Molar express: Dentist grows with city

Maricopa welcomes more businesses every week.

As the city grows, it attracts new entrepreneurs, industries and jobs.

But some businesses are more than a storefront or a service — they’re simply part of the fabric of the city. Maricopa Family Dentistry and Orthodontics is one.

Dr. Jared Pope, DDS, founded Maricopa Family Dentistry as a satellite office to his Chandler dental practice with just two chairs, two people, 350 square feet and a dream nearly two decades ago. Today, it’s a thriving practice whose success mirrors the growth of the city it calls home.

“We got that place and opened it up, and it was pretty lean,” Pope said, reflecting on the little building next to the post office that excited him in what he knew would be a fast-growing city. “There was nothing in there.”

At the time, Bashas’ was the hot new destination in town.

“There was just no office or professional space to lease down here at that point,” Pope said. But after a couple of years, he saw 100 people come through his door every month. “We were really busy. We were the only dentist in town and people loved not having to drive to the Valley.”

As the years went by, the city — and his practice — grew.

“We were the first dentist in town, and the people and the city grow up around you,” he said. “It makes a difference when people know you and you’ve proven yourself to them over a long period of time.”

When you earn a good reputation in the community, 20 years goes by quickly, Pope said. It wasn’t long before he started noticing something special.

“One day, you realize you’re seeing multi-generational clients,” he said. “You’re treating the kids of the people who were your first patients. I’m 50 now and that makes it fun at this point in my career.”

Those original 350 square feet and plywood cabinets have become a modern and comprehensive dental office on Honeycutt Road just east of John Wayne Parkway in a retail center Pope helped develop.

His practice has transformed and grown along with the city. He now offers a one-stop shop for a full range of dental needs, from preventative dentistry and routine work like cleanings, fillings, crowns and bridges to sophisticated procedures like oral surgery, orthodontics, implants and cosmetic procedures.

That range of services makes Maricopa Family Dentistry unique, not just in Maricopa, but in all of metro Phoenix. Very few dentists offer such a broad range of dentistry, especially the higher-end services.

Wisdom teeth, implants, dentures, root canals — no issue at this family practice.

“We do pretty much everything,” Pope said. “Having all that under one roof makes it much easier for our patients. People have enough anxiety about going to the dentist without having to go to two or three different dentists for essentially one procedure.”

Pope said the younger doctors in the office embraced technology to provide better service, especially when it comes to some of the surgical and cosmetic procedures.

“We do a lot of 3D digital design now, so we scan the patient’s mouth for all our crowns,” he said.

The entire office is fully digitized, and the doctors create a unique, multi-dimensional digital image of each patient’s entire skull. That image allows them to position implants exactly where they want them in the bone.

“It takes away the potential for human error in placing that implant,” Pope said. “We’re always learning, and it’s been fun to integrate all that new technology into the practice. It’s been really cool.”

 

The November edition of InMaricopa Magazine is in Maricopa mailboxes and available online.