Dr. Michael Silverman

Dr. Michael Silverman is an anomaly: He possesses rare insight into the relationship between the dentist and the dental industry because he has worked on both sides of the equation. As a practicing dentist in the 1990s, Dr. Silverman began studying sedation protocols in order to assist a largely overlooked population: people with an acute fear of the dentist. These treatment options proved invaluable. To help make sedation dentistry more accessible to the masses, Dr. Silverman founded DOCS Education in 1999—a continuing sedation education and membership organization. Though successful, the company's true potential could not be met from word-of-mouth alone. DOCS Education needed measured, insightful marketing to leap to the next level. And leap they did: DOCS Education, under the guidance of Dr. Silverman and others, would go on to provide tens of thousands of dentists across North America with the ability to safely and effectively treat millions of fearful patients with sedation dentistry. Despite the runaway success, Dr. Silverman was not one to truncate his ambitions: In 2001 he founded RAMP, a dental advertising agency serving dentists in North America. Five years later, he created Strategic Dentistry—a company that connects dental innovators with practitioners who needed their services. Above all, Dr. Silverman is a dedicated family man. He spends most of his time between his Seattle office and his relaxing retreat in beautiful Hope, Idaho.