Tuesday, October 13, 2009

ASMDT Graduate in the News


Yesterday The Connecticut Post had a feature on one of the graduates of ASMDT Course. Also Mr. Askalsky made a tesitmonial on his studies at ASMDT, that can be read here

New partners to grow dental lab


By Michael C. Juliano
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 10/13/2009 08:50:46 PM EDT

Alexander Askalsky of Trumbull came to the United States from Russia in 1976 with his family, unable to speak English.
A dozen years later, he opened Metropolitan Dental Laboratory in New York City, and then moved it to Monroe in 1998, Stratford a year later and then Milford, where his 4,800-square-foot laboratory with 12 employees has been on Oxford Road since 2006.
"I appreciate living in this country, having come from Russia, where I lived in a 'box' and was not allowed freedom of expression," said Askalsky, 52. "I believe it's the only country in the world where someone can make it if they work hard."
Askalsky received his master's degree in dental technology from New York University School of Dentistry's American School of Master Dental Technology. In 2007, he became a member of the American College of Prosthodontists and is working on becoming a technical fellow of the Northeastern Gnathological Society, dedicated to the anatomy and physiology of chewing.
His hope is to grow his business, which makes implants, dentures, crowns and bridges and has 60 clients, into one of the best dental laboratories in the world with the help of Michelle Bravo, his business partner for the past month, Askalsky said.
"Our expertise is a two-punch operation that will hopefully get us to where we're going," Askalsky said.
Bravo, who grew up in Fairfield and now lives in Easton, worked for 12 years as the communications manager for the Cambridge, Mass., office of Straumann, a Swiss dental implant company, before returning to Fairfield County seven years ago as a stay-at-home mother for her two children. After the end of her marriage, she started looking for employment six months ago, and after applying to more than 60 jobs online, she found a small ad in the newspaper that read "Dental lab sales" and included a phone number.
"I never imagined that this phone number would lead me to a hard-working Russian-Jewish man that owned a dental laboratory in Milford," she said. "I began working for Alex two weeks after an interview and it has been an amazing experience."
Bravo said she will use her marketing experience with Straumann to grow the business.
"I see amazing potential in this laboratory," Bravo said. "Alex has amazing technical ability and equipment."
As a way to give back to the dental community, Metropolitan Dental Laboratory has opened its Continuing Education Center free of charge to anyone in the profession, Bravo said.
"We understand and encourage the teaching of the rapid evolution of dentistry and would like to support the dental community in this capacity," she said. "It is our way of appreciating and encouraging the evolution of dentistry."
Many businesses in Milford are trying to improve to survive today's slow economy, said Kathleen Alongo, president and chief executive officer of the Milford Chamber of Commerce.
"Everyone's trying to find that special change they would make in their operations and business plan to bring them into a very positive cash flow," she said. "It's a story we hear quite a bit."
Milford dental business hungry to grow

1 comment:

  1. Congrats to the new graduates then. Don't forget to take up your dental continuing education timely as it is one of the tools that you can use to make sure that you are updated with all of the new stuff and practices in the field.

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