and its subsidiary Henry Schein One provides Heartland with AI solutions from Dentrix Detect AI and VideaHealth. It will presumably be in both companies’ interests to expand their synergies, and the boffins at KKR will be there to let them know. —H.G.
21. Bob Margeas
THE HEIR APPARENT
Last year: 17
General and cosmetic dentist; key industry opinion leader
Des Moines, Iowa
EVEN A CASUAL GLANCE at Dr. Margeas’s biography on the website of Iowa Dental Group, his private practice in Des Moines, offers an impressive list of accolades and affiliations along with a slew of publications and patents to his name. Ready?
He’s a specialist in restorative and implant dentistry, an adjunct professor in the University of Iowa’s department of operative dentistry, editor-in-chief of Inside Dentistry, an editorial board member of Compendium and a contributing editor for Canada’s Oral Health journal. A busy man indeed.
His professional affiliations are no less stout. He holds board certification from the American Board of Operative Dentistry, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Aesthetic Dentistry and a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Society for Dental Aesthetics and the International Team of Oral Implantologists.
Memberships? Naturally. Among others, he’s in the American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry and the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry.He’s also a commanding presence as a highly sought-after speaker, delivering several dozen lectures a year on all aspects of clinical dentistry.
Our principal query from last year’s list remains today: When dentistry’s top éminences grises (see No. 14) are no longer exerting their influence on the national and global stage, might Dr. Margeas be the one who ascends to that industry throne? We’ll have to wait for white smoke from the chimney, but he seems as likely as anyone. —R.S.
22. Joseph Hogan
THE WOUNDED TITAN
Last year: 2
CEO, Align Technology
San Jose, California
THREE YEARS AGO, Hogan took the top spot on the 32 Most Infuential list; in 2023 he came in at No. 4 and, last year, runner-up to Straumann’s Guillaume Daniellot (see No. 4).
It’s a testament to how strong this giant of orthodontia is that even after Align Technology shedded around 40 percent of its market capitalization in the last 12 months and more than 10 percent just since the start of 2025, he still makes his annual appearance in these pages. (The company’s market cap as of press time was $12.9 billion, down from a high of $57.2 billion in September 2021.)
Align missed on fourth-quarter earnings and lowered its 2025 guidance, which led to a share-price plummet even before President Trump’s various tariff announcements (see “When the Levies Break,” page 72) hammered the markets. The company has been buying back shares to keep its stock price up and cutting costs to improve margins, but it has had to lower prices on its market-defining Invisalign clear aligners and iTero intraoral scanners to compete against inflation, lower-priced competitors and a drop in consumer confidence—not in Align products themselves but regarding spending in general. Align is still the biggest player in its sector, but the past year didn’t leave much to smile about—no matter how attractive and orderly the teeth therein. —H.G.
23. Eiichi Nakanishi
THE HANDPIECE PRO
Last year: 22
President and CEO, NSK/DCI
Tochigi, Japan
FORMERLY NAKANISHI MANUFACTURING, NSK has been a family-run Japanese dental supply company since its founding by Keiichi Nakanishi (Eiichi’s grandfather) in 1930.
It trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange but made a much bigger foray into the all-important American dental market in 2023 when it acquired DCI, a four-decade-old equipment and parts maker headquartered in Oregon; Eiichi Nakashini, now in his twenty-fifth year as NSK’s president, oversees DCI as well.
NSK’s products are legion: It’s one of the world’s leading manufacturers of air-driven and electric handpieces for all dental specialties, as well as chairs and other instruments. Continued refinements to its innovative QuickStopBearing handpieces—which offer exquisitely smooth rotation and require no handbrake—have helped it maintain a market share approaching 30 percent.
The combined entity generates more than $500 billion in annual revenue, of which a third comes from Japan and a fifth (but growing) from the Americas. —H.G.
