Dr. Marc Schlenoff

“Dentistry is about so much more than just picking up tools and performing procedures,” says Dr. Marc Schlenoff, who has almost four decades of experience practicing and teaching dentistry at the highest level. After 33 years in private practice, where he focused on aesthetic dentistry, he signed on as a professor at Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine. There, he became the Director of Advanced Education in General Dentistry, ultimately developing it into the school’s largest and most successful postdoctoral program.

Now, as Tend’s Head of Clinical Development, he translates that expertise into an amazing clinical experience. “I try to impress upon all of our doctors,” he says, “that dentistry is first and foremost about creating a relationship of trust. Being the greatest, smartest dentist in the world is just the beginning. If you can’t communicate a sense of trust and value, it doesn’t matter.”

One thing he’s super excited about? The investments we’ve made in next-level tech. Between ultra-quiet high-speed handpieces, lasers the size of a magic marker, and low-radiation x-ray machines, “we’re investing in state-of-the-art technology that have real clinical relevance and are going to improve our patients’ experiences—and their outcomes.”

When he’s not imagining new and exciting ways to push the field of dentistry forward, he’s babysitting his three young grandkids. When asked how he likes to spend time with them, he says simply: “as much as possible.”