Education & Board Certifications
Dr. Adatrow served on the faculty of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry, from 2004 to 2021, holding appointments that included Associate Professor and Program Director in advanced specialty training. During those years he taught, mentored, and clinically supervised hundreds of dental students and specialty residents — many of whom now practice across the Mid-South and beyond.
Academic medicine shapes a clinician in ways that private practice alone does not. Teaching a procedure requires a different kind of mastery than performing it: every decision has to be explainable, every technique has to hold up to questioning from residents training at the edge of the literature, and every case becomes an opportunity to refine not just an outcome but a method. Fourteen years of university-based specialty training and nearly two decades of faculty practice gave Dr. Adatrow that kind of familiarity with the why behind each step of implant, periodontal, and prosthodontic care.
That academic grounding still informs the practice today. Protocols are drawn from current evidence rather than habit, complex cases are approached with the diagnostic discipline expected in a teaching setting, and continuing education remains ongoing — both as a learner and as a contributor to the field through research, publications, and lectures.
The recognitions that have followed this work come primarily from within the profession itself — from the institutions where he trained and taught, from the specialty boards that credential his fields, and from the peers who understand what the work requires. The sections below document that record.
Education
Training Built OverFourteen Years
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
Dr. Adatrow's academic path began at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he completed coursework in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This early training in research methodology and statistical reasoning established the scientific foundation that would define his approach to clinical research across his entire career — from periodontal immunology to randomized controlled trials in periodontal therapeutics.
University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis
Dr. Adatrow earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry in Memphis — one of the South's oldest and most respected dental schools, integrating rigorous biomedical science with comprehensive clinical training.
His relationship with UTHSC would prove lifelong: he returned for his second specialty residency, then joined the faculty in 2004 and served for nearly two decades as professor and program director.
Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis
Dr. Adatrow completed his advanced specialty training in Periodontology and Implant Surgery at Indiana University School of Dentistry, earning a Master of Science in Dentistry (MSD). IUSD's graduate periodontics program is among the most respected in the country, combining advanced surgical education with an emphasis on peer-reviewed research.
During this residency, Dr. Adatrow simultaneously served as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Periodontics and Allied Dental Health, teaching third- and fourth-year dental students - a simultaneous teaching and training commitment that established the pattern of parallel clinical, academic, and research engagement defining his entire career.
His research at Indiana — funded by a Delta Dental Fund Research Grant and a Masters Student Research Award — examined the anti-cancer properties of DMAPT in oral squamous cell carcinoma, early work that contributed to the broader understanding of targeted pharmacology in head and neck oncology.
University of Tennessee College of Dentistry, Memphis
While already holding Diplomate status in periodontology, Dr. Adatrow returned to UTHSC to complete a full prosthodontics residency - earning a second Master of Science in Dentistry in Advanced Prosthodontics and Implant Dentistry. From July 2011 to July 2014, he pursued this training while simultaneously serving as Clinical Instructor in the Department of Prosthodontics.
This second specialty placed Dr. Adatrow in a cohort of fewer than 100 clinicians in the United States who hold dual board-level credentials in both periodontology and prosthodontics — allowing him to plan and execute the complete implant reconstructive sequence, from surgical site development through final crown placement, within a single practice.
The concurrent holding of Diplomate status in periodontology while completing a full prosthodontics residency places Dr. Adatrow among an extremely small cohort capable of managing complex reconstructive cases — from surgical management of bone and soft tissue to final prosthetic rehabilitation — entirely within a single clinical philosophy.
One-Year Accredited Surgical Program
Dr. Adatrow completed a one-year hospital-based surgical internship, training in the management of medically complex patients in an operating room environment. This experience deepened his understanding of systemic disease, anesthesia protocols, and surgical management of patients with conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and anticoagulation — all of direct relevance to implant and periodontal surgical practice.
American Board of Periodontology · International College of Dentistry
Diplomate, American Board of Periodontology — certified May 2007. The ABP Diplomate examination is among the most rigorous credentialing processes in American dentistry, requiring demonstrated mastery of periodontal medicine, implant surgery, and complex reconstructive procedures.
Fellow, International College of Dentistry — inducted October 2008. Fellowship in the ICD is extended by invitation only to dental professionals who have demonstrated distinguished service. Fewer than 10,000 professionals worldwide hold this designation.
Fellow, Academy of General Education — inducted May 2003.
Recognition
Honors & Awards
Honorary Societies
May 2020
Dean's Society
UTHSC College of Dentistry
April 2009
Dean's Odontological Society
UTHSC College of Dentistry
May 2003
Fellow, Academy of General Education
Academic Distinction
Faculty Awards
January 2009
John Diggs Faculty Award
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
February 2009
Harold Cloogman Award
UT Student Annual Research Day
January 2007
Dean's Junior Faculty Award
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Research Leadership
2007 – 2012
Judge, Hinman Research Symposium
Scientific Posters & Oral Presentations · 6 consecutive years
2008 · 2009 · 2010
Judge, UT Student Annual Research Day
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