24. Dai Feng
THE FORCE MULTIPLIER
Last year: 23
Partner, CareCapital Advisors
Hong Kong
A HARVARD-EDUCATED engineer, former managing director at private-equity titan Warburg Pincus and a former board member at the Forsyth Institute—the Boston-based organization that was folded into the American Dental Association in 2023—Feng serves as chairman of Angel Aligner and leads that company’s owner, CareCapital, one of the larger investors in dental businesses, with around $850 million in assets.
The fund has stakes in more than 50 companies across all areas of dentistry—research, technology, consumer health, clinical service, distribution, software and training. It’s also diversifying its portfolio beyond dentistry, making recent investments in clinical services and software, as well as consumer health.
Some of the notable companies in which CareCredit holds stakes are (among many others) Orthobrain, Purgo Biologics, Carestream, Bego Implants, Neoss Implants, Gradient 3D-printing technology, EasyDent practice management software, Denti AI and Little Wanddy sugar-free lollipops, along with dental hospitals in China. Feng keeps his finger on the pulse of industry breakthroughs as well through his service on the Board of Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine. —H.G.
25. Marv Nelson
THE CONTINUITY AGENT
New
CEO, A-dec
Newberg, Oregon
HUSBAND AND WIFE Ken and Joan Austin founded A-dec in the basement of their Colorado home in 1964, soon moving operations to their Oregon hometown. Innovations followed apace: a revolutionary air vacuum system, the first integrated dental cabinet and, in 1978, a state-of-the-art dental chair.
Today, A-dec is still owned by the Austin-Parrish family and has been run since 2023 by Nelson, a longtime company executive. He has, he says, a good sense of what the coming years hold: “We believe that connected dental equipment is the future of dentistry,” he tells Incisal Edge. “Now more than ever, dental teams are looking for advanced technology to help increase overall patient visits, patient flow and office efficiency.” The company has been investing in expansions of its product lines over the past several years, launching new connected platform products, software and applications, specialty chairs, furniture and workstations—as well as A-dec Certified Pre-Owned, highly refurbished used equipment.
A-dec has been doing business in Europe since the mid-1980s, and earlier this year it made an ownership investment in Eurotec Dental, its importer in France. Several initiatives are in place, Nelson says, “to enhance product solutions that meet the needs of our international customers.”
As for the family that got the business going six decades ago, Nelson says, without further elaboration, that several generations of Austins and Parrishes are “actively involved in leading and contributing to our long-term success.” —J.M.
26. Heikki Kyöstilä
THE FLYING FINN
Last year: 30
CEO, Planmeca
Helsinki, Finland
THIS YEAR’S LIST is mildly heavy—pleasantly plump, let’s call it—with old-school private companies. With market turbulence up and dental spending down (see “Waiting for Liftoff,” page 66), private concerns have the virtue of being able to think in time frames longer than quarterly, not needing to worry about shareholder returns.
It’s clearly working for Kyöstilä and Planmeca, which he founded in Finland in 1971 as a maker of dental cabinets and stools. Today it’s the world’s largest privately held dental manufacturer, with annual revenue around $1.3 billion. It acquired Envista’s KaVo division in 2021, and since 2022, Kyöstilä’s personal net worth has soared from $1.3 billion to $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Planmeca has been an innovator in everything from CAD/CAM solutions to dental care units and imaging technology, along with the accompanying software. In March, it announced the launch of ProX GO, its first handheld intraoral X-ray device, which integrates with Planmeca’s Romexis software program, a comprehensive platform that serves all its products for seamless workflow.
It still makes cabinetry, of course—an echo of its earliest days. It has never announced even an inkling of a plan to go public. With such sparkling multi-decade results (for Planmeca itself and Kyöstilä personally), who can argue with the strategy? —R.S.
27. Paul Keel
THE EVEN KEEL
Last year: One to Watch
CEO, Envista Holdings
Brea, California
KEEL HAS BEEN CEO at Envista for a little over a year, and it has been an eventful period. Last May, after stints in private equity and at GE, 3M and Smiths (a British energy company he led to record profit), Keel came to Envista, which was spun off from Danaher in 2019, to turn the company around in the wake of a $1.2 billion loss in the second quarter of 2024 due to a substantial non-cash charge regarding a loss of goodwill.
