Why He Was Nominated

As if transforming his company from one small office into a group of 85 employees and 15 practices weren’t enough, Dr. Burris in 2008 founded the Smile for a Lifetime Foundation to help children who can’t afford orthodontic care. Since then, more than 100 chapters have been founded across 30 states, providing more than $10 million worth of excellent care to some 2,000 children.

Inspiration

Constant improvement of technique through continuing education and mentors. “I realized early on that a dental license is a license to learn and ask questions,” he says. “I never stop asking.”

Exciting New Trend

The “democratization” of orthodontics — “the fact that something once considered an elective luxury is becoming a normal rite of passage.”

Something People Don't Know

Being a husband and father, he says, are “the most rewarding endeavors of my life.”