UCLA has honored Los Angeles dentist Dr. Jay Grossman with a professorship. The October 2017 honor recognizes two decades of teaching UCLA dental students, a run that began in 1995.
Grossman is often called a celebrity dentist. He runs one of the largest dental practices in Southern California, and he founded Homeless Not Toothless, a charity that serves homeless people.
His path to the classroom started in the military. He served as a U.S. Navy dental officer during the Persian Gulf War, from 1989 to 1991. After that tour, Dean Mito of UCLA recruited him to teach students on the clinic floor.
He taught in the clinic for ten years. Then he moved to UCLA’s Advanced Education Program in General Dentistry, where he taught residents for the next decade.
All the while, he kept his private practice going. He also began supervising dental students as they treated homeless veterans and foster children through Homeless Not Toothless.
Grossman said the professorship will help the charity when it asks foundations for support. So far he has provided more than $3 million in free care to homeless patients. He is now looking for $5 million to put Homeless Not Toothless on a stable footing.
He has run a concierge dental practice in Brentwood since 1991 and speaks at events across the country. Grossman is a graduate of the NYU College of Dentistry and a former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps.
