Oral Surgeon Alumnus Helps Transform the Disfigured

Dr. Ivan Georgiev gives the keynote speech at RSDM's White Coat ceremony. PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Hockstein/HarvardStudio Dr. Ivan Georgiev gives the keynote speech at RSDM's White Coat ceremony. PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Hockstein/HarvardStudio

As an oral surgery resident at one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation, Dr. Ivan Georgiev has helped mend everything from cleft palates to gunshot wounds.

Georgiev, who graduated from RSDM in 2013, is a third-year resident at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, a level two trauma center where the scope and severity of injuries – including traffic accidents from nearby Route 80 – have provided him with a wealth of experience. "The amount and variety of trauma that comes to the hospital on a daily basis really tests the resident's medical knowledge and clinical skills,'' he says.

After graduating from Columbia University with a masters degree in biotechnology, Georgiev decided to pursue a career in dental medicine and was accepted to RSDM in 2009. “I loved dentistry. I loved making dentures and blasting music with a bunch of Bunsen burners blazing,’’ he says. But Georgiev was even more interested in oral surgery, so he decided to pursue it as a specialty.

In his new profession, Georgiev has treated victims of gruesome accidents and attacks, like the man whose head was accidentally crushed between a moving truck and a wall. Miraculously, he recovered with not much more than a scar. One boy had his face so badly mauled by a dog, a police officer arrived at the trauma center with the remainder of his lip. “We did a wonderful job of putting him back together,’’ Georgiev remembers.

For Georgiev, the successful transformation of patients who have been so badly disfigured is the most gratifying part of his job. “The change between right after the accident and eight or nine months later is a tremendous thing,’’ he declares.

But he is considering a career that focuses more on cosmetic surgery, which can also make a big difference in the life of a patient. “It can change the way they feel about themselves. Something as seemingly superficial as a facelift can really brighten someone’s life,’’ he explains. “It also helps me use my whole educational background, from one end of the spectrum to the other.”

The skills he learned at RSDM were invaluable to Georgiev, he says. “We had great didactic courses, but also a tremendous amount of clinical experience. Not taking away from other dental schools, but our graduates have seen more and done more and are more comfortable when they start their residencies,’’ says Georgiev, who met his fiancé Eleni Mavrakis at RSDM, where she was his classmate. She now practices pediatric dentistry in Old Tappan and Totowa.

They hope to be married in 2017.