Envista offers products under 30 subsidiaries such as Nobel Biocare, Alpha-Bio Tec, Spark and Implant Direct; it generates more than $2.5 billion in annual sales. Projected core sales growth for 2025 is between 1 percent and 3 percent. In a recent YouTube interview, Keel said he doesn’t expect to fundamentally change Envista’s all-inclusive service platform, which takes care of all aspects of the dental supply chain. That has worked well for a quarter-century, but Keel is looking to modernize it given the ever-quickening pace of technological evolution.
One positive: Keel doesn’t see a wealth of competitors to Envista’s soup-to-nuts product line and—no secret to anyone in the industry—says the need for quality dentistry worldwide is vastly outpacing the number of dentists, hygienists and dental assistants. Demand is there; Envista intends to meet it. —H.G.
28. Howard Farran
THE DENTAL MEDIA BARON
Last year: 24
CEO, Farran Media, Dentaltown, Orthotown, Hygienetown
Phoenix
HAPPY “DR. FARRAN appears on the 32 Most Influential list” day! (A yearly holiday, that.) His sustained success as proprietor of Farran Media and its various “-town” products have made him one of dentistry’s most enduring voices.
Traffic to dentaltown.com, his flagship, is down a bit in recent years, but it remains one of the most popular places online for dental professionals to connect, chat, get news and participate in forums and CE seminars. It has more than 250,000 members—no small achievement for a site founded in 1999, the Web 1.0 Pleistocene Era. And now it’s moving into AI. “We’ve made our most transformative leap yet: a full rebuild from the ground up using AI and Python,” Farran says. “We’ve reimagined Dentaltown as the AI edge for every dentist—a next-gen platform where clinical wisdom meets machine intelligence.”
The good doctor maintains a busy speaking schedule and continues to host his popular long-running podcast, Dentistry Uncensored, of which he has recorded an astonishing 1,668 episodes (as of press time) since August 2014.
Maintaining a frenetic schedule, unfailingly friendly and always gloriously uncensored: That’s our Howard. We’ll see everyone here in 12 months’ time, OK? It’s a date. —R.S.
29. Anton Woolf
THE LAB MAN’S LAB MAN
Last year: 31
CEO, Argen
San Diego
LIKE PLANMECA (see No. 26), Argen is a privately held company that has been around for relative eons—in Argen’s case, since 1963, when it was founded in South Africa as a refiner of X-ray film and precious metals for dentistry.
In 1983, founders Bertie and Jackie Woolf moved to San Diego and began selling alloy metals to dental labs. By 2005, Argen was the world’s largest maker of precious dental alloys. A year later, their son Anton was named vice president. In 2008, he became CEO.
Under his leadership, Argen transformed from an alloy supplier into a fully integrated digital manufacturer, serving as a lifeline for small and midsize dental labs. The foresight to automate and explore digital solutions early on has paid dividends.
Argen keeps its recipe secret—a private-company perk—but Woolf tells us he’s acutely sensitive to global economic challenges. The company is responding by “leaning in on the digital transformation [and] reinforcing our innovation pipeline.” In other words, leveraging “the ability to act quickly [and] be resilient in challenging market cycles” to maintain customer focus.
Steady success makes Argen a prime private-equity target, and Woolf doesn’t deny a stream of suitors. But he also doesn’t seem much interested. “Today’s challenges [are] tomorrow’s opportunities, and we’re building for the future with that mindset.” —R.S.
30. Simon Campion
THE ANSWER AT LAST?
Last year: 21
CEO, Dentsply Sirona
Charlotte, North Carolina
CAMPION SEEMS LIKE a man who relishes a challenge. He’s certainly getting one. He took the helm of Dentsply Sirona in 2022, the latest leader of the company that has traveled a mostly bumpy road since its merger formation in 2016.
