What Is a Fellowship-Trained Implant Dentist? Inside Dr. Berglass’s 25-Year Restorative Journey

What Is a Fellowship-Trained Implant Dentist? Inside Dr. Berglass’s 25-Year Restorative Journey

Originally published: July 2026 | Reviewed by Dr. Michael Berglass, DDS

A fellowship-trained implant dentist is a licensed dental professional who completed post-doctoral residency or fellowship education specifically in surgical implant placement and prosthetic restoration — training beyond the Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) degree required for general licensure. 

Dr. Michael Berglass, D.D.S., earned his D.D.S. from the Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine in 1996, then completed both a general practice residency and a dedicated dental implant fellowship at North Shore–Long Island Jewish Hospital in Manhasset, New York.

That post-doctoral credential separates fellowship-trained providers from general practitioners who place implants under standard licensure alone — a distinction the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research identifies as clinically significant for patient safety outcomes in surgical prosthetics.

Key Takeaways

• Fellowship training adds 1–2 years of supervised implant surgery and prosthetic education beyond the four-year D.D.S. degree.
• Dr. Berglass completed his fellowship at North Shore–Long Island Jewish Hospital, one of New York’s largest academic medical systems.
• General dentists in Florida can legally place implants without fellowship credentials — patients should verify provider training before scheduling surgery.
• Free consultations with diagnostic X-rays allow patients to verify a fellowship-trained provider’s credentials and clinical approach before committing to treatment.

Your implant outcome depends on who holds the handpiece — Dr. Berglass brings fellowship-level precision to every case at West Palm Beach Family Dental.

How Dental Education Builds Toward Implant Specialization

The path from dental school to implant fellowship follows a structured, multi-stage credentialing sequence. Each level adds clinical depth that the previous stage does not cover.

• Undergraduate pre-dental education (4 years) — Biology, chemistry, anatomy, and prerequisite sciences required for dental school admission.
• Doctor of Dental Surgery program (4 years) — Comprehensive training in general dentistry, including restorative work, oral surgery fundamentals, periodontics, and prosthodontics. Graduates earn the D.D.S. or D.M.D. degree and qualify for state licensure.
• General practice residency (1 year) — Hospital-based training in complex cases, medical emergencies, sedation protocols, and interdisciplinary treatment planning under attending physician supervision.
• Dental implant fellowship (1–2 years) — Focused post-doctoral education in implant surgical planning, guided placement, bone grafting, sinus augmentation, abutment design, and prosthetic restoration under fellowship faculty oversight.

Credential Level	Duration	Implant Surgery Included	Supervised Surgical Cases
D.D.S. / D.M.D. only	4 years	Limited didactic exposure	Minimal or none
D.D.S. + General Practice Residency	5 years	Introductory surgical rotations	Moderate under attending supervision
D.D.S. + GPR + Implant Fellowship	6–7 years	Dedicated surgical and prosthetic curriculum	Extensive under fellowship faculty

Dr. Berglass completed all three levels — the D.D.S. at Stony Brook, the general practice residency at North Shore–LIJ, and the implant fellowship at the same institution — accumulating six years of post-undergraduate clinical training before entering private practice.

What Dr. Berglass’s Fellowship at North Shore–LIJ Covered

North Shore–Long Island Jewish Hospital — now part of Northwell Health — operates one of New York’s largest academic medical systems. The dental implant fellowship program at North Shore–LIJ trained residents in both the surgical and prosthetic phases of implant treatment, a dual-discipline curriculum that many fellowship programs split across separate tracks.

Dr. Berglass’s fellowship included direct training in:

• Surgical implant placement — Single-tooth, multi-tooth, and full-arch cases across varying bone density classifications.
• Bone augmentation procedures — Guided bone regeneration, ridge augmentation, and sinus lift protocols for patients with insufficient bone volume.
• Prosthetic design and fabrication — Abutment selection, crown material matching, occlusal adjustment, and emergence profile contouring.
• Complication management — Implant failure diagnosis, peri-implantitis intervention, and surgical risk mitigation protocols.
• Interdisciplinary case planning — Coordination with oral surgeons, periodontists, and prosthodontists within a hospital-based team setting.

That dual-phase training — surgical placement plus prosthetic restoration — means Dr. Berglass manages the entire implant process without referring patients to a separate surgeon or restorative specialist. 

The diagnosing clinician and the treating surgeon remain the same person from consultation through final crown delivery.

How to Verify an Implant Dentist’s Credentials in Florida

Florida’s Department of Health maintains a public license verification portal where patients can confirm any dentist’s active licensure status, education, and disciplinary history. 

The Florida Department of Health License Verification database lists the degree-granting institution and graduation year for every licensed provider in the state.

Beyond basic licensure, patients should verify three additional credential layers before scheduling implant surgery:

• Post-doctoral training type — Confirm whether the provider completed a general practice residency, an implant-specific fellowship, or neither. Fellowship training indicates dedicated implant education; general licensure alone does not.
• Training institution — Hospital-based fellowships at academic medical centers like North Shore–LIJ provide supervised surgical volume that standalone continuing education courses cannot replicate.
• Years of continuous practice — Implant placement proficiency develops through sustained case volume over years, not weekend certification programs. Dr. Berglass has maintained continuous clinical practice since 1996.

