Spotlight on Dr. Dimitry Klass

They say that laughter is the best medicine. To Dr. Dmitriy Klass, our featured employee for January, laughter, or at least having a good sense of humor, goes a long way when treating patients.

Dr. Klass says he tries to maintain a light touch when seeing patients who, understandably, are sometimes nervous and need extra understanding, patience and compassion.

“There’s often a lot of emotion when someone sees a medical practitioner of any kind,” he says. “Visiting a periodontist usually means there is an important issue that needs addressing, and a doctor with a sense of humor can make all the difference when treating patients who are slightly nervous and need their apprehension validated. Maybe they’re afraid of needles or have had a bad experience elsewhere in the past. It’s my job to solve the issue but also, at the same time, assure the patient that there will be no discomfort and that I understand if they have fears. Sometimes I even get a relaxed smile or laugh back in return, which is great.”

When he’s not treating patients at our Philadelphia office, Dr. Klass likes working on computers and cars, playing various sports and exploring the restaurant scene around his relatively new home base in Philadelphia.

“The food scene here is as vibrant as it gets outside of New York City,” he says. He also frequently visits the Big Apple to spend time with friends and family. He grew up in New York but was born in Belarus. Still fluent in Russian, Dr. Klass says that his bi-lingual skills often come in handy with Russian-speaking patients with whom he can easily converse and share their similar cultural backgrounds.

“With this shared culture, I can more easily read their body language which helps me assess comfort levels beyond what their words may be expressing.”

 Dr. Klass loves his chosen field and relishes the regular, after-patient hours meetings he shares with his Pennsylvania Center for Dental Implants and Periodontics colleagues. The doctors compare their own cases and often review and critique other published case studies to see how they may have handled the treatment or procedure differently.

“We all follow routine procedures but are constantly learning, continually pushing this craft forward with new research and techniques.”

Like Doctors Fava and Schoenebeck, Dr. Klass provides gum and bone-grafting services, dental implant procedures and offers patients various regenerative gum disease treatments.

To make an appointment with Dr. Klass, contact our Bustleton Pike, Philadelphia office at 215-677-8686. Referrals are always welcomed but not required.