Merrifield Smiles has been serving the community by providing exceptional family and general dental care in Falls Church, Virginia, since 2012. Dr. Mustafa Al-Karagholi has well over 30 years of dental experience and brings that wealth of knowledge to our office through his excellent care. Together with his son, Dr. Adnan Al-Karagholi, they cultivate an environment where your wants are heard and your needs are met. Our friendly team is a diverse, professional group of individuals that are committed to providing quality time with patients, displaying a willingness to improve and support our patients, and creating a genuine, down-to-earth feel to our office. We are proud to have team members who speak English, Spanish, Arabic and Farsi and are happy to help you feel at home when you visit us. Our dentists and team warmly welcome you to our dental office and look forward to helping you with your smile.
Dr. Mustafa Al-Karagholi has been practicing general dentistry and prosthodontics for over 20 years. Throughout his years of experience, he continuously pursued advanced continuing education courses and post-doctoral programs, especially in the areas of cosmetic, restorative and implant constructive dentistry.
He finished three years of the combined prosthodontics program at Loyola University in Chicago and Hines VA Hospital in Maywood, Illinois. Dr. Al-Karagholi uses the art and science of his specialty to restore even the most challenging cosmetic problems into beautiful smiles. He is devoted to creating excellence in all phases of patient care.
Dr. Al-Karagholis commitment to perfection made him join and become an Alumni of the Dawson Academy for Complete Dentistry, where he developed his conviction that every beautiful smile he creates should be long-lasting and should provide his patients with the best in function and comfort. He enjoys helping his patients restore their mouths to optimal health and function, including restoring dental implants.
Dr. Al-Karagholi believes that successful dental care comes from careful analysis of the patients oral conditions and from listening to the patients concerns and desires. He also believes that educating people about their dental condition and the variety of treatment options available to solve their dental problems will empower them to make the right decision for their oral health needs.
As one of the top ten graduates in his class from the University of Baghdad College of Dentistry, Dr. Al-Karagholi had the privilege to serve as a clinical instructor in the same school and became a faculty member after he finished his masters degree in prosthetic dentistry.
Dr. Adnan Al-Karagholi has been practicing in Northern Virginia for over two years. He attended James Madison University for his Bachelor of Science in health science and later went on the graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019. Dr. Adnan takes continuing education courses multiple times per year. Most recently, he has completed the surgical component of the AIC master course, a veneer master course, and an endodontics course. Dr. Adnan is a member of the American Dental Association, the Academy of General Dentistry, the Virginia Dental Association and the Northern Virginia Dental Society.
Dr. Adnans goal as a dentist is to provide optimal patient care where education and comfort play a central role in patient experience. He values the importance of informed consent in a procedure and believes that patient care is best when the patient believes in the treatment. During treatment, his number one priority is patient comfort, and he achieves this by actively listening and communicating with his patients from the beginning to the end. Prior to starting treatment, Dr. Adnan explains the procedure in detail. During the treatment, he walks the patient through every step he will take so that they feel like they are in the know and have an active voice to express any concerns. This often leads to the patient feeling more comfortable going into procedures and more confident in their smile post treatment.
His passion for patient education has grown into an online presence. Dr. Adnan is a social media creator known as Dr. Don, with over 150K followers and millions of views on Tik-Tok (check him out at @thedontist)! His content focuses on educating patients on proper home care and clinical dentistry. He has had the honor of partnering with a number of brands promoting products that he believes can drastically change oral care for patients, including LISTERINE, Therabreath, GLO teeth whitening, Fresh-Tips and Ortho-Buddy. Dr. Adnan is passionate about preventative health and patient education because he truly believes that in many instances, prevention is better than the cure. He incorporates this educational motif in his day-to-day practice of clinical dentistry and many patients have benefited from the well-researched information he has shared with them surrounding oral hygiene and dental care.
Family is the cornerstone of Dr. Adnans life. He practices with his father, Dr. Mustafa Al-Karagholi, a dentist with 30+ years of experience, and several other family members who are in our dental care delivery team. Dr. Adnan is married to his high school sweetheart, who is a successful woman in the tech industry. His favorite hobby is travelling! He loves the thrill of exploring new places, trying new cuisines, meeting new people and understanding shared cultural experiences. He has many countries left on his bucket list, but as of right now, his favorite destinations include Spain, the Philippines and Turkey! In his free time, Dr. Adnan loves cooking, watching and playing sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis and golf, and gaming with friends on the weekends.