About Dr. K
The aesthetic smile.
The smile is the first thing we see when we meet someone. The whole job is to give people back the one they were supposed to have.
I went to Penn State for undergrad, finished in 2004, then to the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine — DMD, 2008. I did my General Practice Residency at North Shore University Hospital and stayed on as Chief Resident, then a fellowship in advanced prosthetics and implantology. Implants were the work I wanted to get right; the rest of the craft built out from there.
I’m an Attending Professor at Columbia University, where I teach and stay honest about what the literature is actually saying. Some of my own work on implant dentistry has been published and cited. Outside the office I’ve volunteered with underserved patients in the Appalachian Mountains and in Haiti — dentistry that strips the work down to what matters.
The practice is small on purpose. Cosmetic work is most of what I do — veneers, Invisalign, smile design, implants and the prosthetics that ride on them. I take the editorial photography of the cases myself. How a smile reads on camera is part of how I plan the work, and I trust my own eye more than a stock setup.
Alongside cosmetic and restorative, I see patients for BOTOX and dermal fillers, sleep apnea and snoring, TMJ discomfort, and the quiet general work — exams, cleanings, root canals — that keeps a mouth healthy for decades. I was recently named to Dentists 40 Under 40 by Incisal Edge, and have been written up in Dental Product Shopper, Dental Economics, and The Daily Floss. Useful context. Not the point.
The point is what a smile is supposed to do in a human face. Most of my job is restraint — knowing when to leave enamel alone, when a quarter-millimeter of shape matters more than a full set, when to say no. The goal isn’t to make something new. It’s to restore what was supposed to be there.
The experience
The first visit is a conversation. I look, you talk. We sit for as long as it takes to understand what’s been bothering you and what you want a smile to do — in a meeting, in a photograph, in the mirror at the end of the day. No pitch. No package. Just the look and the listen.
If we move forward, I photograph the smile. The camera is part of how I design — it tells me how the teeth read in light, how they sit against the lip, where a quarter-millimeter will be felt. Most of the planning happens before any drill is touched.
The work then moves at the pace it should. I take time. Anesthesia is handled gently, the laser comes out when it’s the better tool, and there is room in the schedule for the part of dentistry that is just being a person in a chair. The aesthetic smile is built slowly, on purpose.
Training
- 2004 BS, Pennsylvania State University
- 2008 DMD, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
- Residency General Practice Residency — North Shore University Hospital
- Chief Resident North Shore University Hospital
- Fellowship Advanced Prosthetics & Implantology
- Faculty Attending Professor, Columbia University
In the News
Press and podcasts. Named to Dentists 40 Under 40 by Incisal Edge.