Speaker 1: 0:31

I'm Nojan Jafari. I'm a dentist, I own Pace Dental in Vienna and I serve the Vienna, oakton, reston, fairfax community.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Awesome, all right, so we want to know all about your story. We'll start with what first inspired you to go into dentistry and what made you choose the path of advanced residency training.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Yeah, I think the main thing that I noticed kind of growing up in dentistry was the transformative aspect.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Especially, growing up I was lucky enough to have a few mentors in the dental field that weren't family members, but I was lucky enough that they would spend their time to kind of teach me a little bit of the aspects of dentistry as I was growing up.

Speaker 1: 1:13

And then I think the part that most stood out to me was when I shadowed an oral surgeon and we had an all day surgery planned on this recent immigrant who you know, didn't have a lot of money.

Speaker 1: 1:25

We were doing a pro bono surgery for him all day, eight to five, where we yeah, we were taking out some of his last remaining teeth, gave him a full set of implant dentures, top and bottom, and just seeing the end of that procedure, how he was a totally different person from the beginning to the end of that. When he got his teeth and we asked him to smile, it had been 20 years since he had even done an open mouth smile. His muscles didn't even remember how to do it and so we had to practice just for 15 minutes to get him to that point and when he finally made that smile. His tears just started streaming down his face and so that was kind of the biggest impactful, transformative thing I've seen in dentistry and has stuck with me throughout and kind of just confirmed for me that this was the field I wanted to be in.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Yeah, wow, that's such a powerful story. What a beautiful moment to witness too. You spent years serving veterans at the Kernersville VA. How did that experience shape your approach to care and your perspective on dentistry?

Speaker 1: 2:30

Yeah. So and that goes hand in hand with my residency program. I did an AGD program at UNC Chapel Hill. It's a general dentistry program Most dentists. You don't have to do a residency program. It's just if you want to gain more experience, which I felt after dental school. I owed it to my future patients to kind of get that experience under my belt before I started treating them.

Speaker 1: 2:49

And I had a stint at the Kernsville VA during that time and it was again one of the most rewarding aspects of my future career, even to this point.

Speaker 1: 2:59

I mean the veterans, just getting to pay them back for their service and, you know, telling them it was thanks to them that I was even here and kind of helping them work through the trauma of not only their military careers but dentistry in the military, which is kind of geared towards just patching them up and getting them to the front lines as quick as possible. So it's not very in tune with, you know, being intimate patient, caring for the patients as much as possible, because it's more of just a patch up, get you to the front lines so you can fight, and so it kind of taught me a lot of empathy, apart from the enormous amount of skills I learned. It taught me a lot about the intimate and more empathetic side of dentistry. I would spend 20 minutes sometimes just sitting with a patient and just talking with them, so the VA was an incredibly rewarding experience and it's one of the reasons actually in my practice currently I'm in network with VA community care and I continue to treat veterans.

Speaker 2: 3:54

Yeah, that's awesome. I feel like in the medical field, a lot of times there can be a little bit of a lack of empathy, which is warranted, but it's really great that you were able to foster that empathy within yourself through these experiences.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Yeah, and I think it's. It comes with, you know, being around super smart people, I feel like a lot of super smart people. A lot of the time we don't have that empathetic side. It's kind of one or the other. And I noticed that in dental school and afterwards. And even for me, I kind of just had to learn, you know, on the ground, on the spot, how to kind of build that relationship with patients and not just treat them through the didactics, the classroom, learning you know, oh, cavities, crowns, you need these kind of just talking them through it and helping them understand, because and I tell this to my patients all the time I went to dental school they didn't. So who are they to understand what I'm talking about with all these fancy terms? And that's the reason I like to use a lot of analogies, you know, use more simple terminology with which patients tell me themselves that are like thank you for making it make sense yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 4:58

All right, what sets the patient experience apart at Pace Dental of Vienna, especially for someone who may be especially anxious or hasn't seen a dentist in years? Of course, like apart from what you just described?

