Full-arch implant dentistry is one of the fastest-moving corners of dental care, and a small group of surgeons shapes how it is taught, planned and delivered: they run the training institutes, write the textbooks, build the technology and perform the cases that the rest of the profession studies. Below are the most influential dental implant surgeons along with their websites, education platforms and social channels.
Dr. Rajesh Vijay
🔥 Nearly 8,000 full-arch cases · 750K+ YouTube subscribers (21D)
Dr. Rajesh Vijay is the founder and CEO of 21D and the ArchOS AI platform, which turns a CBCT scan, an intraoral scan and a face scan into a complete full-arch treatment plan, including bone reduction, implant positions and the prosthetic design, in about 15 minutes. A dentist for more than 30 years, he built his first full-mouth implant company in the UK in the late 1990s, grew it into a market leader, retired in 2019 and returned after COVID to rebuild the full-arch workflow around AI, simulation and in-house manufacturing. He has personally performed nearly 8,000 full-arch cases, and 21D placed more than 10,000 implants in 2025 while routinely running 16 to 24 surgeries a day. 21D was named one of the Sunday Times 100 fastest-growing companies in 2024, and ArchOS is now being opened to a limited group of 50 certified dentists in the United States.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- AI-led full-arch planning in minutes, not weeks
- Founder-surgeon perspective backed by nearly 8,000 cases
- High-volume, fully guided surgical workflow (16–24 cases a day)
- Early access to the ArchOS U.S. certification program
Channels
- Website: 21d.co.uk
- ArchOS: arch-os.ai
- LinkedIn: Rajesh Vijay
- YouTube: @21D_Official
- Instagram: @21dofficial_
Target Audience
- Full-arch and All-on-X surgeons
- General dentists adding full-arch treatment
- DSO executives and dental investors
- Patients researching full-mouth implants
Dr. Justin Moody
🔥 2,000+ dentists trained through Implant Pathway
Dr. Justin Moody, DDS, DICOI, DABOI, is the founder of Implant Pathway (The Pathway), the live-patient implant training program he launched in 2014 that has become one of the most trusted routes for general dentists to start placing implants and restoring full arches. A 1997 graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, he completed a fellowship and mastership at the Misch International Implant Institute, became one of the youngest Diplomates of the American Board of Oral Implantology, and has limited his practice to implants since opening the first Dental Implant Center in Rapid City, South Dakota in 2008. More than 2,000 dentists have trained through Implant Pathway’s Fast Track and Standard Track continuums, which pair online modules with live surgery on patients who could not otherwise afford care. He also co-hosts the long-running Dentists, Implants & Worms podcast and mentors at the Kois Center.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- Proven pathway from first implant to full-arch cases
- Hands-on, live-patient surgical mentorship (2:1 ratio)
- A decade-plus of educator credibility and Diplomate status
- Consistently candid podcast and video content for clinicians
Channels
- Website: justinmoodydds.com
- Implant Pathway: implantpathway.com
- Instagram: @drjustinmoody
- LinkedIn: Dr. Justin Moody
- Podcast: Dentists, Implants & Worms
Target Audience
- General dentists who want to place implants
- Clinicians moving into full-arch treatment
- Practice owners in rural and underserved markets
- Dental students and new graduates
Dr. Dan Holtzclaw
🔥 300+ lectures worldwide · 2 bestselling textbooks
Dr. Dan Holtzclaw, DDS, MS, is an internationally recognized full-arch surgeon, author and educator whose work defined the modern approach to zygomatic, pterygoid and remote-anchorage implants for patients with severe maxillary atrophy. A Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and the ICOI, a 13-year U.S. Navy veteran and the author of the bestselling textbooks Pterygoid Implants: The Art and Science and Remote Anchorage Solutions for Severe Maxillary Atrophy, he founded and edited the Journal of Implant & Advanced Clinical Dentistry for 13 years, has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and delivered more than 300 podium lectures around the world. He has held senior clinical leadership roles at two of the largest DSOs in the country, invented surgical protocols including PATZi, HESIAn and PFAST, and now runs Holtzclaw Full Arch Dental Implant Consulting from Austin, Texas, mentoring surgeons through complex cases.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- The reference voice on pterygoid and zygomatic implants
- Textbooks and 50+ peer-reviewed publications
- 19 consecutive years as a Dentistry Today CE Leader
- DSO-scale experience in standardizing full-arch care
Channels
- Website: drholtzclaw.com
- LinkedIn: Dan Holtzclaw
- YouTube: Pterygoid Implants for Full Arch Immediate Loading
- Pikos Institute: Speaker bio
Target Audience
- Periodontists and oral surgeons
- Full-arch surgeons handling severe bone loss
- DSO clinical leadership
- Implant residents and advanced-CE attendees
Dr. Juan Gonzalez
🔥 1 of 32 ZygoPro-recognized surgeons worldwide
Dr. Juan Gonzalez is a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon, also board-certified in anesthesia, with more than two decades of full-scope surgical practice and over 15,000 sedation and general anesthesia cases. Trained in a four-year oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at Brooke Army Medical Center, he served more than 20 years in the U.S. Army and Air Force Reserves, reaching Lieutenant Colonel and serving as faculty in an oral and maxillofacial surgery program. He now focuses on full-arch (All-on-X) rehabilitation and the hardest severe-bone-loss cases using zygomatic, pterygoid and transnasal implants, and is one of only 32 surgeons worldwide recognized as a ZygoPro. He lectures nationally and internationally as a Pikos Institute speaker and Noris Medical expert, has trained dozens of residents and dentists, has contributed chapters to several books, and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Implants and Advanced Clinical Dentistry.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- Among the most experienced zygomatic and pterygoid surgeons in the world
