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Choosing an Oral Surgeon in New Jersey: What I’d Want to Know Before I Book
By Tiffany Slowinski
Nobody goes looking for an oral surgeon because they are having a particularly fun week.
Usually your dentist tells you that you need one.
Maybe your teenager needs wisdom teeth out. Maybe you need an implant. Maybe there is a tooth that has become a much bigger problem than you were hoping it would be.
Either way, I am probably already a little nervous before I ever start Googling.
And if it is one of my kids, multiply that by about 100.
So when I am choosing an oral surgeon, I am not looking for the fanciest office or the person with the most dramatic before-and-after photos.
I want to know who is actually doing the procedure, what their training is, how they handle anesthesia, what recovery is really going to look like and who I call if something does not seem right afterward.
That is the information I care about.
Who is actually doing the surgery?
This is the first thing I would want to know.
Some oral surgery practices have one surgeon. Others have several doctors working across multiple offices.
If I am reading about a specific surgeon, I want to know whether that is actually the person who will be treating me or my child.
I also want to know what credentials the practice publishes and what the state record shows.
New Jersey’s public dental licensing record can show a dentist license and, when applicable, specialty and anesthesia permits. Some practices also publish board certification through the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Those are different pieces of information.
I am not expecting a parent to decode every credential on the internet.
That is exactly why we checked them.
What kind of anesthesia or sedation are we talking about?
This would be a very big question for me.
Especially if you are talking about my child.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons receive hospital-based surgical training after dental school, including anesthesia training, and different procedures may involve anything from local anesthesia to different levels of sedation or general anesthesia.
I do not need to decide which one is right.
I do want the surgeon to explain what they recommend for this particular procedure and why.
What will my child experience?
Will they be awake?
How long will the anesthesia last?
What should we expect when they wake up?
Do they need to stop eating or drinking beforehand?
What medications do we need to discuss?
Who needs to drive them home?
These are not stupid questions.
They are exactly the questions I am asking.
One thing that stood out while we researched this guide is how little some practices publish about sedation on their websites.
So if anesthesia matters to you, ask.
The state record can help show who holds an anesthesia permit. The actual practice needs to tell you what it offers and what is being recommended for you.
If this is my kid’s wisdom teeth, what am I actually signing up for?
I think this is where the mom brain kicks in.
I want to know why they need to come out.
Do all four need to be removed?
Is there a reason to do it now?
What does the surgeon see on the X-ray?
How complicated does this look?
What is a normal recovery for this particular case?
I am not looking for a promise that everything will be easy.
I am looking for someone who can tell me what they expect and what would make this case different.
Then give me the practical version.
How many days should I realistically keep my kid home?
When can they go back to school?
When can they go back to sports?
What should they eat?
What should we have in the house before surgery?
What pain-control plan should we expect?
What symptoms are normal and what means I should call you?
That is the information I am going to remember.
If I need an implant, I have a different set of questions
Dental implants can turn into a much bigger conversation than I expected.
Sometimes there is an extraction first.
Sometimes bone grafting is part of the plan.
There can be a healing period before the final tooth is restored.
And the oral surgeon may be handling one part of the process while your general dentist handles another.
I would want someone to walk me through the whole sequence before we start.
Who does what?
How many appointments are involved?
How long is the process likely to take?
Will I leave with a temporary tooth?
Does the surgeon place the implant and then send me back to my dentist for the final crown?
What happens if bone grafting is needed?
I do not want to discover step four while I am sitting in the chair after step three.
Show me the roadmap.
What is this going to cost and which insurance are we even talking about?
This is another fun part.
Oral surgery can involve dental insurance, medical insurance or sometimes both depending on the procedure and the plan.
That means the sentence “we take your insurance” does not tell me nearly enough.
Before surgery, I want an estimate.
What does the surgeon charge?
What does the anesthesia cost?
Are there separate charges for imaging, grafting or anything else being discussed?
What is expected to be covered?
Is anything subject to a deductible?
Does the office submit to both medical and dental insurance when appropriate?
I understand that an office cannot guarantee what an insurance company will pay.
I do expect them to explain the financial side well enough that I am not blindsided afterward.
What does recovery really look like?
I do not want the brochure answer.
I want the answer you would give your sister.
How swollen am I likely to be?
When does swelling usually peak?
How uncomfortable is this expected to be?