Speaker 1: 5:11

yeah, well, I think first things first is you walk in the door on Wednesdays and Thursdays at least least. You have our therapy dog, lulu, who comes and greets you. Yeah, she is the most precious bundle of joy and she is our favorite greeter. I call her my bride with the patients while I've been transitioning because I think she's helped patients like me a lot more and we've had a lot of anxious patients who a lot of their anxiety just melts away right when they see her kind of scampering up to them and she lets them pet her and she sits on some patient's laps while they're getting treatment done.

Speaker 1: 5:44

So that's like the number one thing that I think helps make us, makes us stand out. And then also just the intimate aspect. You know I sit down. Like I said, it's almost a fault of mine that I will sit down and talk with patients way too much and my assistants are like you have another patient, we got to get you out of here, come on. And so I kind of just get stuck trying to get to know my patients and treating them like a family member and not just a client that's walked through the door, because that's not who they are.

Speaker 2: 6:11

Yeah, yeah, wow, that's great, all right, so kind of shifting gears. You've continued your education well beyond dental school. What technologies or methods are you most excited about bringing into the practice right now?

Speaker 1: 6:25

Yeah, I like to be at the forefront of technology. My practice is almost entirely digital. We don't do any more goopy impressions, we have it just in case for those select cases that you need it. But almost entirely digital. We do scanning technology. We had a 3D printer, but I've kind of gone back to using a lab because I tend to trust them and they have better materials. I've found that there's a price for the convenience you know, with same-day crowns it sounds nice, but I've done both and I've kind of gone back to the lab recently on that aspect. So, yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. That's kind of helped us, yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:06

Awesome, yeah, and I think just really ensuring the comfortability of the patients, that seems to be a through line of your approach.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:14

Whether it's through Lulu or having these new technologies that just make everything a little bit less anxiety-inducing for the patient.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Yeah, and I'm a pretty young dentist so I try to reinforce patients. When they come in, you know, some of them tell me like you're really young, do you have the experience? And so I kind of build on that by doing hundreds of hours of continuing education a year. I recently just came back from Colombia, bogota. We did week-long surgeries which served as pro bono you know, volunteer work for the Colombians but also training for me.

Speaker 1: 7:49

I'm working on super complex cases, getting a bunch of experience that I can bring back and use as more tools in my arsenal for my patients. So, yeah, I work on getting hundreds of hours of continuing education a year. The minimum I think the minimum you need is 15. So, yeah, I try to go well beyond that and that's kind of helped lead me into actually recently getting my mastership in two implant organizations the International College of Oral Implantology and the American Academy of Implant Prostodontics. So it kind of helps patients not only be more comfortable knowing that I have those skills and those tools in my arsenal, but also helps bring new patients in, because some of them, you know, they want someone who's experienced and has dealt with complex situations, because anyone can put an implant in I don't want to say anyone, but you know putting an implant in is easy, but being able to deal with any possible complications or, you know, being able to deal with things that go wrong, is the tougher part.

Speaker 2: 8:46

Absolutely. Is there a specific new piece of technology or technique that most patients don't know about but that makes a big difference in an outcomes?

Speaker 1: 8:56

I think recently. One of the things that I've loved and that I've recently incorporated into the practice is what we call scannable healing abutments and implants Before implants. You know, it's like a six to nine month process sometimes because bone takes super long time to heal and you need, you know, multiple surgery steps, sometimes just to get a scan for the crown step. But they have these scannable healing abutments now that kind of guide your tissues while your bone is healing around the implant and we don't need to do a whole new surgery later on just to take that out, put a new what we call analog in that kind of helps scan for the crown. Now we can use that and don't have to do a second surgery scan for the crown, same step. And then it's just in the final step. We finally take that healing cap off, put in the crown and patients are happy. They don't need to go through a whole nother surgery all over again. No one wants to get numb more than once.

