Press Release:

A Kinder and Gentler Dental Practice
By Adina Genn

Robert Silver, a Suffolk County dentist with a 30-year-old practice, is an observer of human nature.
He understands, for instance, why people put off visiting the dentist. Some find it tough to squeeze in the time for an appointment. Some find the experience too anxiety-laden. Others have trouble with the cost

But Silver also knows a thing or two about coming up with solutions. He learned how to allay people’s phobias, for instance, while in the U.S. Navy, where he provided dental services to nearly 1,000 people in his mobile-construction battalion and to South Vietnamese locals in Chu Lai.
Long Island is a far cry from Chu Lai, but to Silver, 61, certain principles still apply. In Vietnam, Silver named his facility Gental Dental, a moniker that he hoped expressed his philosophy of offering the highest quality of care possible. There he provided 24-hour emergency treatment and attended to troops and civilians on-site and at remote locations. He also saw patients six days a week.

“They were the bravest guys in combat, but not in the dental char,” Silver said.

Today, some 30 years later, Silver is the senior partner at Gentle Dental in Long Island. He and his tea of 10 dentists operate five offices in Suffolk County, including Port Jefferson, Middle Island and, since 2002, Northport, Eastport and Wading River. The practice employs 40 healthcare professionals in all.

Silver still offers 24-hour emergency care and keeps Sunday and evening hours. With a 32-foot can at features two complete dental rooms; he aims to bring dentist to those who aren’t able to visit the office, just as he did in Vietnam.

T1 lines link the offices so that Silver can ensure quality care d colleagues can “learn exponentially” by reviewing X-rays and photos. And with five locations, Silver can place employees in environments in which they’ll strive. While some are better practicing alone, others are more gregarious and prefer working in one of the larger offices, he said.
Because costs are another reason people avoid the dentist, Gentle Dental is part of a well-developed plan. Take the 24-hour emergency care, which is available at the Port Jefferson branch. Silver purchased a residence next door to the practice and provided housing to one of his dentists “to make it easy to respond to after-hour evening care,” he said. The building enabled Silver to offer additional parking spots for patients and staff.

Port Jefferson is also the site for evening hours, a “fledgling program providing care till midnight by appointment,” Silver said. Having the residence next door “makes the program get off the ground.”

To help launch the service, Silver is planning to run print ads that say, “It’s your day off. Would you rather spend it in your beach chair or a dental chair?
By making dentistry more widely available, “the need for emergency care will drop off,” Silver said.

He credits the emergency care ad seven-days-a-week service will bringing in new patients. “Sundays are so busy. Most people who have one day a week off have it on Sunday,” he said.

The extended hours “get people to see his setup,” said Larry Biblo, a partner at Melville-based Weiner and Biblo, which provides accounting and legal advice to Silver. “Bob has a lot of vision. He’s as attuned to the business side and the marketing side as he is to the clinical side. Not all dentists can say that.”

Now Silver is extending that vision with a dental van that he plans to bring to shut-ins, assisting living centers and corporate parks. “We’ll treat patients where they’re working and bring dentistry to the patient,” he said. “We’ll have dental screenings at adult homes and industrial parks. Dry cleaners go in there, so why not a dental van? Patients that need a cleaning can get a cursory exam and, in many instances, go back to their own dentists. We’re not trying to take patients away from their dentists. We’re providing a service that’s not being offered, and that patient has the option of doing whatever they want.”

The van is a longtime dream that Silver said he couldn’t realize without the support of his team.

“The average dentist is content to build his one office and live happily ever after,” said Kurt Larsen, a former owner of Commack-based Island Dental, where he’s now a sales consultant. “{Silver} can see an area that could use a Gentle Dental center and pass along his same purpose to his staff and partners.”

Even while launching the van service, Silver’s keeping an eye out for new practices to purchase in Suffolk County.

“Originally I wanted big facilities. I looked at how banks operate. It’s more efficient to have many in fewer locations,” Silver said. But more locations are what people wanted. It’s more convenient (for them).”

Silver not only scaled down office sizes but also reined in the scope of his projected territory.

“I wanted to do Greater New York but (worried) about not providing quality of care in managing that size,” he said. “Now I just look to cover Suffolk County.”