Let me reference a day in my childhood, back in my home country of Iran: I was a 9-year-old with tantalizing tooth pain, on a weekend, which meant there was no available dentist. I held my mom’s hand, and we went through the neighborhood as she knocked on the door of every single dental office she could find. At each door, we waited and waited, but there was no answer. I tried desperately to stop my tears because, even as a young boy, I felt something heavy in my mom’s heart that transcended my own toothache. Today, as a parent myself, I understand that her distress was a manifestation of her love for me. It must have been terrible for her to see her child in pain and not be able to do anything about it. She did not give up, and finally, after hours of looking and looking, she found a dentist who was willing to treat me on his day off.
On that day of suffering, the idea of Columbia Dental was born. The pain of seeing my mother not knowing what to do about me has been a guiding force in providing care to my patients. It’s why I have multiple locations in communities across the state, and why I’m open 7 days a week. I never want to be the reason any parent witnesses their child in pain.
I founded Columbia Dental in 2000 with my unique business model of staying open 7 days a week and late hours. It’s because of the success of my model that I was able to expand rapidly from my two-operatory office to thirteen locations across the state. During COVID-19, I was forced to consolidate all my resources in my Manchester location which was open for emergencies only. That’s when I realized that by combining our multispecialty dental services with our digital lab, we could deliver our patients complex full rehabilitation such as Nobel Biocare all-on-four. This was the inspiration for Columbia Implant Center, my second venture, specializing in the delivery of prosthesis one day, same day, seven days a week.