A family dentist is the first point of contact for everything from a six-month cleaning to a same-day crown, and the choice of office tends to shape a household’s oral-health trajectory for decades. Tennessee licenses general dentists under TCA 63-5 through the State Board of Dentistry, which requires graduation from a CODA-accredited DDS or DMD program, a written and clinical examination, and ongoing continuing education. Beyond the baseline license, the markers a long-time Nashville patient learns to look for are American Dental Association and Tennessee Dental Association membership, Nashville Dental Society participation, and the Academy of General Dentistry Fellowship credential, FAGD, which requires five hundred verifiable CE hours plus a written examination. Each of the three practices profiled below clears those bars, with founding dates that sit twenty, fifty, and one hundred years back in Davidson County dental history.
A short word on what general dentistry actually covers in 2026. Preventive care is the cleaning, exam, fluoride, oral-cancer screening, and digital radiographs schedule that anchors the relationship. Restorative work covers fillings, crowns, bridges, root canals, and dentures. Cosmetic services range from whitening and bonding to veneers and clear-aligner orthodontics. Implant dentistry, once referred to surgical specialists, is now placed and restored in many general offices, and the three profiled here all offer implant restoration. Infection control across each operatory follows the CDC’s 2003 dental setting guidelines with the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 update, and the ADA Code of Ethics governs informed consent, recordkeeping, and advertising for every Tennessee-licensed practitioner.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Dentistry of Nashville | Founded 1919, led by Dr. James Fleming, DDS with ADA, AGD, and American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry membership. | Preventive cleanings, CEREC same-day crowns, dental implants, LANAP laser-assisted periodontics, veneers and whitening. |
| Belle Meade Family Dentistry | Founded 1978, Dr. James R. Pace Sr., DDS (AAID) and Dr. James R. Pace Jr., FAGD with ADA, TDA, Nashville Dental Society, AGD membership. | Implant placement through All-on-4, cone-beam CT planning, digital intraoral scanning, sleep-apnea oral appliances, sedation. |
| Gorham and Ammarell Dentistry | Founded 1969, Dr. Matt J. Gorham III, DDS and Dr. Robert M. Ammarell, DDS with founding-doctor FACD and FICD heritage. | Composite fillings, crowns and bridges, Zoom whitening, ClearCorrect aligners, TMJ appliance therapy, early-morning schedule. |
1. Dentistry of Nashville #
Dentistry of Nashville is the oldest dental practice in the city, founded in 1919 and now into its second century of continuous operation in Davidson County. The office sits on Blakemore Avenue, a short walk from the Vanderbilt campus and an easy reach for patients across Hillsboro Village, Belmont, 12 South, and West End neighborhoods. Dr. James Fleming, DDS leads the clinical roster and maintains active membership in the American Dental Association, the Academy of General Dentistry, and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, a credential triangle that signals continuing education well above the Tennessee Board’s two-hour-per-month minimum. The practice has served generations of the same Nashville families across the Elam family’s stewardship of the office, and that family-medicine continuity is the operating thread that distinguishes the office from chain-format new entrants.
Services on the Blakemore Avenue menu cover preventive cleanings and exams, cosmetic restorations including veneers and whitening, dental implants, periodontal care, and same-day crowns produced on the CEREC chairside CAD/CAM system that Sirona pioneered for in-office restorations. The office also offers LANAP, a laser-assisted periodontal treatment cleared by the FDA for moderate-to-advanced periodontitis. CEREC means a single-visit crown without a temporary or a second appointment, and LANAP means a flapless alternative to traditional gum surgery for patients with active periodontal disease. The combination puts a one-hundred-year practice on the same technology footing as recent build-outs, while the staff continuity, with a dental hygienist past the twenty-four-year mark and a patient-care coordinator on staff since 2006, is the kind of bench depth a newer office cannot manufacture.
- Address: 2125 Blakemore Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212
- Phone: (615) 383-3690
- Lead dentist: Dr. James Fleming, DDS
- Memberships: ADA, AGD, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
- Founded: 1919
2. Belle Meade Family Dentistry #
Belle Meade Family Dentistry opened in 1978 under Dr. James R. Pace Sr., DDS, a University of Tennessee Health Science Center graduate who placed his first dental implant in 1980, well before implants entered the general-practice mainstream in Middle Tennessee. The Kenner Avenue office, just off Harding Pike between West End and the Belle Meade municipal line, is now a two-doctor practice with Dr. James R. Pace Jr., FAGD joining his father after a high-honors graduation from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry and a 360-plus-hour implant continuum at Georgia Health Science University and the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. Dr. Pace Jr. holds the FAGD credential through five hundred verified CE hours and the AGD examination, sits as a Spear Institute affiliate, and earned the 2011 Tennessee Dental Association Ace Award for 438 continuing education hours in a single membership year.
The Kenner Avenue clinic carries the full general-dentistry menu, including preventive cleanings and exams, restorative crowns and bridges, root canals, implant placement and restoration up through All-on-4 full-arch cases, veneers and clear-aligner orthodontics, sedation dentistry, laser dentistry, and sleep-apnea oral appliances. Both doctors hold ADA, Tennessee Dental Association, Nashville Dental Society, and Academy of General Dentistry memberships, and Dr. Pace Sr. additionally sits with the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, the credentialing body that built the AAID examination standard for implant practitioners outside the periodontics and oral-surgery specialties. The office uses three-dimensional cone-beam CT imaging for implant planning and digital intraoral scanners for crown and aligner impressions, which removes the gag-reflex tray-and-putty step for most procedures.