How long until I can eat normally?
When can I exercise?
When can my teenager go back to practice?
What is normal bleeding?
What happens if pain gets worse instead of better?
And who answers the phone if I am worried at 8 p.m.?
Recovery is part of the procedure.
I want to know what support looks like after I leave the office, not just while I am in it.
Pay attention to how the surgeon talks to you
This may be one of the biggest things for me.
Surgery is already intimidating enough.
I want a surgeon who can explain what is happening without making me feel ridiculous for asking questions.
If this is my child, I want them spoken to too.
I want someone to tell us what they are doing, what they expect and what the alternatives are when there actually are alternatives.
I want enough information to make a decision without feeling like I need to go to dental school first.
That matters as much to me as the waiting room.
Probably more.
So how do you compare oral surgeons?
That is why Garden State Circle built this guide differently.
For oral surgeons serving Somerville and Hillsborough, we did not just pull the practices that appear first in search.
We looked at the surgeons the practices publish, then checked New Jersey’s public dentistry licensing register for the dentist license and any specialty or anesthesia permits we could find under each surgeon’s name.
We also show board certification when the practice publishes it, how far the office is from Somerville and Hillsborough and how the practice says new patients can get started.
When we could not find something, we say that.
That does not mean a surgeon does not have it.
It means we are not going to fill in the blank ourselves.
That distinction matters.
This is also not a ranking.
The closest surgeon may be the right one for you.
The surgeon your dentist recommends may be the right one.
You may care most about board certification, anesthesia options, a particular procedure, appointment access or whether the surgeon made your nervous 17-year-old feel completely at ease.
Those are personal decisions.
What we can do is give you better information before you make them.
Because if someone is operating on me or one of my kids, “they had good Google reviews” is not enough homework for me.
I want to know who they are, what the public record shows and whether I trust them when they explain what happens next.
The Guide: Oral Surgeons Serving Somerville and Hillsborough, NJ
How We Selected These Practices
This guide covers Somerville and Hillsborough.
Somerville has no oral surgery practice with the town in its name. The nearest offices sit in Somerville itself, Branchburg, Hillsborough and Bedminster, and the drive-time line reaches Middlesex and Somerset. One Somerville surgeon is listed below the table rather than in it, and the reason is stated there.
Where fewer than six practices in these towns met the test, other practices that met the same test are listed in a second table under Nearby options, each with the town it is based in.
About This Guide
Everything under the heading that begins this guide is governed by the rules above, on every guide we publish. Where a sponsor’s message appears above that heading, it is paid for and labelled, and it buys nothing in the guide. Garden State Circle is supported by the businesses that participate in it. Participation pays for our ongoing work: keeping a business’s entry accurate, re-checking its record, and publishing a page of its own details that the business maintains. There is no paid placement in this guide. Participation does not buy a place here, a position here, or anything the comparison table says. Nothing on this page is medical advice. Every treatment described here carries risks that depend on your own health and history, and the person to discuss them with is a licensed provider who has examined you.
Garden State Circle is published in New Jersey by Tiffany and Jake Slowinski and covers Somerville and Hillsborough. Contact the publisher at jake@gardenstatecircle.com. How every guide is made, in one place: how every guide is made.
Oral Surgeons Serving Somerville and Hillsborough — Compared
| Practice | Surgeons | Drive: Somerville | NJ licence and permits, checked September 3, 2026 | Board certification (as published) | New patients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsborough Oral Surgery, LLC | Krystin A. Bandola, DMD, MD | 14 min | Dentist license Active · Specialty permit Active · Anesthesia permit Active | American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | Not published |
| Somerset Oral Surgery and Dental Implants | Alan Hecht, DMD · Tyler Jacobs, DDS, MD | 3 min | Both: dentist license Active · anesthesia permit Active. Specialty permit — Hecht Active; Jacobs not found by us | Alan Hecht — American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. Tyler Jacobs — Not published | Online booking |
Nearby options
| Practice | Based in | Surgeons | Drive: Somerville | NJ licence and permits, checked September 3, 2026 | Board certification (as published) | New patients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey Oral, Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery | Branchburg | Karl Maloney, DDS | 13 min | Dentist license Active · Specialty permit Active · Anesthesia permit Active | American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | Appointment request |
| Oral Surgery Group | Middlesex | Not published for this office | 11 min | All six surgeons: dentist license Active · anesthesia permit Active. Specialty permit Active for five; Prabhu — not found by us | Not published for this office | Patient registration |
| Madison Avenue Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates | Bedminster | Steven J. Silverman, DDS, MD | 14 min | Dentist license Active · Specialty permit Active · Anesthesia permit Active | American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery | Patient registration |
| Nilesh R. Patel, DMD, MD | Somerset | Nilesh R. Patel, DMD, MD | 22 min | Dentist license Active · Specialty permit Active · Anesthesia permit Active | American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | Not published |
Drive times measured in Google Maps on September 3, 2026, from the centre of each town, fastest route. Practice details verified against each practice’s own website on September 3, 2026. License and permit status is what the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry’s public register showed on September 3, 2026, looked up by name; not found by us is a fact about our search, not about the surgeon. Board certification is printed as each practice states it on its own website; Not published means the website does not state it.
