Surgical merge
Doctors join forces to open second Tennessee Valley Oral Surgery location, this one near Farragut
Dr. Otto Slater and Dr. Dan Read merged their practices last summer into a second TVOS — at the location of Read’s former practice, Daniel S. Read, DMD — and have teamed up with Dr. Kelsey LaPorte.
“I feel great about my colleagues, I feel great about our patients and I feel great about our facility,” said Slater, a 1979 Bearden High School graduate. “I also feel that the Concord-Knoxville-Farragut area is booming, as it is in Maryville, so the need for our services is enormous.
“We’re so happy to have a state-of-the-art facility to serve the needs of this region,” he added. “I would say that we try to provide state-of-the-art oral surgical services, but with a hometown flavor.”
Having started the second office with a soft opening several weeks ago, Slater said, “The reception has been great, been very well-received by the residents of this region, and we’re really looking forward to the summer.”
The doctors provide “high-end” restorative dental implants, extraction of teeth that includes wisdom teeth, and facial and oral pathology.
Additionally, they provide such cosmetic surgical procedures as Botox, lip enhancement injections, scar removal and revision, wart and skin tag removal, ear lobe repair and Latisse.
“You don’t need a referral to see us,” Slater said. “You can see us directly or we work very closely with the general dentists.
“You just call or come on,” he added. “We’re glad to see anybody at any time.”
Slater, who started Tennessee Valley Oral Surgery in March 2020 in Maryville, has been practicing in East Tennessee since 2000, when he finished his residency in Medical University in Charleston, South Carolina. He practiced in facial trauma for 18 years at University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Read, who grew up in Milwaukee, graduated from the University of Florida’s dental school then enlisted in the military, where he spent six years.
“I decided oral surgery was more of my passion,” he recalled.
After leaving the military, Read completed his residency at the University of Florida in Jacksonville. He subsequently moved to Tennessee in 1997 “because my wife (Chris Testerman is) from Knoxville,” he said. Read has been in private practice since 1997.
When Slater contacted Read in winter 2020 about merging the two practices, “it was a real good fit for him to come in, update things and update me,” Read said.
“Dan and I had been established independently for decades,” Slater said.
“I’ve enjoyed working with two very experienced oral surgeons,” Read added.
LaPorte, who joined Slater upon moving to East Tennessee in August 2020, grew up in the Midwest, where she earned her master’s degree then completed dental school, medical school and her surgical residency, training in oral and full facial reconstruction — cranial facial, cosmetics, cleft palette, trauma and pediatric surgery. She practiced one year in Omaha, Nebraska, before moving to Knox County.
“I decided when I was 16 that I wanted to do facial surgery and reconstruction, so I followed the path of oral and maxillofacial surgery,” she said.
“Dr. LaPorte and I found that we had so much demand for our services, particularly in Knoxville, Farragut and Concord, that we teamed with Dr. (Dan) Read, at his existing office, renovated it and established Tennessee Valley Oral Surgery in the Knoxville-Concord-Farragut area,” Slater said. “So, now we have two locations to serve our patients.”
Tennessee Valley Oral Surgery’s Knoxville office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday; from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday; and closed Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, call 865-381-8867 or visit www.tnvalleyos.com
