Dental Arts of Westwood: Connecting with Community and Offering a Pleasant Experience

Inherently, most people know exactly where the office of Dental Arts of Westwood is located, even if they don’t realize they know…. yet.
 

As you approach 128 and 95 on Route 109, the “big yellow house” on the right is the headquarters of Dental Arts, two floors filled with 14 dental chairs and a warm staff ready to greet patients and families as they walk through the doors.
 

Thirteen years ago, Dr. Dan Kazachkov opened Dental Arts at a much smaller scale.
 

“We came to Westwood back in 2010 and started our construction,” said Dr. Dan. “We finished in 2011, building up the downstairs floor, and we started to grow from two chairs, to three chairs, to four chairs, to what we have now – 14 chairs across two floors.”
 

The growth has been a steady process, with Dr. Kazachkov adding specialists along the way, building a comprehensive, all-in-one dental facility for families.
 

“We have an in-house orthodontist, Dr. Alana Bednarz,” said Dr. Dan. “That has really helped us expand. We do dental implants with periodontists on hand, which can really help us out and put us into a different spectrum of what we can do here and what we can restore here.”
 

Dr. Bednarz joined the practice two years ago and has worked hard to become a part of the community, visiting schools to provide dental tips and consistently partnering with local businesses to reach families.
 
“I knew this is exactly where I wanted to be. I absolutely love this office,” said Dr. Alana. “We really offer an amazing patient experience. We have everything right here, so anytime I have a question for a provider, I have an immediate response for the patient.”
 

Connection is key to success, and getting familiar with families makes a huge difference.
 

“It’s not just an in-and-out appointment,” said Dr. Alana. “I know my patients, I consider a lot of them to be friends at this point, and I love being a part of the community, running into people, saying hi at the gym. I’ll see a parent and they’ll tell me I saw their daughter the other day in her classroom – they love that. You know, ‘Brushing off Those Sugar Bugs’ and all those presentations we do. It’s really important for kids to be aware of dental hygiene and we get into the community to be a part of that. It’s important for families to be comfortable with who their provider is.”
 

Both Dr. Dan and Dr. Alana attended Tufts School of Dental Medicine and are avid learners. As technology improves and the breadth of what they can offer expands, it’s imperative for them to stay on top of the latest information and constantly update their skill sets.
 

“One-hundred percent. Absolutely. Our patients expect that,” said Dr. Alana. “I think it’s really important, in my field of Orthodontics especially. I’ve seen a huge change, going from those old-school mouthful of impressions, which everyone hated, now to everything being so seamless and digital and easy for the patients. The kids and the adults BOTH love it. It’s a quick scan, I get the appliance back for them, or their aligners, and it’s just pain-free and easy, which it makes a good patient experience.”
 

“For the most part, kids won’t care what technology you use,” said Dr. Dan. “Adults will come in and they have questions. We’re talking about consumers that are well-educated and aware of what’s out there. A lot of dentists don’t keep up with the technology, but we truly enjoy doing that. We love what we do for our job. If you can’t answer questions for people that are informed and ready to make a decision, you’re going to be left behind.”
 

In this state-of-the-art facility, focusing on comfort and experience remains the top priority. Many adults are making the commitment to fix their smiles and bites and even address their TMJ pain with Botox treatments.
 

“When you think about people interacting with the head and neck of a patient, it’s usually not your physician,” said Dr. Dan. “Maybe he will look in your throat for a second, maybe he’ll feel your glands, but I’m sitting there looking at patients’ heads 24/7 and we’re injecting patients in the mouth, we’re injecting patients outside of the mouth. It’s hard for me to think of a more qualified professional than a dentist, or a plastic surgeon, to do something like Botox. A lot of times a plastic surgeon will delegate that task to a nurse practitioner.
 

“The other thing that we do differently is we use topical agents to pre-numb the face so that when we are giving Botox, you literally don’t feel your face. The injections are painless. That’s an important differentiator. Most physicians aren’t using topicals because topicals aren’t part of their natural, everyday curriculum, whereas we use topicals every day. Whether it’s Botox, whether it’s dentistry, the pain aspect of this field is from the past.”
 

It’s clear after speaking with Dr. Dan and Dr. Alana their goal is to make dentistry a pleasant experience for both children and adults while having the resources on hand to address any need that might come up as you mature.
 

Listen to my full conversation with Dr. Dan Kazachkov and Dr. Alana Bednarz by visiting the Westwood Living Podcast, available on SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon and YouTube.