Dr. Attia Treats Patients like Family
Mohamed Attia, DDS, MAGD, has traveled the world from one Alexandria to another. He began his dental journey in Alexandria, Egypt, and today he owns and operates Alexandria Center of Dentistry in Alexandria, Virginia. No matter where he is, Attia believes in providing his patients with the highest quality of care possible, whether it’s through cutting-edge technology, the latest continuing education or the warmest customer service. He answered a few questions about his experiences and outlook.
AGD Impact: What inspired you to become a dentist, and what has your professional journey been like?
Attia: I’ve known I would be a doctor since childhood. I used to have a sign on my bedroom door that read “Dr. Mohamed.” I guess it was family inspiration — both of my uncles and my aunt were cardiologists, my sister is a pharmacist, and my cousin and a family friend were dentists. As I grew up, I fell in love with dentistry more than medicine because I saw how much it can impact people’s lives for the better and give them beautiful smiles. Dentistry has a very unique mix of art and science combined with the interpersonal aspect of developing great relationships with your patients.
I started my professional journey in Alexandria University in Egypt and graduated from dental school in 2002. Afterward, I did a one-year residency program before deciding to move to the United States to practice more modern dentistry. When I graduated, the majority of patients in Egypt only went to the dentist when they had severe pain, when it was often too late to save the tooth. Nowadays, many do go for routine care, and the dental offices are well equipped with modern technology like what we have in the United States. One major difference that prevails is that the dental hygienist position does not exist in Egypt, so dentists there still have to do their own hygiene treatments.
In the United States, I did two general practice residencies: one focusing on oral surgery, trauma and implants at the Howard University College of Dentistry in Washington, D.C., and another focusing on restorative dentistry and oral medicine at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. I strongly believe that residency programs should be a must in any dentist’s career. The knowledge and skills you learn during these programs are priceless, and I can’t imagine working without this experience right after dental school. It was the best thing I did for my career. In my practice now, I believe in personalized care. We work to create a family atmosphere. I like to get to know my patients and make them feel at ease. I have a great staff that takes awesome care of our patients. I also love technology. We have a CEREC milling machine for same-day crowns, a cone beam computed tomography scanner for better diagnosis and dental implant surgery planning, and a 3D printer to print our own surgical guides.
What inspired you to get involved with AGD, and what roles have you held in the organization? How does being actively involved with organized dentistry benefit you?
I started my journey with AGD in 2008 and have been hooked ever since! I joined mainly for continuing education (CE), but then I started to feel that this organization is where I belong. I feel like I’m a part of a big family, and the organization does a great deal to support the general dentist. Dentistry is exhausting and requires a lot of continual learning, so you have to love it in order to succeed. AGD helps with that.
Serving in leadership roles within organized dentistry is a way for me to give back to my profession. I am a past president of the Virginia AGD and am currently a CE chair. I also currently serve as chair of AGD’s Dispute Resolution Committee and am a member of the Communications Council.
I have also achieved Fellowship and Mastership through AGD. Earning these awards helped motivate me to keep moving forward in my journey, developing my knowledge and skill base within a variety of categories. Through this, AGD made me a better dentist.