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Dr. Flavio A. Kottar is a cosmetic, restorative and implant dentist and a co-founder of Vizcaya Dental Arts, which he and Dr. Patricia Hong opened together on the Mercy Hospital campus in 2021. He does everything from routine care to implant surgery and full-mouth rehabilitation. He trained at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, an Ivy League school, and in two hospital-based programs after it, and he is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry.
Training
Dr. Kottar earned his dental degree at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, graduating at the top of his class. He then completed two further years of training: a one-year hospital general practice residency at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York, and a one-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at Boston University’s Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, with a focus on prosthodontics and comprehensive full-mouth rehabilitation, alongside cosmetic and implant dentistry and endodontic techniques.
He is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry. The fellowship requires hundreds of hours of continuing education across the disciplines of dentistry and a written examination, and fewer than one in ten dentists in the United States hold it. He continues to take courses in new techniques and technology.
How he practices
Save the tooth first. For almost any problem, the first question is whether the natural tooth can be kept. In his view a root canal and a crown are nearly always preferable to an implant when the tooth can be predictably restored. When a tooth cannot be saved, he places and restores the implant himself, so one clinician is responsible for the whole result.
Watch what can be watched. Not every finding needs treatment now. A small problem that can be safely watched is rechecked at the next visit. Patients often come for a second opinion after being told they need extensive work, and many leave with a shorter plan. His examinations also sometimes find what earlier ones missed.
Plan before treating. Implants are planned on a three-dimensional scan around the final crown. Veneers are designed with a master ceramist and previewed on a model before a tooth is prepared. Crowns are made from silicone impressions by a laboratory he has worked with for years, and cemented when the margins, the contacts and the bite are right.
Explain everything. Patients hear the problem, the options and the trade-offs before deciding. Appointments are scheduled with enough time for questions.
What he does
- Cosmetic dentistry: porcelain veneers designed with a master ceramist, composite bonding, professional whitening, and the planning that puts them in the right order
- Restorative dentistry: tooth-colored fillings, crowns, bridges, partial and complete dentures, and full-mouth rehabilitation planned in stages
- Implant dentistry: single teeth, implant bridges and implant-supported dentures, placed and restored in the office, with 3D planning and immediate placement where it serves the result
- Root canal treatment, extractions and wisdom tooth evaluation, emergency care, night guards and snoring appliances
- Diagnosis: a careful history, pulp and bite testing, periodontal assessment and selective CBCT imaging to find the cause before treating it
In his own words
“We strive to be thorough with our exams and conservative with our recommendations. We recommend to our patients what we would recommend to our own family.”
Family and languages
Dentistry is a family tradition. Dr. Kottar’s father was a dentist in Argentina and his great-grandfather a dentist in Italy. He practices alongside his wife, Dr. Patricia Hong, the office’s board-certified orthodontist, so a case that needs both alignment and restoration is planned by the two of them together. He speaks Spanish and Italian as well as English. Away from the office, the family likes to travel, eat well and collect odd facts.
Treatments Dr. Kottar provides
Each one has its own page: who it suits, what it involves and what the alternatives are.