So it goes: In February, Dentsply Sirona reported that fiscal year 2024 net sales were down 4.3 percent. Campion insists the company is financially sound, and he remains an optimist. “I have full trust in this company, in its people, in its products and solutions,” he tells Incisal Edge. “While the macroeconomic climate is not the friend of the dental industry right now, our relentless focus on innovation will continue to make dentistry more efficient while delivering great clinical outcomes for patients.”
The heart of his strategy is DS Core, a cloud-based platform introduced in 2022 that integrates imaging, diagnostics, treatment planning and collaboration into workflows for restorative dentistry, aligners and implantology. The company has rolled out 85 updates to DS Core since its debut, Campion says, connecting “practices, partners and technology to drive the future of digital dentistry.”
Indeed, DS Core powered Dentsply Sirona’s most recent major technology launch, last September: Primescan 2. Billed as the first cloud-native intraoral scanning solution, it allows dental professionals to scan directly to the cloud using any internet-connected device, eliminating the need for dedicated hardware.
Campion is also focused on expanding the company’s signature DS World event—to be held this September in Las Vegas—to Spain, Italy, the U.K. and Mexico. He likewise enticingly hints (“stay tuned!”) at new products in the offing. Can he finally be the one to right the oft-listing Dentsply Sirona skiff? We, and the entire industry, await. —J.M.
“While the macroeconomic climate is not the friend of the dental industry right now, our relentless focus on innovation will continue to make dentistry more efficient while delivering great clinical outcomes for patients.”
31. Richard Black
THE OASIS IN THE HIGH DESERT
New
Dean, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine
El Paso, Texas
THE WORLD NEEDS more dentists, orthodontists and oral health specialists of all kinds. One place in this country where that need is particularly acute is on the Texas side of the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso.
Texas Tech announced its Hunt School in 2019 and opened it in 2021 as, astoundingly, the first new dental school to open in Texas in 50 years. Its clear intent from day one: to serve the parched dental-care desert of El Paso and the surrounding region, much of it desolate. (The nearest dental school in Texas is close to 500 miles away; to El Paso’s north is a dental school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, nearly 275 miles away.)
Dr. Black knows this terrain intimately, having been an orthodontist in private practice in El Paso for 40 years before dedicating himself to opening the Hunt School. He’s also the chair of the American Dental Education Association’s Council of Deans for 2025-26.
He has ample reason to be proud: The first 40 Hunt School students graduate in 2025, ten of whom have secured elite residencies. There are 60 students in the class of 2028, with the majority coming from West Texas and the Texas border region. Sixty-three percent of them are bilingual; 57 percent are first-generation college students. All of which is critical in a region already plagued by fraught border politics and often poor access to care. We’re rooting for all of them, from Dr. Black on down. —H.G.
32. Truvella “Trudy” Reese
THE VICTIMS’ ADVOCATE
New
Mrs. Nevada America 2024
Las Vegas
DR. REESE WEARS multiple crowns, some of them literal. One stems from having founded a successful family and cosmetic practice, Crowne Dental, in Las Vegas. A second is from her victory in the 2024 Mrs. Nevada-America Pageant. (Her daughter, Cameron, won the Teen Nevada United World pageant the same year.) The third is due to her work as a chair member of Physicians Against Trafficking Humans (PATH), an 11-year-old offshoot of the American Medical Women’s Association whose noble purpose is spelled out clearly in its moniker.
She has long been a fierce advocate for survivors of human trafficking, but “once I stepped into the world of pageantry, suddenly people from all walks of life—schools, churches, community groups—were asking me to speak,” she says. “Donations to my nonprofit, Reasons to Smile, increased significantly, allowing us to serve four times as many survivors with life-changing smile restorations.”
She also volunteers with the Las Vegas chapter of Refuge for Women, which helps provide emergency housing and long-term care for victims of sex trafficking or sexual exploitation.
