Patrick A. Murray, DDS

Dr. Murray grew up in nearby Kensington, Maryland. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and completed his dental education at the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, in 1976. He then fulfilled his ROTC commitment in the US Army, completing a General Practice Residency at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, followed by three years at Fort Hunter Liggett, California.

In 1986 he opened his private practice on Shady Grove Road in Rockville, a general practice offering a wide range of modern dental care. He loved the variety of people who came through the door. "It's a cross-cut of Americana," he once said, "and that's fun."

Dr. Murray had a special interest in cosmetic dentistry. He was accredited by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD), the second dentist in Maryland to achieve that status, and served four years on the AACD board. He was named among the area's top dentists by Bethesda Magazine (January 2009) and Washingtonian Magazine (2006, 2009 and 2011). Read the Bethesda Magazine profile (PDF).

After September 11, 2001, Dr. Murray turned a long-standing interest in forensic dentistry into service. With training in forensic dentistry and forensic anthropology, he joined the Region 3 Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), part of the National Disaster Medical System, and later served as the team's training officer. He helped identify victims of the 2003 nightclub fire in Warwick, Rhode Island, and in Gulfport, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He also consulted as a forensic odontologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore and, beginning in 2012, served on the planning committee for the Preparedness, Emergency Response and Recovery Consortium and Exposition (PERRC).

"People kind of scratch their heads with that," he said with a laugh. "They can't get the correlation between cosmetics and forensics. But they're related, believe it or not."

Dr. Murray believed everyone deserved good dental care. He treated many pro bono cases for Montgomery County's victim assistance program, which helps crime victims and their families get the dental care they need. For about 15 years, his team also took several cases each year through Donated Dental Services of Maryland, serving residents with disabilities who did not qualify for other programs. That tradition continues today: Dr. Chittamuri volunteers with Donated Dental Services, Give Kids a Smile and Remote Area Medical.