Elevating the Standard of Care
The highly skilled doctors of The Oral Surgery Group provide life-changing treatment for a wide range of issues related to the mouth, teeth, and face.
The Oral Surgery Group—it’s an instantly recognizable name that lets prospective patients know the precise area of medical specialty. If the name is not immediately familiar, there’s a good reason why: The practice was formerly known as Pennsylvania Dental Implant & Oral Surgery Associates, or PennDIOS.
Though the name on the door may have changed, the practice’s focus on exceptional care has not. The Oral Surgery Group includes a team of expertly trained and educated clinicians with decades of experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery: Michael D. Sock, D.M.D., M.D., F.A.C.S.; Austin P. Daly, M.D., D.D.S; Michael T. Dachowski, D.M.D.; and Colleen M. Holewa, M.D., D.M.D. The Oral Surgery Group offers a wide range of services, including dental implants, bone grafting, tooth extractions, corrective facial surgery, TMJ and sleep disorders, pre-prosthetic surgery, oral pathology, impacted wisdom teeth, and much more.
In other words, the team can effectively address virtually any issue associated with the mouth, teeth, and face, according to Dr. Dachowski, the practice’s founder, who is board certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
“We do everything very, very well, because of the team of surgeons we have,” Dr. Dachowski adds. “We manage facial conditions, oral and dental conditions, and cancers. Because our team includes medical doctors as well as dentists who are board certified in oral and maxillofacial surgery, there is an added degree of credibility to the practice. Their additional training is very intense, which produces a physician-dentist well versed in all medical issues a patient may have, including facial trauma.”
The Oral Surgery Group has four locations throughout the area, each of which is uniquely aligned with healthcare organizations such as Doylestown Health, Holy Redeemer Hospital, St. Mary Medical Center, and Nazareth Hospital. Each office, located on a hospital campus or nearby, is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to provide best-in-class care.
“We’re changing lives,” says Dr. Dachowski, who holds degrees from LaSalle University and University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and completed his postgraduate education at Duke University Medical Center’s Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. “Our ability to improve patients’ oral health by what we do with our two hands and head is very rewarding. We serve our communities. We take calls in all of our hospitals. We improve patients’ lives so they can return to work or school with improved function, aesthetics, and a better quality of life.”
Dr. Daly says few things are more satisfying than the look from a patient after he has helped “give them their life back.” He remembers one patient, a 17-year-old girl from Doylestown, who had been kicked in the face by a horse. The equine’s powerful kick—a force of approximately 2,000 pounds per square inch, at a speed of 200 m.p.h.—knocked out five teeth, caused multiple fractures, and damaged additional bone. The girl was understandably devastated, but Dr. Daly rebuilt the girl’s severely damaged mouth over a period of two years until the affected areas looked brand new.
“We treat trauma patients like her all the time,” says Dr. Daly, who received his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University and his D.D.S. from Columbia University Dental School. “We have to bring them along physically and emotionally while we do the work. We have to be psychologists, to a degree, to let them know it takes time, but that they will be OK.”
Dr. Sock is the Surgical Director of the Facial Trauma Team at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne. At The Oral Surgery Group, his specialty is orthognathic surgery to correct irregularities of the jaw, thereby improving the patient’s bite, restoring their confidence, and enhancing their quality of life. In addition to human talent, he says the practice stands apart because of its use of cutting-edge technology to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. He cites cone beam computed tomography, or CBCT, a special type of X-ray equipment that allows dentists to see clear, detailed images of the teeth, as well as structures that surround them. The CBCT scanner takes nearly 600 slices of information, which are then reassembled to provide 3D views of the patient’s mouth.
“Our group stays at the forefront in terms of technology, well ahead of the curve,” says Dr. Sock, who received his D.M.D. from Temple University and M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “If it helps us treat the patient, and if it helps allay their fears because they know they have the best technology and doctors, we will get it. Things like cone beam technology makes diagnosing and treating 1,000 times easier than even 10 years ago. It’s gotten us to the point of planning and executing the perfect surgery.”
Dr. Holewa, who joined The Oral Surgery Group earlier this year, is the newest member of the clinical team. She earned a bachelor’s in chemistry from Northeastern University, a dental degree from the University of Connecticut, and a medical degree from the University of North Carolina. Like Dr. Sock, she specializes in orthognathic surgery.
“Sometimes, people come in with so much pain,” says Dr. Holewa. “Within 45 minutes, we can get them feeling so much better. We get people who haven’t had teeth for years and give them a new smile. With some of the larger surgeries, like jaw surgery, we can help them regain their self-esteem. Changing people’s lives is the best part of what I do; it’s what all of us do here every day. I know we all can’t imagine doing anything else.”
At The Oral Surgery Group, the primary focus is on treating each patient with compassion and understanding, including those in need of urgent, life-changing treatment. Dr. Dachowski says he learned this patient-first philosophy by watching his father, the late Dr. Edward A. Dachowski Sr., a dentist who served the Willow Grove community for more than 40 years.
“My main mentor was my father,” he says. “The things I gleaned from being around him, how he always took care of people—he really cared for them. He also had a wonderful bedside manner. I’ve never forgotten that. It’s what guides me today with this practice. It’s one of the reasons we’re on call every second of the day, all year long, to help patients in need. Everything we do is designed to provide unsurpassed care.”
For more information on The Oral Surgery Group, which has office locations throughout the area, call (267) 656-7610 (new patients) or (215) 938-7860 (existing patients), or visit www.theoralsurgerygroup.com.
Photograph by Jody Robinson
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, July 2021.
