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I myself decided to go towards dentistry while I was in college. Originally, I was looking at computer science and such, and had a background in architecture and drafting. So I felt that that was an area that I wanted to work in was with my hands. Computer science just wasn't helping me out so much in that area.
Enjoy my hometown dentist and hanging out at his office, having some dental work done myself. Found that the environment was interesting. So I wanted to learn more about that. And while I was actually at the college, I found that some other individuals were going to chiropractic and med school. And so I switched to the biology major and then continued on into Temple Dental School for four years, and did a residency because I wanted to continue to advance my areas.
There's a certain requirement with each state. Let's just say New Jersey, we have to have a minimum number of hours and various things. That's nice to be said, but there's just so much more that needs to be learned out there to continue to stay on the cutting edge of technology and such. This requires probably about four times that amount of hours that are considered minimum, if you will. This allows me to know what materials are best, which ones are holding, lasting, what's going to be easiest for the patient, maybe the quickest and strongest and such, so that continuing education has allowed me to advance and have office where you can go and have most of your dental work done.
Dr. Robert Chase has one goal: to improve his patients’ lives. He enjoys making over smiles and helping everyone feel as comfortable as possible. That’s along with providing exceptional care in our Mount Laurel, NJ office.
As the son of a truck driver and a high school cafeteria worker, Dr. Chase understands the value of hard work. His parents supported him as he made his own path in life. Growing up in southern New Jersey, he developed his artistic abilities and studied drafting. In college, he studied computer science before switching to premedical studies. He graduated magna cum laude from the College of New Jersey with a bachelor’s degree in biology.
He went on to earn high honors and his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree at Temple University’s Kornberg School of Dentistry. Dr. Chase then completed Temple’s one-year postgraduate program in Advanced Education in General Dentistry. Since then, he stays updated on dental trends as an active member of the American Dental Association, Academy of General Dentistry, New Jersey Dental Association, and Southern Dental Society of New Jersey.
Dr. Chase has always been committed to advanced dentistry. Since 1999, he has been a provider of Nobel Biocare® dental implants. He has training in traditional orthodontics and is certified to provide treatment with Invisalign® clear aligners. In 2004, he added CEREC technology so our patients can get dental crowns in a single day.
That tireless focus is one of the reasons he received a top-rated doctor and dentist award by Philadelphia Top Rated Doctors. Only the top 5 percent in their field are selected for this distinction.
Outside the office, Dr. Chase uses his skills to benefit the Special Olympics and Operation Smile. This international charity provides free surgeries for children with facial deformities.
Doctor Robert Chase on why he became a dentist and the most rewarding aspect of dentistry
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Went to a vocational school and took up drafting, and originally I thought I was going to be in the art in some type of form that way. And then found my way going to college and working with computers, and having my experience with my general dentist growing up, feeling comfortable in the chair. It's something that I noted. And just when I would go to visit their office, I would kind of look around: What's available here? And how do they use these tools? Eventually, I had switched over to study biology and really felt at that point that it was, instead of medicine, it would be more in the dental field.
And I'd like to say I'm more of a local boy. I grew up pretty much in South Jersey here. And I went to college in New Jersey, now known as Trenton – well, was known as Trenton State College. Now it's known as the College of New Jersey. And that was my undergraduate, and actually finished up in three and a half years. And then was able to then to go the dental school, Temple University. It's here in Philly, and served the four years there. Got a great education, and so much that I stuck around to do their new residency program that they had started up. And that gave a lot of experience for me at that point. I already had my dental license, but then still being under the wings of some excellent dentists that have come before me.
I have my family team here, if you will, and my personal family. But also, patients have become a family in a sense. So I'm watching kids become adults. I'm watching adults become grandparents, learning about just how it seems like most people own a pet, and the things that probably they talk about on social media. It's just more of one-on-one. That would be the relationships that we've developed over the years and such.
He and his wife (and our office team leader), Tammy, enjoy spending time with their three children: Nick, Liz, and Nate. You also might find Dr. Chase cooking, jogging, swimming, traveling, or adding to his collection of U.S. postage stamps.