Speaker 2: 9:50

Wow, no, that's great. It seems like you're really ensuring that patients are comfortable throughout the process of just coming in to procedures, from beginning to end. Really, they're very comfortable and accommodated, so that's amazing yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:05

That's something I've kind of learned as I've come along is really just patients want you to listen to them and to hear them. I almost joke that I'm a therapist. Sometimes Patients you know they'll come to me from other offices or from past experiences and they'll just say you know they felt rushed Like they were, you know, just getting rushed through treatment, getting rushed out the door. They didn't understand what they were going through and again to a fault, I almost explain things too much, like I try to make sure they understand everything, every aspect of what we're doing, even for stuff that's, say, 10 years down the line I try to educate them on. Okay, we're trying to prevent this from happening in the far future, which I feel like a lot of providers don't spend that time and I hear that from my patients where they just appreciate me talking with them, sitting down and listening.

Speaker 2: 10:53

Yeah, I mean, knowledge is power and when you know why, or when you know the reasoning for a certain approach or for doing certain things, you're more likely, I feel, to stick to that and just empowering your patients with that knowledge, I think, is really unique and really special.

Speaker 1: 11:10

Yeah, exactly, and they tell me they're like thank you, I understand why I need it and so we should do this now Exactly, and that's why I incorporate color photos. We have our 3D scanner so people can see their own teeth, which, honestly, most of the time, they're like oh my God, these are my teeth.

Speaker 2: 11:31

But it helps them understand what's going on, because otherwise I could say whatever I'm saying and you're just imagining it in your head. Yeah, it's great, all right as a co owner of Pace Dental. Oh, you're not a co owner, actually solo yes. As the sole owner of Pace Dental, how do you shape the culture and values of the practice?

Speaker 1: 11:47

I think the biggest thing is and my team will tell you this we're a big team. I always tell them help out. Whenever you can Communicate with each other, we're here to step up and help each other. No matter what I've done starey, I've flipped rooms, I do hygiene. I've done everything, every step.

Speaker 1: 12:06

I try to stay away from billing because I hate numbers. I'm not a business guy, I'm a tooth nerd. I just flip the burgers as I joke around with the patients and say so. I just try to reinforce that team aspect so everyone feels supported. You know we work hard, we're trying to grow and learn all the time, but if you don't have a support system while you're trying to do that, you almost feel abandoned and like you're hung out to dry and you know someone's just throwing you in the deep end.

Speaker 1: 12:30

So I always tell my team ask questions. I'd rather you ask than just try to do something and then you know it gets messed up or you don't know and you just pretend. And I have them. Let me know their opinions. I've had team members who told me you know the dentist or provider they've worked for didn't want them to talk at all, like it was just whatever they wanted and it's just orders For me. It's. I'm big on that communication. I tell them let me know what you think. Like I have the, especially the, my assistants. I have them coordinate with me on shade matching. I joke that the ladies are better with colors than I, so I really lean on them and they help a lot in improving not only the relationship with the patients but the outcome and growth of the practice as a whole.

Speaker 2: 13:13

Yeah, it seems like a great work environment In terms of looking for team members. What do you look for in a great team member?

Speaker 1: 13:22

Again that ability to just want to learn and grow. I'd say it's not hard to train someone as long as they have that capacity for growth. You know a lot of people tend to just you know kind of blame others when stuff goes wrong and they don't want to take that chance to get better at something. And this might be just something I learned in dental school through my trials and tribulations or you know, I dealt with a lot more disappointment than I ever thought I would in my life and that I ever had dealt with. You know, dental school was the toughest things I had to deal with and you know I got really close to dealing with what I considered failure, even though it wasn't. It's just the OCD aspect of me, and so it helped me grow as a person and I try to just pass that on to my team and just instill that in them and then just instill a positive work environment as well. You know we have team lunches and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:16

All right. So regarding kind of your community, Vienna is such a special community. How does serving the area impact the way that you run your practice or connect with patients?

