Anthony J. DeNavarra DMD, BS, BA
Education:
High School Diploma - Northeast High School, St. Petersburg, FL ‘74
Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education – Trinity Bible College, Dunedin, FL ‘79
Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences - Wm. Jennings Bryan College, Dayton, TN ‘84
Doctor of Dental Medicine – University of Florida College of Dentistry, Gainesville, FL ‘90
General Practice Residency – Bay Pines Veteran’s Medical Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL ‘91
Certified in IV Sedation - Florida Dept. of Health and Board of Dentistry
ACLS – American Heart Association
Member of the Mid-Florida Implant Study Group – AAID (American Academy of Implant Dentistry) Study Club/Mentor 2 Program
Recognition:
Member in good standing: American Dental Association, Florida Dental Association, West Coast Dental Association, Pinellas County Dental Association
Fellowship Award of ICOI – International Congress of Oral Implantologists
ADA via Council on ADA Sessions and International Programs presented the Certificate of Recognition for Meritorious Service to the People of Guatemala
First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks and The World Outreach Team presented award for Faithful Sevice and a Genuine Love for Worldwide Missions – Sept. 24, 2000
Employment:
Private general dental practice in St. Petersburg, FL, since 1991. We offer a full complement of “cosmetic” dentistry. For example, the latest crowns called DVS by 3 M Lava are a blend of an all ceramic core fused to a transluscent veener which makes it look more like real enamel. The lava is one of the strongest materials known to dentistry as well as the state of the art in esthetic dentistry. They are milled by a precise computer program so the fit is flawless. We enjoy all aspects of general dentistry whether white fillings or porcelain ¾ minimally prepped restorations. We practice IV sedation routinely and we do just about every surgical and restorative procedure except orthodontics. Our office is a condo association and we are purchasing our own building. There is a unlimited free parking in our lot which is directly in front of our building. We are very current in our training, approach and technology. Our piezosurgery unit is a state of the art surgical machine which cuts hard tissue (bone) but will not cut soft tissue (nerves, sinus membranes, etc). It is very critical for implantology and preservation of vital structures and bone. We also own BTI PRGF (platelet rich growth factor) system which takes the growth factors like “stem” cells from the patient’s own IV line and aids in the growth of soft tissue and bone. We use it in our sinus lifts and bone reconstruction. It appears to have helped keep infection away as well as to grow tissue.
Prior to dentistry: missionary, pastor, commercial painter and wallpaper, blueprinting, construction, hospital and nursing home orderly, grocery store manager, choir director, children’s church minister, and chief custodian of Rudd Chapel at Bryan College.
Office Personnel:
Our office has an office manager (Mary), a receptionist (Annie), 2 hygenists (Stacey & Kelli), 2 assistants (Barbara and Amy), and one doctor (Tony). We really don’t have any turnover of staff.
Hobbies & Interests:
Flats fishing and guiding for snook, redfish, trout, cobia, and triple tail. We have been asked to guide for Dave Moore (Bucs color coordinator and former tight end), Tony Dungy, The Bishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya and many others. We play in a music duo in Tampa Bay. Sing, play guitar, harmonica and write songs. The name of the duo is “Donnie B. and Dr Tony D”. We played Baywalk for 3 years and various resorts and private functions. I have a recording studio which uses pro tools 8, melodyne, etc. and is called “Crystal Palace Studio”. Al Koehn is a famous voice teacher who has been kind enough to take me on as a long term student. Carlos Morales (Gators at Treasure Island) taught me how to do midi backtracks and brought me light years ahead in computer music studio. Tony Dibrango is tutoring me in Pro Tools.
Hiking through the remote regions and rainforests of Central and South America with our kids. We study species of the animal kingdom with some filming. We have some nice footage of the Tikal Mayan ruins and one of the most primal rainforests in Central America called Corcovado National Forest. The Jesus Christ lizard running across the streams, the rare blue-green eye-lash viper resting in a tree next to us.
We are registered paleontologists with the state of Florida and we have been collecting fossils since 1984. We are currently building a museum of fossils which include mammoth molars including the sinus bones, mastodon teeth, various dinosaur teeth, giant ground sloths and more.
Married since 1978 to Mary Linda, and have 3 sons and 1 daughter. Spending time with them. I have made a commitment to fish with Tony Jr. as much as I am able until he goes off to college.
Missions: have led mission teams to Central and South America for over 30 years now on short term mission trips. Some dental, some medical, some humanitarian.
Proactively studying implantology and all forms of advanced bone grafting. We enjoy thinking through predictable modern dentistry and adding ideas which may contribute to the science in some small way. Traveling to continuing education courses around the country as we are able.
Latest news: Just returned from the Dominican Republic for 8 days in February 2010, and did surgery all day consisting of sinus lifts, autogenous block grafts from the chin and the ramus of the mandible to build ridge height and width for placing implants, segmental osteotomies and more. We used the piezosurgery unit for all our advanced bone grafting.
We recently attended a piezosurgery technique course to spare bone during surgical extractions as well as advanced bone grafting.
We gave a tabletop presentation of our new method of lifting the sinus for single tooth implant replacement using the piezosurgery at the ICOI in New Orleans in April, 2020. This is another method of raising the sinus membrane for people who need implants in the upper jaw. This method cuts the costs by 2/3rd and the morbidity of pain and swelling is almost eradicated. It is also promising instead of using Summer’s osteotome technique which has been know to contribute to BPPV (vertigo due to mallet and osteotome). We do this without an incision through a small biopsy punch hole.
Most of our implants are placed without surgery. We have a unique method of using a biopsy punch and removing a round area of the gingival tissue and then placing the implant simply by using a few instruments which allow us to screw the implant in. Most of our patients have reported no pain or swelling postop so it has been proven very effective. All of our implants are under $1,000 and we are receiving referrals now from other patients. We have not yet advertised. Our website is our main focus with regards to any external marketing and we are currently adding information as we are able.
