Reflecting on 40 Years of Fairfax Family Dental Care
This year, Fairfax Family Dental Care turns 40. When people first find their way to us, they usually come in needing a tooth repaired or replaced, or just want to establish routine care. What keeps them coming back, year after year, is the people they meet once they sit down. I opened this practice in 1986, and four decades later it gives me great pride that it has become an established source of restorative, general, and cosmetic dentistry performed by exceptional practitioners. So it feels like the right moment to reflect: to introduce you to the dentists I’m privileged to work beside, and to tell you what the three of us are committed to building here every day.
Where It Started
Why I Built This Place
My own road here was a winding one. Before dentistry, I was a schoolteacher, and then a communications officer in the United States Navy aboard the USS Lexington. Somewhere along the way, a stubborn fascination with science pulled me into biology, biochemistry, and finally the VCU School of Dentistry, where I earned my DDS. When I settled in Fairfax in 1986, drawn here by Northern Virginia’s remarkable scientific and cultural community, I made one decision about how this practice would run and never let go of it: patients would not be sent bouncing from office to office for every different need. Advanced dentistry, all under one roof, coordinated by people who actually talk to one another. Forty years later, that conviction still shapes everything we do.
The Dentists Beside Me
Drs. Simanek and Kamali
I could simply tell you they’re skilled, but you’d expect me to say that. So instead, let me tell you a little about why I trust them with the people I’ve spent my whole career caring for.
Dr. Milan Simanek
Orthodontics · Oral Surgery · Endodontics
Milan joined us in 2011 and quickly became one of the most respected orthodontic minds I know. He doesn’t just treat complex cases. He teaches other dentists how to, presenting at national meetings and earning Case of the Year more than once. From Invisalign and braces to wisdom teeth, implants, and root canals, he does it all with a gentle, down-to-earth manner that patients adore. He speaks English, Spanish, and Czech.
Dr. Touraj Kamali
Restoration · Full-Mouth Rehab · Cosmetic
Touraj has been with us for more than twenty years, and there is very little he hasn’t rebuilt. Trained at the University of Texas with hospital residencies in oral surgery, prosthodontics, and anesthesiology, he’s our go-to for full-mouth rehabilitation, implants, crowns, and smile makeovers. Dr. Kamali’s work has earned him recognition among Virginia Living’s Top Dentists. He blends art, science, and technology with genuine warmth, and is fluent in Farsi.
How We Work
What We’re Known For
Across four decades, a few commitments have never changed. They are the reason patients come in, and the reason they stay.
Comfort First
You should feel at ease long before we ever begin.
If there’s one thing we hear more than anything else, it’s that people don’t always look forward to a trip to the dentist. We understand that completely, and we’ve built this office around it. Here, you benefit from a calm, welcoming space; a team that takes the time to explain every step before we begin; and a simple standard that care is always thorough and always gentle. For a great many of the people we see, it’s the whole reason they finally came in, and the reason they trust us with everything that comes next.
Restorative Care
Most of what we do is putting things back the way they belong.
Restorative work fills most of our days. Dental implants and dentures that let people eat and speak without a second thought. Crowns that make a compromised tooth whole again. Wisdom teeth removed before they cause real trouble, and careful treatment of gum disease before it costs you far more than it should. And when you’re ready to love how your smile looks, and not only how it works, we’re here for that too, with custom smile makeovers, Invisalign, and traditional orthodontics. (Dr. Simanek and I maintain membership in the American Orthodontic Society and the International Association for Orthodontics.) All of it happens in the same office, handled by the same team that already knows your history.
Honest Pricing
Clear costs, and no unwelcome surprises when the bill arrives.
We do our best to make the business side of dentistry as painless as the clinical side. That means clear, honest pricing, no unwelcome surprises when the bill arrives, and financing options for the times when the care you need and the month you’re having don’t quite line up.
A Door Open to All
Care that meets our whole community where it is.
Fairfax is a wonderfully diverse community, and we’ve worked hard to keep our door open to every part of it. Between the three of us and our staff, we speak eight languages, so families can talk through their care in the words that come most naturally to them. Our office is built to welcome patients with disabilities, and because dental emergencies have a habit of arriving after regular business hours, someone is reachable around the clock, every day of the year.
40
Years Caring for Fairfax
3
Specialty-Trained Dentists
8
Languages Spoken
24/7
Emergency Availability
“The real measure of this practice was never how big it grew. It’s that families who came to us in the eighties now trust us with their grandchildren.”
Charles D. Kirksey, DDS
Founder, Fairfax Family Dental Care
Our Inspiration
Why We Show Up
Forty years in, I still love this work, and so do the people I’m lucky enough to share it with. We love the moment a nervous patient opens their eyes and realizes it never hurt. We love watching someone catch the first glimpse of a finished smile. We love that our chairs are filled with the children, and now the grandchildren, of patients who trusted us back when we opened in 1986. That kind of trust is never given quickly, and it is never kept carelessly.
That, more than any milestone, is what forty years has taught us. Dentistry, done right, is one of the most personal forms of care there is. You’re handing us your comfort, your health, and often your confidence in the way you smile at the people you love. The three of us have never taken that lightly, and we never will. That’s who we are at Fairfax Family Dental Care, and after 40 years, it’s still exactly why we do this.
Come Meet the Team
Whether it’s a routine cleaning or something that’s been quietly worrying you for a while, we’d be glad to see you and show you what comprehensive, gentle dentistry feels like.
Or call us at (703) 991-2019