Ashburn, VA—Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, Dr. Krystle Dean-Duru is acknowledged as a Distinguished Healthcare Professional for her contributions to the Dental Field.
With over two decades of experience in dentistry, she understands the importance of helping children grow, breathe, and sleep better. Dr. Dean-Duru specializes in providing empathetic care and personalized treatment plans to address pediatric patients’ airway, sleep, breathing, and growth concerns, ensuring their healthy smiles and bright futures.
Dr. Dean-Duru earned a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in New York in Psychology and a Doctorate of Dental Surgery (DDS) from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She completed a specialty pediatric residency training at the Interfaith Department of Dental Medicine in Brooklyn, New York. There she served in a leadership role as Chief Resident.
Dr. Dean-Duru has an impressive educational background and has undergone specialized training under renowned experts in the fields of pediatric dental sleep medicine, airway orthodontics, and functional frenuloplasty. Her training includes learning from the world’s leading researchers and clinicians as well as completing various mini-residency programs such as the Tufts University Pediatric Dental Sleep Medicine Mini-Residency, the Airway Mini-Residency with Dr. Barry Raphael and Dr. Mark Cruz, and a Pediatric Airways Orthodontics Mini-Residency with Dr. German Ramirez. Furthermore, she has completed courses like The Breathe Institute Functional Frenuloplasty and Sleep Course; the ALF (Alternative Lightwire Functional) Fundamentals; and the Genesis, Grow, Guide, and Babylase/Smilelase courses with Dr. Darick Nordstrom and Dr. Angie Tenholder. Dr. Dean-Duru is board certified and notes that she is a proud Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, the certifying board for the specialty organized by the American Society of Dentistry for Children.
Dr. Dean-Duru’s passion for caring for children runs deep in her ancestral roots, with family dentistry being a way of life. Her mother, Dr. Lynda Dean-Duru, a pediatric dentist herself, was the first inspiration for Dr. Dean-Duru to pursue dentistry. Starting her career in family care, Dr. Dean-Duru worked as a pediatric dental assistant at Ashburn Children’s Dentistry, gaining valuable experience in the field. She spent many summers working alongside her mother, observing the healing art her parent deployed while treating patients. Through witnessing those magical moments, Dr. Dean-Duru, discovered the power of proactive and preventative dental health for children. She realized that utilizing medicine and dental technology plays a crucial role in a child’s overall well-being. This realization led her to specialize in pediatric dentistry, with the aim of setting the stage for a lifetime of good dental health and overall wellness for children.
In 2018, Dr. Dean-Duru had the opportunity to join her mother in practice at Ashburn Children’s Dentistry, where she could fulfill her commitment to providing each child and parent with a positive and transformative dental experience filled with compassion and fun.
As an advanced integrative laser pediatric surgeon, she has absorbed the ethos of Ashburn Children’s Dentistry and tirelessly works to stay abreast of emerging research and techniques to improve children’s quality-of-life. Dr. Dean-Duru and her mother continually integrate critical aspects of oral structure, craniofacial development, and innovative approaches to advance its impact on the pediatric airway to provide optimal patient outcomes. According to Dr. Dean-Duru, caring for children is a powerful and rewarding experience, and she emphasizes the importance of utilizing gentle and minimal invasive interventions. Treating the source of their issues instead of just the symptoms and focusing on early prevention has been critical to her role in educating parents and assisting their blossoming child’s development into a healthy and resilient adult.
Dr. Krystle, as her patients know her, is appreciated for her fun, empathetic approach. They are also impressed by her passion to help each child and parent have a positive dental experience.
Committed to professional development and in recognition of her contributions to the field, Dr. Dean-Duru is a member of the following: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry; American Dental Association; The Northern Virginia Dental Society; The Academy of Laser Dentistry; American Laser Study Club; Breathe Institute Ambassadors; ALF Interface Academy Foundation for Airway Health; The Sleep & Airway Study Club; Foundation for Airway Health Academy of Applied Myofunctional Sciences; American Academy of Physiological Medicine & Dentistry; International Association of Orofacial Myology.
When not helping her young patients build happy smiles, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, growing in her faith, improving her dancing skills, learning boxing moves, traveling, and cheering on Washington, D.C. sports teams.
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