Dentist Bio
Healthcare is all I’ve ever known.
I was born and raised in a small city between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. Despite its relatively small size, it was—and still is—very much a big healthcare town. Loma Linda University is at the heart of the city with its Level 1 Trauma Medical Center, which serves the largest county in the United States. My father graduated from the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry and practiced dentistry for over 40 years and my mother worked as a NICU nurse at the Loma Linda University Medical Center. Both are retired now.
It was a quiet upbringing where I spent as much time outside as I could playing football, basketball, tennis, pretty much anything with a ball, riding my bike, and just racing through the orange groves with friends. I left for college, returned home and followed my father’s footsteps into dentistry. I graduated from the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry in 2005.
While attending dental school, I met Judy and we eventually married during my last year there. After graduation, we moved to Orange County where we worked and played. A few years later, Christian joined us. A couple years after that, Joshua joined our little family as well. We decided we wanted to raise our young boys elsewhere and moved to the beautiful PNW in 2011. We have been here ever since and love to call the NW home.
Where I come from
For nearly 19 years, I practiced what would be considered “conventional dentistry”: drilling and filling cavities, fixing and building up broken and decayed teeth with crowns and bridges, removing teeth that were beyond repair, doing root canals on teeth where the nerves had become infected, and most of the other things you would find at most dental offices.
I had become quite good at performing these procedures and had gotten to a point where the work was comfortable and routine, and the greatest variations my days came from the different personalities of the people I met.
One day, I met a woman who was in pain because of some loose teeth. She wanted them out, but was too afraid of dental work to do the extractions without sedation. And I wanted her sedated too. But she was overweight and her airway was unsafe for sedation. The only two options I could offer her were to do the work without sedation or lose weight and come back for another sedation evaluation. The sweet woman said she was motivated to lose the weight and said she would reach out again after she had lost her first 25 pounds. But as I thought about her later that evening, I felt miserable that couldn’t offer her more than what I had. I would have felt helpless and frustrated if someone had given those options to my family member who was in pain.
So I started to learn what I could so the next time I met a patient in her situation, I would offer the same two options, but ALSO provide her with a series of step-by-step instructions she could take to manage her pain as well as move her toward a healthier life. After all, was I just a mouth mechanic or a health care provider?
Many deep rabbit-holes later, I came out a different dentist.
Along the way, I had to go through a health (or unhealth) journey of my own. All of it a blessing toward shaping the way I look at my role as a health care professional of the mouth. The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. So over this most recent leg of my journey, I have been surrounding myself with mentors and teachers—all who are now friends—to learn as much as I can about how to apply this holistic and biological mindset to the very important practice of dentistry.
How I got to Rest Dentistry
My journey continues
And what a rewarding road this has been! As I have to navigate through my own health issues, I am on a fast-track to learning what might be helpful for my future patients as well. The research I have been doing has opened my eyes to the many many factors that are contributing to my diminished health. And it has also shown me how many of those contributing factors are in my own mouth!
I had known since dental school that my TMJ was not right–and that it had something to do with the orthodontics I had gone through as a child. I have attended some world-class dental teaching institutions, but I never did anything about this issue because I had never found a solution that made enough sense that I would risk going from my known symptoms to the unknown. Well, the solution for this issue is elegantly simple. As with most things of worth in this life, it’s not a quick fix; it’s going to take time and effort. But the human body is a marvelous wonder and capable of much if we care for its needs. There is always hope if you know where to look, and sometimes it is found in going back to the basics.
Just one example
This is my passion project
I am thankful to be at a point in my career where there is harmony between work, health, mind, and spirit. Rest Dentistry is very much a passion project for me. As I am experiencing a restoration of my health and spirit, I am burdened by a desire to be a part of a community that seeks the same kind of healing.
If you are interested in joining a professional health partner who will help you identify the oral conditions that are limiting your health potential then support you on your journey toward restoration, consider becoming a part of our oral health family.
It has been a most rewarding experience for me. My hope is that you will find a warm, non-judgmental, inviting office where the complexities of your issues can be simplified into manageable and actionable plans, tailored to your conditions and tolerances. And if you are in perfect health (yay!) and simply want to experience a holistic and biological dental experience that is gentle and respectful, consider finding your new dental home at REST DENTISTRY.