- Deep anesthesia expertise for complex, sedated full-arch cases
- Military surgical training and faculty background
- Hands-on courses through the Pikos Institute
Channels
- Pikos Institute: Speaker bio
- Noris Medical: Expert profile
- Instagram: @pikosinstitute
- YouTube: Pikos Institute
Target Audience
- Oral and maxillofacial surgeons
- Full-arch surgeons treating severe maxillary atrophy
- Clinicians learning zygomatic and pterygoid protocols
- Referring general dentists
Dr. Alex Isom
🔥 Director of Surgery, Nuvia Dental Implant Centers
Dr. Alex Isom is a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon and the Director of Surgery at Nuvia Dental Implant Centers, where he serves as the national clinical and operational leader for a multi-center full-mouth implant group. A Las Vegas native and 2006 graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he completed his oral and maxillofacial surgery residency and spent years placing implants in private practice before joining Nuvia in 2022. Overseeing surgery across Nuvia’s centers puts him at the center of how full-arch reconstruction is delivered at scale, which makes him one of the most influential surgeons in how the implant-center model is executed day to day.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- Runs surgery for a national, multi-center full-arch brand
- Insight into standardizing protocols across many surgeons
- Board-certified OMS perspective on high-volume full-mouth cases
- Visible leader in the consumer-facing side of implant dentistry
Channels
- Website: nuviasmiles.com
- LinkedIn: Alex Isom
- YouTube: @NuviaDentalImplantCenter
- Facebook: nuviasmiles
Target Audience
- Oral surgeons considering DSO and implant-center roles
- DSO executives and operators
- Full-arch clinicians scaling case volume
- Patients comparing full-mouth implant providers
Dr. Randy Houska
🔥 Implant Pathway board member · podcast co-host · ‘Papa Randy’
Dr. Randy Houska, DDS, is an implant dentist, speaker and educator who has practiced in Vermillion, South Dakota since graduating from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in 1989. A Fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists and a member of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, he sits on the board of Implant Pathway and works with its New Horizon teaching center in Tempe, Arizona, where course attendees place implants for patients who cannot afford care. Alongside Dr. Justin Moody he co-hosts the Dentists, Implants & Worms podcast, now hundreds of episodes deep, and he reaches an audience far beyond dentistry as ‘Papa Randy’ from MTV’s Teen Mom 2, which gives him a rare platform for talking about implants, practice life and rural dentistry to the general public.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- Relatable voice for everyday implant dentistry
- Decades of rural, referral-based practice experience
- Board-level involvement in a leading implant CE program
- Mainstream reach that few clinicians can match
Channels
- Website: houskadental.com
- Instagram: @randiliciousness
- Facebook: @HouskaDentalClinic
- Podcast: Dentists, Implants & Worms
- Implant Pathway: implantpathway.com
Target Audience
- General dentists adding implants to a family practice
- Rural and small-market practice owners
- Implant Pathway alumni and attendees
- Consumers curious about dental implants
Dr. Brian Young
🔥 22,000+ implants placed
Dr. Brian Young is a residency-trained dental implant surgeon and the founder of Forever Smiles Implant Center in Jacksonville, Florida, where full-mouth reconstruction is the entire practice. Over more than 22 years he has placed more than 22,000 dental implants, performing All-on-4 and Teeth-on-Implants surgery daily and taking on the cases other offices turn away: severe bone loss, zygomatic anchorage and the revision of failed implants placed elsewhere. Beyond the operatory he lectures nationally, is an author, and trains and mentors dentists and surgeons across the United States in advanced full-arch techniques, which has made him a go-to reference for clinicians building a high-volume implant practice.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- Case volume few surgeons can match
- Daily full-arch and zygomatic experience
- Expertise in rescuing failed implant cases
- Mentorship for dentists building an implant-focused practice
Channels
- Website: foreversmilesjax.com
- Instagram: @foreversmilesjax
- Facebook: @foreversmilesjax
- YouTube: Full-Mouth Dental Implants
Target Audience
- Dentists building a full-arch implant practice
- Surgeons handling failed or complex cases
- Florida patients seeking full-mouth implants
- Implant companies and lab partners
Dr. Michael A. Pikos
🔥 35,000+ implants · 7,000+ clinicians trained in 73 countries
Dr. Michael A. Pikos is the founder and CEO of the Pikos Institute in Trinity, Florida, and one of the most decorated educators in implant dentistry, having trained more than 7,000 clinicians from all 50 states and 73 countries over 36 years. A board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon and a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Implantology and the ICOI, he has placed more than 35,000 implants since 1983 and was an early adopter of cone beam CT for implant planning, which became a cornerstone of both his practice and the Institute’s full-arch immediate reconstruction and bone and soft tissue grafting curricula. He holds adjunct professorships at Ohio State, Nova Southeastern, the University of Florida and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, authored Bone Augmentation in Implant Dentistry, and his awards include the AAID’s Aaron Gershkoff Memorial Award, the Saul Schluger Memorial Award for Top Educator and the first Carl E. Misch Advanced Dental Implant Studies Education Award.
Why Dentists Should Follow
- The gold standard in bone grafting and full-arch education
- Four decades and 35,000+ implants of surgical experience
- Faculty that includes other surgeons on this list
- Live, online and symposium training for every level
Channels
- Website: pikosinstitute.com
- Instagram: @pikosinstitute
- YouTube: Pikos Institute
- LinkedIn: Michael Pikos
- X: @pikosinstitute
Target Audience
- Oral surgeons, periodontists and prosthodontists
- General dentists pursuing advanced implant CE
- Full-arch immediate-load clinicians
- Implant manufacturers and course partners
