Creating Smiles by Touching Lives
Unlike at high volume corporate dentistry clinics, our orthodontists see each patient at every appointment for a personal touch.
βTo laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.β β Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our philosophy of orthodontics can be summed up by: Art - Smiles are not one size fits all. Orthodontics must be personalized to fit a patient's needs, facial structure and character. Experience - Over 30 years in dentistry. Science - I rely heavily on art and experience but I consider the bedrock of my orthodontic practice to be evidence-based care.
I grew up in the small north Missouri town of Macon and attended the
University of Missouri on a National Merit Scholarship. I gained early
acceptance to dental school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and
after graduation attended a hospital based General Practice Residency at
Offutt Air Force Base. This broadened my experience greatly in medicine,
inpatient hospital care, operating room technique, general anesthesia, surgery,
IV sedation and all dental specialty areas. This was great preparation for my
20 -year career in the Air Force and a Desert Storm deployment. After 10 years
of general dentistry practice, I was selected by the Air Force to receive
orthodontic residency training and was accepted to the program at The Ohio
State University.
This was a 3-year post-doctoral masters degree program and
I published research on assessing patients for orthodontic treatment need. In
addition to routine orthodontic treatment, the Ohio State program had an
excellent orthognathic surgery program and rotations with the renowned
Nationwide Children's Hospital's Center for Complex Craniofacial Disorders.
I graduated from Ohio State in 2000 and was posted to the Air Force medical
center at RAF Lakenheath in England which included an active cleft palate
team and orthognathic surgery team. I also treated patients at US Navy
London. Post September 11th, I deployed as the field hospital commander in
Qatar during Operation Enduring Freedom. Upon returning to the States, I
finished my career in a teaching position as Chief of Orthodontics at the USAF
Academy and retired as a Colonel in 2007.
I continue to teach at the
postgraduate dental residency programs at USAFA and Ft Carson. I
succeeded the finest orthodontist in town, Dr. Bill Shaner, and became the 3rd
proprietor of the oldest orthodontic practice in Colorado Springs, continuing a
tradition of excellence that started in 1946. In addition to routine orthodontic
care, we take great pride in serving Fort Carson collaborating on orthognathic
surgery patients for facial malformations, sleep apnea, trauma and
degenerative joint diseases. On Thursdays, I serve as the orthodontist for the
Cleft Palate Team Children's Hospital Colorado. I am Board Certified by the
American Board of Orthodontics.
In my free time I like to hunt, fish, ski, putter around on a John Deere and in
general enjoy the Colorado outdoors. My oldest son Ben is a botanist for
Colorado State, next in line Christof, is in an Occupational Therapist at
Penrose Hospital and Tim is an engineer at Colorado School of Mines. My
lovely wife Wendy and I live in the peaceful Black Forest.
Thanks for reading.
Dr. Sheila now sees patients at our Woodland Park location and will be joining us in the Springs in
2023.
She has over 10 years experience as an orthodontist. Although from California
originally, she graduated from the prestigious Tufts University School of Dental
Medicine in Boston where she was inducted into Omicron Kappa Upsilon as one of the
top students.
She completed her orthodontic residency at Howard University in
Washington DC. She adds expertise for our practice in aligner therapy as she graduated
from an Invisalign Masters course.
Dr. Sheila has published extensively and presented
at the national and international level.