Dr. Tom Forrest has made transforming smiles his profession — and his passion — at Forrest Orthodontics in Sewickley.
Since smartphones put cameras in everyone’s hands, Forrest says patients notice their smiles more often. “People will take selfies and they’ll say, ‘I noticed this or that with my smile,’” he said. Forrest treats those concerns with clear braces, Invisalign and other alignment techniques — no filters required.
Forrest takes a personalized approach: he reviews every case, meets patients and, with children, their parents. To ease anxious patients, his office blends professional credentials with a warm, family-friendly atmosphere — superhero posters line the waiting area and a vintage James Bond poster from the old Sewickley Theater hangs on the wall.
Among his diplomas and awards are mementos of the man who inspired him — his father, Dr. Edward Forrest, who was dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine for more than 20 years and helped launch international exchanges and Pitt’s dental assistant-oral hygiene program.
Edward Forrest opened one of Sewickley’s first orthodontic practices on Centennial Avenue in the late 1950s; Tom Forrest took over in the mid-1990s and moved the practice to Beaver Street in 2016.
A Ben Avon native, Forrest attended Quaker Valley, Sewickley Academy and the University of Pittsburgh. After dental school he spent five years at the VA Hospital in Oakland, where he learned to treat medically complex patients and to collaborate closely with a clinical team.
He later earned a certificate and master’s degree in orthodontics from Pitt and contributed to the Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Center, working alongside oral surgeons, prosthodontists, plastic surgeons, audiologists and speech pathologists.
Forrest is an adjunct assistant professor in Pitt’s Department of Orthodontics and is board-certified by the American Board of Orthodontics.
He belongs to the American Association of Orthodontists, the American Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Association, the American Dental Association and the Pennsylvania Dental Association.
Technology, he says, has reshaped orthodontics over the past 15 years: digital workflows, 3-D imaging, hybrid treatments combining aligners and braces, artificial intelligence and remote monitoring now streamline scanning and treatment planning. “You even have digital predictions of tooth movement. It’s been a real revolution,” he said.
Still, Forrest emphasizes that orthodontics remains a people-centered field. “You’ve got to treat everybody individually,” he said, noting that many patients remain nervous about dental care. His team aims to move treatments “one step at a time — or even one-half step at a time” to keep patients comfortable.
About 25–30% of his patients are adults — people who missed braces as children or whose teeth shifted over time. Satisfied patients praise the practice’s patience and flexibility. “My son would never have gotten through this without them,” said Susan Geist of Ben Avon.
Outside the office, Forrest is an avid jogger who runs with his family dog, Boo, a Labrador–German shepherd mix. He lives with his wife, Diane; their sons, Thomas Jr. and John, and their families.
Forrest says watching patients gain confidence — and seeing families he’s treated for generations — is the greatest reward. He has no plans to retire. “The idea is to have everybody walk out smiling, for sure.”