- Address: 104 Kenner Avenue, Nashville, TN 37205
- Phone: (615) 237-7338
- Lead dentists: Dr. James R. Pace Sr., DDS; Dr. James R. Pace Jr., FAGD
- Memberships: ADA, TDA, Nashville Dental Society, AGD; AAID (Pace Sr.); Spear Institute affiliate (Pace Jr.)
- Founded: 1978
https://www.bellemeadedental.com/
3. Gorham and Ammarell Dentistry #
Gorham and Ammarell Dentistry has served the Vanderbilt and West End corridor since 1969, when Dr. Matt J. Gorham Jr., DDS opened the original practice on 30th Avenue North. The office is now operated by Dr. Matt J. Gorham III, DDS and Dr. Robert M. Ammarell, DDS, who run a four-hygienist roster across an early-morning schedule designed for downtown workday patients. The founding doctor was named Academy of General Dentistry Dentist of the Year for Tennessee in 2001, a state-level recognition tied to continuing education volume and peer evaluation, and he held Fellowships in both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists, two honor societies that admit by invitation after peer review of clinical and professional contribution. That credentialing inheritance is the bench the current two-doctor firm has worked from since the founder’s retirement.
Services on the 30th Avenue North menu include preventive cleanings and adult and child exams, composite fillings, crowns and bridges, dentures, veneers, professional whitening on the Philips Zoom platform, ClearCorrect clear-aligner orthodontics, TMJ appliance therapy, and same-day emergency visits, the last of which the office prioritizes for established patients with active pain. The roster of four registered dental hygienists keeps the hygiene chair turnover predictable, an important detail for households who book the whole family on a single morning, and the practice’s continuous family-ownership thread back to 1969 means many current adult patients first sat in the chair as elementary-school students. The Tuesday-through-Thursday seven-AM start and the Friday seven-to-eleven half-day are unusual for a Nashville general office and well-suited to professionals in the Midtown and Music Row corridors.
- Address: 124 30th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37203
- Phone: (615) 327-4914
- Lead dentists: Dr. Matt J. Gorham III, DDS; Dr. Robert M. Ammarell, DDS
- Credentialing heritage: founding doctor named Tennessee AGD Dentist of the Year, 2001; FACD and FICD Fellowships
- Founded: 1969
https://www.westendnashvilledentists.com/
Choosing among the three #
All three offices on this list run preventive, restorative, cosmetic, and implant services under one roof, hold the ADA and Academy of General Dentistry credentials patients should expect from a long-tenured Nashville office, and have either a multi-generation family thread or a one-hundred-year practice history in Davidson County. The differentiators come down to neighborhood fit and clinical depth in the procedure you happen to need next. Dentistry of Nashville on Blakemore Avenue is the closest option for Vanderbilt-area, Hillsboro Village, and 12 South residents, and the CEREC same-day crown plus LANAP laser-periodontics combination is a clean answer for patients who want chairside CAD/CAM and a flapless option for active gum disease. Belle Meade Family Dentistry on Kenner Avenue is the deepest implant bench among the three, with a father-and-son team holding AAID and Spear Institute credentials and a four-decade in-house track record on implant placement and restoration. Gorham and Ammarell Dentistry on 30th Avenue North is the earliest-opening office of the three and the closest fit for Midtown and Music Row professionals booking before the workday starts.
For first-visit prep, three habits help. Bring an active insurance card and a list of any prescription medications, because the medical history form drives both treatment planning and the standard pre-procedure screening required by the Tennessee Board. Ask about the office’s continuing-education focus the first time you sit in the chair, since a dentist whose CE hours sit in implant or laser work will plan a course of treatment around those tools, and that detail matters more than the website’s stock photography. Finally, schedule the new-patient exam, which on each of the three rosters above runs longer than a recall cleaning and includes the full periodontal-charting, oral-cancer screening, and intraoral-camera review that a Tennessee-licensed general dentist is trained to deliver under ADA Code of Ethics informed-consent standards.
Selection Methodology #
Verifying a Nashville general dental practice begins at the Tennessee Board of Dentistry register under TCA 63-5 and the lead doctor’s ADA and Academy of General Dentistry record. The three offices above each carry a current TBOD license without disciplinary action on the practitioner profile, list ADA and AGD membership for the lead clinician, hold a long Nashville-area patient-care history at a single named address, and publish service-line detail (preventive, restorative, prosthodontic, occlusal, sedation tier) without straying into the specialty corners of orthodontics, endodontics, or oral surgery that belong to board-certified specialists. Dental service organizations that rotate doctors quarterly, ad-driven offices without a long-tenured lead, and addresses that cannot be verified on the TBOD profile were not considered.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How do I verify a Nashville general dentistry practitioner holds the right credentials?
A: Use the Tennessee Department of Health Board of Dentistry license verification at health.tn.gov, the American Dental Association Find-a-Dentist directory, and the Academy of General Dentistry Fellowship lookup for FAGD-credentialed practitioners.
Q: What sets these three apart from the broader Nashville general dentistry field?
A: All three offices clear Tennessee Board of Dentistry licensure under TCA 63-5 and seat at least one practitioner who carries ADA and Academy of General Dentistry membership. Beyond that floor, the differentiation runs through case-mix breadth (cosmetic adjuncts, sleep-airway, in-house hygiene cadence) and how the recall system actually pulls patients back rather than depending on phone-tag reminders.
Q: Are any of the three practices paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No practice sponsored placement.
Q: How should I prepare for a first appointment?
A: Confirm in-network status with your insurer, bring photo ID and a list of current medications, and request the practice’s published new-patient intake forms in advance to streamline the first visit.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.