Speaker 1: 14:27

It's actually a reason that I chose the practice. Vienna is just such an intimate, quaint, close-knit community and that's kind of just what I wanted in my practice too. I'm not a volume guy. I don't see that many patients a day. I spend time with my patients and it's reflected in the community. Everyone knows each other, everyone's just connected, and most of my new patients are referrals from existing patients, rather than what you see in most other areas is online, um, stuff like that, which we still still do get. But word of mouth means everything to me and that's the best review someone could give you know is asking someone else to come to our office, um. So I think the close-knit nature of Vienna is reflected in our practice and again is a reason that I chose the practice and I love it and I feel like we're thriving in it.

Speaker 2: 15:16

Amazing. You've already accomplished so much in dentistry. It sounds like. What legacy or long-term impact do you hope to leave through Pace?

Speaker 1: 15:26

So I really just want to continue the legacy that the practice has already had.

Speaker 1: 15:31

Pace Dental has been around even before Dr Pace, who is the namesake, dr Nibley since the 50s.

Speaker 1: 15:38

So this practice has been established in Vienna for a very long time and I really just want to continue that legacy of close, intimate care to the patients by someone who actually values them as a person and as a family member, because they're just my dental family at this point, especially in this time where you get a lot of corporate and private equity buying a lot of offices you have a lot of chain dentistry and even medical. You get a lot of chain offices these days and so people have kind of lost that intimate aspect and relationship with their provider and it comes back to what I said before, where they kind of feel like they're getting rushed out, they don't understand fully what they're getting into and they're just getting hit with bills and high costs. And it kind of perpetuates that myth that dentistry dentists are snake oil salesmen. They're just trying to sell us stuff. So I'm trying to kind of at least in my practice tamp down on that and try to move away from that perception.

Speaker 2: 16:37

What advice would you give to younger dentists who want to blend clinical excellence with authentic patient relationships in the way that you've?

Speaker 1: 16:44

done To keep it simple is listen to the patients. Simple terms, analogies. You want to communicate with them in a way that they can understand. I'll have an engineer. I'll communicate with them in engineering terms. I'll have someone who is a do-it-yourself just you know they do random projects at home. I'll equate things in dentistry to that. It's just trying to understand where your patients come from, what their lifestyle is, helping them understand things through that lens. And that's why I joke that you know I'm almost a therapist, because I have to understand everything about my patients and be able to communicate with them and understand where they're coming from.

Speaker 2: 17:22

Wow, okay. Well, is there anything else that you'd like us to know about your practice, or who you are, or anything like apart from the questions I asked?

Speaker 1: 17:33

Yeah, I think the big thing is and it comes with me working at the VA is our practice is very geared to prevention and conservative dentistry. At the VA I'm not sure if you know, but veterans don't pay for anything because you know we're paying them back. You know they did their service and you know we owe it to them to give them the service on our end that they're owed, at least in dentistry. And so working at the VA, because they didn't have to pay for anything, we just had to do whatever they needed, you know. And so working at the VA, because they didn't have to pay for anything, we just had to do whatever they needed. And so going into private practice.

Speaker 1: 18:06

I think that was one of the best things I could have done, because going to private practice, I do things if you need them. I don't look at the costs or anything like that and again it comes back to me just flipping the burgers. I don't like to do the money. I stay away from the money. I just do things if we need them.

Speaker 1: 18:21

And I like to focus on prevention, if we can do it, because it's always easier to prevent a problem than to have to treat it. Prevention is always easier and cheaper than treatment. So that's why I really and I instill it on my patients is the at-home hygiene and coming in for your regular cleanings, which, I joke, is like a personal training session for your gums. You do the at-home workouts at home for six months and then we have to make sure you're staying on track. You might be a little sore if you're missing some areas, but we'll be back into shape, so you're good for the next six months.

Speaker 1: 18:53

And I tell patients brushing and flossing it's the foundation of everything you're going to do. I could harp on you needing fillings, stuff like that, but if you don't improve the hygiene, it's just going to be a never-ending loop and you're going to almost feel like it's a losing battle. And what am I doing? I'm coming in for a filling once a year. So again, that's the reason I talk to patients at length try to educate them on the far-reaching damages of their current condition and trying to prevent it from even reaching that point.