What the State Record Shows
New Jersey licenses dentists through the State Board of Dentistry, and its public register lists, for each person, the dentist license, any specialty permit, and any general anesthesia permit, each with a status. On September 3, 2026, we ran every surgeon named on this page — twelve people — through that register by name.
All twelve show an Active dentist license and an Active general anesthesia permit at the town where the practice says they work.
The register also shows an Active oral and maxillofacial surgery specialty permit for Krystin A. Bandola, Steven J. Silverman, Karl Maloney, Nilesh R. Patel and Alan Hecht, and for five of the six surgeons of the Oral Surgery Group. Where the register showed no specialty permit under a surgeon’s name, the table says not found by us. That is a fact about our search on one day, not a finding about the surgeon, and it is a question we are putting to each of those practices; the cell changes the day the practice answers or the register does.
That matters because of the one thing almost none of these practices publish. Of the six, one names the sedation it offers on its website: Madison Avenue Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates describes IV sedation performed in the office. Somerset has an anesthesia page that does not name a technique. The rest say nothing. So if sedation matters to you, the state register tells you who holds the permit, and the phone call tells you what they actually offer.
The Practices
Hillsborough Oral Surgery, LLC
Office: 202 Towne Centre Drive, Hillsborough
Krystin A. Bandola, DMD, MD, whom the practice describes as a diplomat of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, practices at the Towne Centre Drive office in Hillsborough, fourteen minutes from Somerville, and the practice takes appointments by phone.
Somerset Oral Surgery and Dental Implants
Office: 50 Division St, Ste 301, Somerville
The Somerville office on Division Street, three minutes from the centre of town, is where Alan Hecht, DMD, a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and Tyler Jacobs, DDS, MD, see patients; the practice also has an office in Lebanon.
Google lists a Douglas Jacobus, DDS, MD, at this address. The practice’s own website does not name him, so this guide does not either.
Nearby options
New Jersey Oral, Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery
Office: 3322 US-22, Suite 1207-1208, Branchburg
Dr. Karl Maloney, a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon with sixteen years in practice, sees patients at the Branchburg office on Route 22 — ten minutes from Bridgewater and thirteen from Somerville — and at a second office in Berkeley Heights.
Oral Surgery Group
Office: 1275 Bound Brook Rd, Middlesex
The Middlesex office on Bound Brook Road is one of three New Jersey locations staffed from a group of six oral surgeons — Philip Engel, DMD; Richard Stern, DDS; Constantine Simos, DMD; Michael Stern, DMD; Amy Tanchyk, DMD, MD; and Rohan J. Prabhu, DDS — and the practice does not publish which of the six see patients at this address.
Madison Avenue Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates
Office: 1 Robertson Drive, Suite 19, Bedminster
Steven J. Silverman, DDS, MD, a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery who has been in private practice for over twenty-seven years by his own account, sees patients at the Robertson Drive office in Bedminster, ten minutes from Bridgewater, as well as in Morristown.
Nilesh R. Patel, DMD, MD
Office: 1505 Highway 27, Somerset
Nilesh R. Patel, DMD, MD, a diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery who describes himself as practicing oral surgery for over fifteen years, sees patients by appointment, Monday to Friday, at his Highway 27 office in Somerset, twenty-two minutes from Somerville.
