Community Involvement at Dental West NYC

Good oral health rarely stays confined to a single exam room. Across New York City, children need early lessons in caring for their teeth, older adults in nursing facilities require dental attention that is easy to overlook, and entire neighborhoods go without regular checkups simply because a dentist is out of reach. The doctors who step into these gaps, often without recognition, quietly shape how a community experiences care.

The team behind Dental West NYC has built this kind of record over four decades. Long before laser dentistry and prosthodontic reconstruction became the practice’s hallmark, its doctors were volunteering in hospitals, teaching hygiene to children, and treating patients who had nowhere else to turn. That history continues today, woven into the same values that guide every visit to our Upper West Side office.

A Legacy of Public Service Across Our Team

Three of our doctors carry this commitment through very different chapters of their careers, from a founder who has volunteered for decades to newer team members caring for patients well beyond Manhattan.

Dr. Reginald Moncrieff’s Decades of Volunteer Care

Dr. Reginald Moncrieff founded the practice that became Dental West in 1980, but his public service began even earlier. As a dental student, he developed an Oral Hygiene Instruction program for preschoolers that was presented locally and nationally, an early sign of the teaching instinct that shaped his career. He went on to become a volunteer clinical instructor at Mount Sinai Hospital’s General Practice Residency Program, later serving as its coordinator during the 1980s.

He continued volunteering there for nearly four more decades, joined the Children’s Aid Society to bring hygiene instruction to children across the city, and served a decade as staff dentist at Kateri Nursing Home. That work led to a 1998 publication in the New York State Dental Society Journal. More recently, he volunteered with the New York City Emergency Medical Corps, administering COVID vaccines in West Harlem.

Outside the office, Dr. Moncrieff remains active in the Terry Fox Run in Central Park, University of Alberta alumni events, and the Canadian Association of New York. He is also a founding member of the New York Continuo Collective, a baroque music ensemble, and sits on the boards of several community and cultural associations.

Dr. Michelle Kamel’s Care for Underserved Communities

Dr. Michelle Kamel, a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology trained at NYU College of Dentistry, brings her advanced training in gum disease and implant care to patients who might not otherwise receive it. Beyond her work at Dental West, Dr. Kamel provides dental care to underserved communities both locally in New York City and internationally in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her approach carries the same precision and comprehensive care she offers every patient in our office, extended to people who face real barriers to treatment.

Dr. Leora Walter’s Public Health Research and Teaching

Practice leader Dr. Leora Walter has carried her prosthodontic training into public health work abroad. She spent a year in Lima, Peru, conducting research on HPV prevalence in healthy adults through an NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholarship, and later completed an International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Program scholarship in Ethiopia. Closer to home, she serves as Course Director of Prosthodontics and a Clinical Attending at Woodhull Medical Center, training the next generation of general dentists in the same minimally invasive philosophy she practices every day.

Care That Extends Beyond Our Practice

This kind of work matters because access to dental care is still not equal across New York City or the country. The CDC’s 2024 Oral Health Surveillance Report found that people from lower-income families, those with less education, and members of racial and ethnic minority groups continue to experience the highest rates of untreated tooth decay. Volunteer teaching, nursing home care, and treatment for underserved patients help close that gap, one appointment at a time.

Dr. Moncrieff, Dr. Kamel, and Dr. Walter share the office with a team of dentists and hygienists equally devoted to patient-first care, all introduced on our Meet the Team page. Whether a patient walks through our doors on the Upper West Side or receives care through one of these outside programs, the same standard applies: attentive, minimally invasive treatment built on trust.

Book Your Visit With Dental West NYC

The same values that drive our doctors to volunteer their time also shape how we treat every patient who visits our Upper West Side office. We take a minimally invasive, prevention-first approach to every appointment, and every cleaning includes a free fluoride treatment at no extra cost. As an out-of-network, fee-for-service practice, we build treatment plans around what your teeth actually need rather than what an insurance policy allows.

Dr. Walter, Dr. Moncrieff, Dr. Kamel, and the rest of our team bring decades of combined experience in prosthodontics, periodontics, and general dentistry to every visit, the same dedication that carries into the community work described above. Book your appointment online to experience the same attentive care our doctors bring to patients across New York City.