History of Austin Surgical Arts

History of Austin Surgical Arts

Welcome to Austin Surgical Arts. Austin Surgical Arts was formed in July 1994 by William L. Buchanan, M.D., D.D.S. and John K. Jones, M.D., D.M.D. Prior to the incorporation of Austin Surgical Arts, Dr. Buchanan had been in the private practice of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the Austin area for approximately 15 years as part of an 8 surgeon group practice. Dr. Jones had been a full-time faculty member and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. At the inception of Austin Surgical Arts, Drs. Buchanan and Jones combined 23 years of professional education and 19 years of combined practice experience for the purposes of providing comprehensive, full scope Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery services to patients of the Austin area in a personal, private, and professional setting.

In the Summer of 1994 our specialty of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery as well as the delivery of health care in a generic sense were in a tremendously volatile and tumultuous period of change. Because of the magnitude and velocity of change, we developed a strategy for the continued delivery of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery which included as its fundamental components emphasis on quality, excellence in patient service, expanded surgical capabilities in an office setting, and strict cost containment in the delivery of quality care. These fundamental goals were chosen to be congruent with the shared philosophies of the surgeons and to allow us to successfully compete in an increasingly competitive arena.

Our quest for quality began well prior to seeing our first patients when we began design of our facility. The State of Texas does not require office certification or accreditation at this time, but the task given to our architects was to design a facility that was eligible for State of Texas Department of Health Licensure as a health care facility. These standards having been met, we sought and achieved JCAHO accreditation for our facility and practice.  While accreditation was an extremely arduous and expensive process, we consider this elective credential as an indicator of quality that reaches well beyond current requirements.

We began seeing patients in the Summer of 1994. At that time our facility was not under construction for a variety of reasons that caused an approximately six month delay. In this interval we saw clinic patients in temporary facilities, but performed no office surgery due to what we considered environmental inadequacies for the practice of surgery. In December of 1994 we occupied our current facility which was specifically designed for expanded office surgical capability. Since that time our practice and the frequency and scope of our office surgical practice has enjoyed steady growth.

Dr. H. Paul Casmedes joined Austin Surgical Arts on December 2, 1996. Our surgeons, Dr. Buchanan, Dr. Jones, and Dr. Casmedes, have medical and dental degrees and are licensed in both Medicine and Dentistry. Ann H. Kristovich, D.D.S. joined our practice in 2005 and R. Michael Patton, D.M.D., M.B.A. followed in 2006.

In addition to residency training each of our surgeons has Fellowship training in subspecialty areas. We perform a wide variety of procedures including minor oral surgery such as tooth extractions, corrective jaw surgery, treatment of TMJ disorders, snoring, sleep apnea, and dental implants. For your privacy and convenience, most surgeries can be performed in our office surgical suite. General anesthesia is available.