Majid Heydari, DDS
Born and raised in California’s San Fernando Valley, Dr. Heydari has always had two seemingly different sides: the scientist and the artist. As a child, he was constantly drawing, filling pages with sketches of his parents, siblings, teachers, doctors, and anyone else who happened to capture his attention. But he also loved science. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and a master’s degree in Developmental Biology, initially considering a career in cancer research and genetics.
Before graduating from the SUNY Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, Dr. Heydari went to art school and received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. At the same time, he continued pursuing his lifelong love of art, eventually earning another Dentistry ultimately became the place where those worlds came together – but not immediately. After his first semester of dental school, despite doing well academically, Dr. Heydari took a year-long leave to make sure he had chosen the right path. He spent three months living in Spain, studying Spanish and immersing himself in the culture, followed by three months in Brazil, where he studied Portuguese. By the time he returned, he knew dentistry was where he belonged: a profession that combined science, artistry, working with his hands, and, most importantly, building relationships with
people.
Dr. Heydari graduated from the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine in 2006. Afterward, he practiced throughout New York, including approximately three years in Utica as a lead clinical dentist. Working with many patients who needed full-mouth extractions and dentures gave him an education that went far beyond the classroom. He became deeply interested in understanding what denture patients actually experience – from creating more accurate impressions to arranging denture teeth by hand and designing smiles that look natural rather than manufactured.
After trading New York winters for Florida sunshine, Dr. Heydari eventually came to The Villages, where caring for a large senior population further shaped his approach. Wanting to provide more options for patients with missing or failing teeth, he spent a year traveling to Miami on weekends for advanced implant education. His training later took him to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he placed 31 implants during an intensive two-day hands-on program. He continued his education in implant dentistry and became a Fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). That attention to detail still defines the way he practices today. His fine-art background is particularly evident when he creates dentures and smiles by hand – combining anatomy and function with an artist’s eye for proportion, individuality, and the small imperfections that make a smile look real. Away from dentistry, Dr. Heydari speaks English, Spanish, and Farsi and has traveled to more than 20 countries. He enjoys soccer, tennis, drawing, sculpting, and spending time with his wife, family, and friends. And on weekends, there’s a good chance you’ll find him at the grill perfecting Persian kabobs – a passion that dates back to the five years he spent working in Persian restaurants in Los Angeles.
For Dr. Heydari, dentistry ultimately became exactly what he was searching for: a little bit of science, a
little bit of art, and a lot of human connection.
