EXPERT DENTURE SERVICES AT SMILEMAKERS
As a trained dental hygienist, Matt Tripp was doing mobile dental cleanings in the adult foster care community eight years ago when he saw a need for affordable dentures among the fixed income population. So he decided to return to school and interned with long-time local denturist, Robert Schroeder, for three years before becoming licensed and opening SmileMakers Denture Clinic in Grants Pass, along with his wife Jill. The clinic is located at 212 NE Savage Street (corner 7th & Savage). “We tried to include a mobile service making dentures, but it takes too many visits to make and fine tune a denture,” Matt said. “We specialize in custom fit dentures. A denturist is not only the clinician, but he or she is also the lab technician who makes the product. The lab is in-house, which allows instant modifications to the process; there is no middle man. Patients get a very high quality, custom fit denture made by the book using high quality acrylic. We do not cut corners. It takes five office visits from start to finish to construct a denture the textbook way. If not followed correctly, it can result in an inferior fitting denture.”
Matt was born in Grants Pass and attended Lincoln, North and Grants Pass High School. He was in the Marine Corps and then came home and served in local law enforcement for ten years before doing a career change into the dental field.
Jill was born on the east coast of Canada and emigrated to the United States when she was 21 years old. She worked in the special education department at Redwood Elementary School for ten years before she joined SmileMakers full time as office manager. In addition to managing the front office, Jill also has learned several steps of the denture making process and helps Matt in the lab.
“We are a laid-back style of dental office where you will find us in shorts and a t-shirt during the summer months,” Matt said. “We are open to see patients three days per week—Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We offer full dentures, partial dentures, hard relines and denture repair. We offer free denture consultations, and we coordinate/collaborate with local dentists and oral surgeons when patients are having teeth pulled to get their first denture(s). We also accept Oregon Health Plan patients from Advantage Dental. We have 22 Google reviews and all are five-star reviews.”
Matt and Jill enjoy hunting, motorcycle riding and side-by-sides at the Oregon Dunes with their four sons (ages 15-19). They look forward to working with people for all their denture needs.
For more info, the phone number is 541-476-8338. You can also see them at smilemakers541.com and on Facebook.