Whether chairside or onstage, Dr. Reese exemplifies the good that dentists can do regardless of the size of their megaphone. —R.S.
Where Did They Go?
Several major notables who graced these pages a year ago no longer do. Here’s why.
Rena D’Souza
Former director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Last year: 3
FOR SEVERAL years, Dr. D’Souza has been a major player on the 32 Most Influential list; we put her on the cover of this issue in 2021. That’s a testament to the oomph she brought as director of the NIDCR, overseeing hundreds of millions of coveted medial research dollars.
Then came a seemingly sudden withdrawal from the public eye, amid speculation of a rift between D’Souza and the Department of Health & Human Services, under whose purview the NIDCR falls.
Dr. D’Souza helped clarify the tense sequence of events for Incisal Edge. She retired as NIDCR director effective January 31, 2025, after being on paid administrative leave since April 2024. Court records show that her exit came the same month she settled a civil rights and employment discrimination lawsuit she had filed against HHS in federal court in Maryland in September 2023.
Born in India and the first Asian woman to head an NIH institute, Dr. D’Souza alleged in the lawsuit that HHS condoned “a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and bullying.” She was falsely accused, the lawsuit said, of making inappropriate statements to subordinates and suspended on two occasions even as she tried to make “much-needed reforms within NIDCR.”
NIDCR officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Dr. D’Souza’s allegations were never litigated because court records show the case was stayed in March 2024 pending settlement talks.
She decided to settle, Dr. D’Souza says, for reasons including that she was “proud of all that I had accomplished” and that her life “was far bigger and fulfilling than anything that NIH could offer me at that time.” (She declined to disclose the settlement terms.)
She’s staying busy, currently finishing several manuscripts covering her NIH research in craniofacial development and genetics, speaking regularly at conferences and serving on the advisory board of several dental schools.
Myechia Minter-Jordan
Former CEO, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health
Last year: 6
DR. MINTER-JORDAN’S absence this year has a simple reason: She has taken her talents to a larger playing field as the new CEO of AARP, the influential nonprofit that represents Americans over age 50. There she has shifted focus to issues such as protecting Social Security benefits from potential future cuts.
“Dr. Minter-Jordan is focused on improving health, financial security and overall well-being for more than 100 million Americans—and that kind of impact requires the same commitment to access and innovation that guided her work in prior roles,” says an AARP spokesperson who answered questions on her behalf.
Dr. Minter-Jordan took over at AARP last November. She had been running the Boston-based CareQuest Institute since 2021, the year it launched. The institute’s board chair, Pam Reeve (see No. 5), tells Incisal Edge that an active search for her successor is underway. Whoever lands the job will face immediate challenges; as our profile of Reeve notes, there are signs of trouble regarding the organization’s opaque finances.
Raymond A. Cohlmia
Former executive director, American Dental Association
Michael Graham
Former chief lobbyist,
American Dental Association
Last year: 8 (both)
CHANGE ARRIVED at the ADA this February in the form of a news release announcing, without explanation, that Dr. Cohlmia was resigning as executive director “effective immediately.” The ADA board named Elizabeth Shapiro (see No. 2), the organization’s chief of governance and strategy management, as his interim replacement.
In an October 2024 report to the ADA’s House of Delegates, Dr. Cohlmia intimated that trouble was afoot. With its “antiquated business and membership models,” he said, the ADA was losing members amid an unexplained “fear of our radical transformation.”
Incisal Edge has confirmed his departure stemmed at least in part from tension between Dr. Cohlmia and the board. Reached by text, Dr. Cohlmia says he “stepped away from the ADA in mutual understanding. The board . . . is now wanting to pursue a different direction.”
As for Graham, his departure after nearly 30 years came without palace intrigue. He left to become executive director of the Rockville, Maryland–based American College of Dentists nonprofit in March 2024.
“It was bittersweet because I love the ADA,” Graham tells Incisal Edge. “But going to the college was equally nice. I love it.”
LOADING FORM...