Credential Check	Where to Verify	What to Confirm
Active Florida dental license	Florida Department of Health MQA portal	License status, school, graduation year
Post-doctoral residency/fellowship	Provider’s website or direct inquiry	Fellowship institution, program type, duration
Implant-specific training	Direct inquiry or professional affiliations	Surgical + prosthetic fellowship vs. general CE courses
Disciplinary history	Florida DOH public records	No active complaints or restrictions

Patients should ask the provider directly whether the same clinician who performs the consultation also places the implant and delivers the final crown restoration. Practices that split the case across multiple providers lack the clinical continuity that fellowship-trained providers like Dr. Berglass deliver at every stage.

What Fellowship Training Means for Long-Term Implant Success

Implant longevity depends on precise surgical variables that fellowship training addresses directly — angulation accuracy, depth calibration, torque application, and prosthetic load distribution. Each variable affects whether an implant integrates permanently or fails within the first five years.

• Angulation — Fellowship-trained providers learn to calculate the optimal insertion angle based on available bone density, adjacent root proximity, and planned crown emergence. A post placed even 5 degrees off-axis can create lateral loading forces that accelerate bone loss around the implant neck.
• Depth calibration — The implant must seat at a depth that allows adequate abutment height for crown retention without encroaching on the inferior alveolar nerve canal in mandibular cases or the maxillary sinus floor in upper-jaw placements.
• Prosthetic fit — The crown must replicate natural tooth anatomy within fractions of a millimeter. Fellowship programs train providers to verify occlusal contacts, interproximal spacing, and gingival contour using the same clinical hands that placed the post — eliminating the communication gap that occurs when a separate restorative dentist inherits another provider’s surgical work.

Dr. Berglass applies 25 years of these fellowship-calibrated techniques to every implant placed at West Palm Beach Family Dental — a clinical foundation built at Stony Brook and North Shore–LIJ and refined across thousands of cases in private practice.

Schedule a Free Consultation With a Fellowship-Trained Provider

West Palm Beach Family Dental provides free consultations, including diagnostic X-rays, for every prospective implant patient. Dr. Berglass evaluates bone density, reviews medical history, and presents a complete treatment plan at the first visit — no referral required.

The practice charges $2,400 all-inclusive for a single-tooth implant, including the post, abutment, and crown. Financing starts at $79/month through in-house payment plans with no credit check, and the $375/year savings plan reduces the implant price to $1,920.

The office is located at 1840 Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 204, West Palm Beach, FL 33406. Hours are Sunday through Wednesday and Friday through Saturday, 8:30 AM–5:00 PM. Call (561) 968-6022 to schedule.

A weekend seminar does not equal a hospital fellowship — trust your implant to Dr. Berglass’s 25 years of fellowship-trained expertise.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does fellowship-trained mean in dentistry? 

Fellowship-trained means a dentist completed one to two years of post-doctoral education focused specifically on a clinical discipline like implant surgery and prosthetics. The training occurs at an accredited hospital or academic medical center under direct faculty supervision, adding specialized depth beyond the general dental school curriculum.

Where did Dr. Berglass complete his implant fellowship? 

Dr. Berglass completed his dental implant fellowship at North Shore–Long Island Jewish Hospital in Manhasset, New York, now part of the Northwell Health system. He also completed a general practice residency at the same institution following his D.D.S. from Stony Brook.

Can any dentist in Florida place dental implants? 

Any licensed general dentist in Florida can legally place dental implants without fellowship or residency training in implant surgery. Patients should verify whether their provider completed post-doctoral implant-specific education or holds only the standard licensure required for general practice across all procedures.

How many years of training does Dr. Berglass have? 

Dr. Berglass completed four years of undergraduate education, four years of dental school at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine, one year of general practice residency, and one year of implant fellowship at North Shore–LIJ — totaling ten years of formal clinical training.

What is the difference between a fellowship and a weekend implant course? 

A fellowship involves 12 to 24 months of full-time supervised clinical training at an accredited institution, with structured case requirements and faculty evaluations. Weekend continuing education courses typically span two to four days and provide didactic instruction without the supervised surgical volume required by fellowship programs.

How does fellowship training affect implant success rates? 

Fellowship training develops proficiency in surgical angulation, depth calibration, bone augmentation, and prosthetic design through hundreds of supervised clinical cases. Providers with this specialized training background manage complex anatomical variables and potential complications with greater precision than providers relying solely on general dental education.

Does Dr. Berglass do both the surgery and the crown? 

Dr. Berglass performs every phase of implant treatment personally at West Palm Beach Family Dental — surgical placement of the titanium post, abutment connection after healing, and final crown fabrication and delivery. Patients see the same fellowship-trained provider from initial consultation through completed restoration.

How do I check a dentist’s credentials in Florida? 

The Florida Department of Health maintains a public license verification portal that lists every licensed dentist’s degree-granting institution, graduation year, license status, and any disciplinary history. Patients can search the MQA database online and confirm active credentials before scheduling any dental procedure.

Is the consultation with Dr. Berglass really free? 

West Palm Beach Family Dental provides free initial consultations for all prospective implant patients. The appointment includes a clinical examination, all necessary diagnostic X-rays, and a detailed treatment plan with the practice’s transparent all-inclusive pricing presented before any commitment.