In 1988 when the Soviet Union collapsed, eight-year-old Alexander Mouradov was forced to flee his home in Baku, Soviet Union to the Northern part of the country. Today, the 32-year-old has overcome his turbulent childhood to become a successful laboratory owner in Connecticut.
Mouradov moved to the U.S. in 1996 to start a new life as a typical suburban high school student in Glastonbury, CT. A few years later, he learned about the dental technology program at Eli Whitney in Hamden, CT through his sister, a dental hygienist. The rest, as they say, is history.
He graduated from the program in 2001 and landed a job as a porcelain technician at a local laboratory where he discovered his love of ceramics and honed his craft for the next three years. When Mouradov heard about the ASMDT's Master Dental Technology program in New York City, his boss agreed to pay for the training and for the next year, he spent every other Saturday making the three-hour trip to Manhattan.
"I was the youngest, least experienced member of the group and I learned so much from the other students, many of whom were laboratory owners," says Mouradov, who earned his MDT designation in 2005. "It wasn't about how to build porcelain or grind metal, but about understanding anatomy and the relationship of TMJ and teeth."
In 2006, when a poor economy left him without a job, he decided to open his own C&B laboratory in his home. Since then, thanks to in-office visits and positive word of mouth, Gala Dental Art has grown about 15% each year. Today, the lab is located in a new 700-sq-ft office space and Mouradov has three employees.
To what does this young lab owner attribute his success? "I kept learning and always pushed myself to be the best technician I could be," he says. "I keep my focus on the patient so he will be happy with my work. My goal is to always produce perfect crowns."
