I Know DenMat
Products • Lab • Education • People


Keep Things Simple and Listen to Patients More

Dr. David Ouellet practices in Santa Maria CA
Loading... 2160 view(s)

When it comes to dentistry, Dr. David Ouellet is considered a renowned expert in color modification and occlusion. Though don’t expect him to ever acknowledge such accolades. That’s because his passion is precision dentistry, and his more than three decades of experience and expertise is simply the result of this.


Dr. David Ouellet Places Lumineers® On:
Dr. Kaveh Kohanof!

Today, his general dentistry practice in Santa Maria, California, caters to myriad patients: from treating those in dental-related pain to improving smile esthetics and patients’ self-confidence and overall quality of life. With nine operatories and 16 staff members, including two fellow dentists, Dr. Ouellet has clearly mastered the formula to earning the trust of his patients.


Practicing in Santa Maria since 1986, Dr. Ouellet has gained a following thanks to his approach to give patients not only what they need, but also what they want. Thanks to this philosophy, Dr. Ouellet’s practice has not only weathered economic downturns but actually thrived during them.


David Ouellet, DDS

Many of his basic guiding philosophies, Dr. Ouellet says, can be credited to DenMat founder Robert Ibsen, DDS. Upon meeting, the two doctors became fast friends, with Dr. Ouellet learning from Dr. Ibsen’s unique approach to dentistry – which was quite the departure from what he had learned in dental school.


“Dr. Ibsen was all about smile improvements in a simplistic manner versus the overprepared smiles I had been taught to perform in dental school,” Dr. Ouellet shares. “And this certainly resonates with the general public: they want to improve their smile in the simplest way.”


DenMat Founder, Dr. Robert Ibsen

DenMat Founder Dr Robert Ibsen

Putting this theory to test, Dr. Ouellet began using DenMat no-prep Lumineers. In fact, his own smile is the result of Lumineers placed in 1987. “We were the first ones to do no-preparation Lumineers. We were the black sheep. Since then, I’ve seen many esthetic associations go from extreme preparation to minimal- or no-prep approaches,” he states.


Dr David Ouellet chose Lumineers for his own smile

“Dr. Ibsen changed the course of dentistry more than most people will ever know. If not for him, I believe dentists would still be overpreparing teeth,” Dr. Ouellet admits. “Another thing many people don’t know is that in 1991, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down all bleaching procedures in the US. Well, Dr. Ibsen took on the US government by suing the FDA—a case that was settled out of court. It is thanks to his voice that today’s dental tooth bleaching products are available to both dentists and patients.”


Thanks to such prowess and a strong desire to do what is right, Dr. Ibsen quickly became a mentor to Dr. Ouellet. This led to Dr. Ouellet spending nearly 30 years traveling around the world with him and on behalf of DenMat, as both a key opinion leader and a presenter at the company’s Lompoc, California, headquarters.


Dr. Ouellet Live Placement Course

“Above all, Dr. Ibsen taught me to keep things simple and to listen to patients more. If we try to put too many hurdles between and procedure and a dental office, it won’t happen. Dentists need to practice these philosophies to achieve better results for their practices,” Dr. Ouellet asserts.


As part of better results within his own practice, Dr. Ouellet has become passionate about adhesion, color modification and occlusion in dentistry. While dental technicians are porcelain color and shading experts, this becomes increasingly complicated with restorations such as min-no prep veneers. Dr. Ouellet shares, however, that it’s possible to achieve such results chairside once the process is fully understood.


“Dentists like to think enamel and dentin are polychromatic, but we can actually enhance tooth color biometrically. Both tints and thickness variations influence the color of porcelain, and this is the basis of many of my lectures,” he states. “In fact, in the future, as patients demand less and less preparation, dentist will be required to do more and more color modification to achieve desired final results.”


Dr. David Ouellet Live Placement CE Course

In addition to color modification, occlusion is an area that Dr. Ouellet calls “one of the most widely disputed arenas in dentistry.” While disputed, it is arguably important. “If we can’t deal with mal-occlusion, then many restorations will prematurely fail. Understanding occlusion really promotes longevity of anterior restorations,” he adds.


Anterior restorations, such as Lumineers, can be a critical component to success for any dental practice. And Dr. Ouellet admits that his practice growth has been lifted in part to DenMat’s Smile Discovery Program (SDP).


Smile Discovery Program Logo

A member of SDP since its launch in 2006, Dr. Ouellet admits that his focus on quality, minimal-prep dentistry doesn’t allow for time spent on marketing. “SDP is a business paradigm that dentists need to adopt for their benefit. For example, I can use the Lumineers brand within my practice to drive cosmetic cases. From a business perspective, it makes sense to adhere to a marketing program that has invested significant time and money in maximizing consumer marketing best practices,” he says.


“I stopped counting how many Lumineers cases I’ve placed once I hit the 5,000 mark in 2015. But I’d estimate I placed up to 500 per year,” Dr. Ouellet shares.


As part of the SDP membership, dentists also gain access to LumiSmile for enhanced patient education and case acceptance, as well as earn free product.


“Asking a patient if they want to improve their smile is not enough; a picture is worth 1,000 words,” Dr. Ouellet admits. “This value goes a long way in creating interest in dentistry… and it extends beyond veneers.”


LumiSmile Difference

Dr. Ouellet, thanks to a rich history with the late Dr. Ibsen, is forever connected to DenMat. Not only has he come reliant on the positive communication and interaction with DenMat staff, but he has become partial to DenMat products and services offered by SDP.


“DenMat products work well with my philosophy of delivering high quality dentistry in a simple, patient-centric manner,” he shares. “And why fix something that’s not broken?”


Learn more about Dr. David Ouellet by visiting pacificcoastsmiles.com.

Comments
Leave your comment