Listed in the Market, Not Checked the Same Way
Aesthetic Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery / Thomas A. Chiodo, DDS, 348 East Main Street, Somerville. Google and Atlantic Health’s physician directory both list Dr. Chiodo as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at this address, and the state register shows an Active dentist license, an Active oral and maxillofacial surgery specialty permit and an Active general anesthesia permit in Somerville under his name on September 3, 2026. We could not find a website of his own, and the criteria for the table require one, so he is listed here rather than in it. If the practice publishes a site, or writes to us, the row is added.
Common Questions
Do I need a referral to see an oral surgeon?
No. Most patients arrive because a general dentist sent them, but none of these practices requires a referral to book a consultation.
What does an oral and maxillofacial surgeon do that my dentist doesn’t?
An oral and maxillofacial surgeon completes a hospital-based surgical residency after dental school — four to six years, sometimes alongside a medical degree. In practice that means impacted teeth, difficult extractions, implants where bone has to be built first, jaw surgery, pathology, and the ability to give deeper sedation in the office. A general dentist can place implants and remove teeth. The question is not who is allowed to, it is who does it every day.
What should I ask about sedation?
Ask what they offer — local anaesthetic, nitrous oxide, intravenous sedation, general anaesthesia. Ask who administers it and what credential that person holds. Ask whether it is monitored by someone other than the person operating. The state register, described above, tells you who holds a general anesthesia permit; only one of these six websites says what is actually offered, so the rest is a phone call.
What will the consultation cost, and is imaging included?
Ask before you book. None of the six publishes a consultation price, and whether a 3D scan is bundled or billed separately varies between practices.
Do they take my insurance?
None of the six publishes a list of accepted plans. Call with your plan name and your specific procedure — coverage for oral surgery often splits between medical and dental, and the answer differs by procedure rather than by practice.
Are they taking new patients?
All six market for them. Four publish an online booking, appointment-request or registration path; Hillsborough Oral Surgery and Dr. Patel take appointments by phone. None publishes a statement about current availability, so if you have a procedure and a timeline, ask when you call.
How far will I actually have to drive?
The table gives measured drive times from the centre of Somerville. Somerset Oral Surgery is three minutes and the Middlesex and Branchburg offices are under fifteen. Somerset, on Highway 27, is the far edge of this guide at twenty-two.
How We Checked This
Surgeon names, credentials, addresses and booking paths were taken from each practice’s own website on September 3, 2026. Board certifications are stated exactly as each practice states them. Every named surgeon was looked up by name on the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry’s public license register the same day. Drive times were measured in Google Maps on September 3, 2026, from the centre of each town.
Where a practice does not publish something, this guide says so rather than guessing.
Practice details verified against each practice’s own website and the New Jersey license register on September 3, 2026. Drive times measured September 3, 2026.
More Garden State Circle Guides
More guides to Bridgewater (Martinsville), Branchburg, Raritan and Bound Brook
- Dentists in Bridgewater
- Heating and cooling contractors in Bridgewater
- Med spas in Bridgewater and Somerville
- Orthodontists in Bridgewater, Raritan and Warren
- Orthodontists in Somerville, Hillsborough and Belle Mead
- Roofing contractors in Bridgewater
- Siding and window contractors in Bridgewater
- What to know before wisdom teeth removal
More guides to Somerville and Hillsborough
- Electricians in Somerville
- Dentists in Somerville
- Heating and cooling contractors in Somerville
- Roofing contractors in Somerville
- Siding and window contractors in Somerville
- Restaurants in Somerville
- Ice cream in Somerville
The same guide for other markets
- Oral surgeons serving Long Branch and Red Bank
- Oral surgeons serving the Somerset Hills
- Oral surgeons serving Flemington, Clinton and Lebanon
Every guide we publish is listed at Garden State Circle Guides.
Something Wrong, or Something We Should Know?
This guide is maintained, and readers are how it stays current.
If anything here is wrong or has changed — a name, a credential, an address, hours, whether a practice is taking new patients — tell us and we will check it against the practice’s own records.
And if there is something else we should know about oral surgery in these towns, tell us that too. You can attach a photo or a screenshot. Please don’t include personal or medical information.
Practices listed here are welcome to write in directly. A practice that is not listed and believes it meets the criteria above — an office within twenty-five minutes of Somerville, and a named oral and maxillofacial surgeon on its own website — can write in too, and the row is added when it checks out.