Dr. Arnold Weiss

Helps Ease Children’s Dental Visits

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

BROOKLINE - Although many parents would agree that the mingling of children and dentistry is intrinsically oxymoronic to the point of totally traumatic, Dr. Arnold Weiss has worked for 28 years to try to change the situation. His group practice, the Center for Pediatric Dental Care at 1560 Beacon St., Brookline, makes the experience as painless as possible, even enjoyable.

Weiss, Dr. Lisa Campanella and Dr. Shari Lisann, along with an orthodontist, incorporate myriad child-friendly approaches, from video game machines to prizes and individualized accessories, to a carefully cultivated relationship with parents, to an extremely positive and caring staff, which together successfully relax, entertain and pamper their small clients.

“Many dentists can do an exams, restoration etc.,” said Weiss. “It takes special pediatric dentistry to do it well for children while creating a positive experience. It is the one reason we exist as a specialty.”

The kids are in good hands. Weiss, who attended the Jewish Education Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey for middle and high school, is a 1969 graduate of Yeshiva College and a 1973 graduate of New York University College of Dentistry. He completed his post-doctoral training in Pediatric Dentistry at Boston University School of Graduate Dentistry, where he received a Master of Science in Dentistry. A past Assistant Professor in Oral Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, he is currently on the staff at Tufts NEMC, Newton Wellesley Hospital and Franciscan Children's Hospital, and is the Consultant in Pediatric Dentistry at The Massachusetts General Hospital. A member of Young Israel Synagogue, Weiss has lived in Brookline since 1973 with his wife, Susan, the math and computer consultant at Solomon Schechter School in Newton, a former Woodrow Wilson fellow, and a past Presidential Awardee in Mathematics. Their two children attended Maimonides; Amy is a postgraduate art student at University of Pennsylvania and Jeffrey is a third-year rabbinical student at Yeshiva University. A founder of the Yal-Day-New Day Care Center, Weiss is also a founder, member of the Board of Directors, and clinical advisor of the Jerusalem Dental Center for Children in Jerusalem.

Weiss lectures on children's dental health and the care of children's teeth and business management to the pediatric medical and general dental community.

He began the Center in 1975; Campanella, a former chief resident at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford with a D.M.D. from the University Of Connecticut School Of Dental Medicine, and Lisann, with orthodontic training at New York University College of Dentistry and a D.M.D. from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, joined later.

Weiss' expertise of clinical behavior management of children is carried out in the systematic relationships built with each young patient. He has taught his unique style of care to his long-term staff, some of who have been with him from 10 to 20 years. 

“Every visit in our office,” said office administrator Kathy P., “is well choreographed and orchestrated. We are known for our excellent patient management. The children are an integral part of everything that we do at the dental chair. They are given a mirror so they can watch as we explain, show and then actually do the dental procedure. There are no unknowns in the child's mind.” They achieve the seemingly inconceivable; little patients are excited to see them and even look forward to their next visit.

“We are a pediatric and orthodontic dental practice with a caring staff,” she continued. “We subscribe to the highest level of clinical, administrative, and interpersonal skills for our dental team. We pledge to provide all families with outstanding dental care in the most gentle, efficient, and enthusiastic manner possible.”

“We take the time to learn about our patients, their friends, families, and what they like,” said Weiss, friend to little mouths, to Jewish education, to Israel. “We get compliance from children because they like us, and want to please us. We are their friends!

“It's a great environment for our parents, patients, and staff. We work hard to make it fun and positive for everyone. We truly love what we do.”