Arpan Nalin Patel, D.M.D., is a dentist in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He has practiced in lower Bucks County since 2004, and the two kinds of work most associated with his name are complex restorative dentistry, in particular full arch implant supported reconstruction, and sedation dentistry for adults who have stayed away from dental care for years.
Both grow from the same conviction. A reconstruction that spans an entire arch is judged by whether the person can chew a meal and speak clearly again, and sedation is judged by whether the next appointment needs less of it than the last. In each case the measure is what the patient can do afterward, and the appearance of the result comes second.
Clinical focus
Two kinds of work account for most of what Dr. Patel does.
Full arch reconstruction
When every tooth in the upper or lower jaw has failed, the repair is a bridge fixed on implants placed along the arch. The surgery, the plan for where the new teeth will sit and the laboratory work all have to agree with one another, and the calendar for that runs in months. Dr. Patel treats these cases as a question of what the patient will be able to do afterward.
Dr. Arpan Nalin Patel: the full arch site
Sedation dentistry
Many of the adults he sees stayed away from dentists for ten or twenty years after one bad experience. Sedation makes the first visit possible. What he is working toward is a second visit that needs less of it, which is why he treats the subject as psychology first and pharmacology second.
How he works
Dr. Patel works in a multispecialty office in Langhorne where general dentists and specialists share one roof and can confer on a shared case face to face instead of by letter. He has held a director's role there since 2005 and has led it since 2011. The approach was shaped by seven earlier years, 2004 to 2011, directing a large multi provider practice in Fairless Hills.
Arpan Patel, DMD: the multispecialty site
He is the second dentist in his family. His father, Dr. Nalin Patel, also trained at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and passed on the habit Arpan Patel now teaches to every clinician he works with: spend four minutes on the person before a word about teeth.
About Arpan Nalin Patel: the biography
A separate site covers the imaging and planning tools that entered restorative dentistry over his two decades in practice, and the one thing none of them replaces.
Background
- Graduates from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, with a B.S. in biological sciences.
- D.M.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Begins as dental director in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, at a practice of 24 chairs and several providers, a post held through 2011.
- Joins the Langhorne multispecialty office as a director.
- Leads the Langhorne practice.
- His father, Dr. Nalin Patel, dies unexpectedly.
- Voted Best Dentist in Bucks County by Courier Times readers, eight years running.
- Profiled in Suburban Life Magazine.
Education and credentials
Arpan Nalin Patel took his undergraduate degree, in biological sciences, at the University of the Pacific, graduating in 2000, and his dental degree, the D.M.D., came from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 2004. His later training includes the Las Vegas Institute of Aesthetic Dentistry and implant certification through the London Institute of Implantology and Renew Smiles. He is a member of the American Dental Association and of the Pennsylvania Dental Association.
Recognition
Bucks County Courier Times readers named him the county's Best Dentist in every Best of the Best vote from 2017 through 2024. In February 2021 Suburban Life Magazine ran a profile of him covering the pandemic's first year, during which his office continued to see urgent cases while many in the region were closed.
Writing and profiles
Outside the office he is a Philadelphia Eagles fan, a golfer alongside his two sons, and a weekly pickleball player. His essays on dentistry and dental anxiety appear on Medium and on Blogger, and he keeps a journalist profile on Muck Rack.
The seven sites
This is the main site among seven. Each of the six companion sites takes up one part of his work in more depth.