Gillespie Dentistry: The Best Dentists in Vancouver, Washington

In this blog post I am sharing my experience with the best dentists in Vancouver, Washington: Gillespie Dentistry. They are a wonderful team of dentists who are passionate about dental health and who value their patients. This post was created in partnership with Gillespie Dentistry, but all thoughts & opinions shared are my own.

Top: Billy T, Necklace: Muru Talisman

Vancouver, WA’s Best Dentists: Gillespie Dentistry

Dental health is something that I have been passionate about my entire life. I have my mother to thank for that one, because when I was growing up she was a dental hygienist. I grew up in dentist office environments, and I even worked at a dentist office as a receptionist temp. After every dental visit I still confide in my mother. You definitely get spoiled when you grow up with your own mother cleaning your teeth. She’s the best hygienist, but this baby bird had to jump out of the nest eventually and find a new practice to take care of my teeth.

It’s A Family Affair

I am so grateful to have met Dr. Greg Gillespie. It was pure coincidence, but I am still SO HAPPY! Greg is one of the 3 “Dr. Gillespie’s” at Gillespie Dentistry in Vancouver, Washington. The team is made up of two brothers and their cousin, and the practice was started by their fathers. What an amazing family business! I am so excited about my care plan with Gillespie Dentistry. We started with a teeth whitening treatment. After that Greg fixed up my chipped front tooth via bonding. Bonding is a dental process that uses a tooth-colored composite resin to fix a chip.

You can see the before and afters below, isn’t the difference crazy? I had another dentist “fix” my front tooth’s chip before, but I was never was really happy with the results. I always thought the shape of the resin didn’t match the other front tooth’s shape and that it looked a little off. You can also see that the color was a little off too. The top before photo is before a whitening treatment and the new fix to my chip. The bottom photo is my current pretty smile! Up next we have some Invisalign for the crowding I have going on on my bottom teeth. I already have my first set of trays and I can see my teeth getting straighter. I can’t wait to share the finished results!

Considering A New Dentist? Read These 4 Tips

There are quite a few things to consider when looking for a new healthcare provider so I wanted to share a few tips. Throughout my years of growing up in dental offices and later on receiving sub-par care – I have come to learn what makes a dental office like Gillespie Dentistry so great.

1. Find a dentist that sits with you for more than a few minutes after your cleaning. Typically after a hygienist cleans your teeth, the dentist will come in and poke around in your mouth. I’ve had dentists that chat me up and will answer all of my questions, and I have had dentists that act like I’m wasting their time when I am simply looking for more information on my care plan. I should be able to talk to my dentist for more than a minute, and a dentist should care enough about a patient to sit with them to answer any questions.  Another negative thing I have experienced in the past is being cheated by dentists because they told me that I had teeth issues that weren’t truly there. After an initial dentist visit I had a dentist tell me that I needed 4 fillings. Needless to say I was a little shocked that I had no mouth or teeth pain, but somehow had 4 cavities. I got 1 out of the 4 fillings done, but after feeling cheated out of the first I didn’t continue. I have seen two other dentists since then, and neither have mentioned fillings or cavities. In short, this tip is to find doctors that LISTEN and CARE.
2. As in any healthcare environment, you want to find a place that values both professionalism and cleanliness. Something I find interesting about dentist offices is how many cleanliness protocols are in place. You want your dentist office to be squeaky clean, and to make sure that the office staff are holding up those standards. Along with a clean environment, you want a professional environment as well. Dental offices can be a high-stress place for a lot of people so find a quite office with polite staff members. Thankfully all of the dentist offices that I have visited in the past have had a clean and professional ambiance.
3. It’s really special when you walk into your dentist office and they know you by name. I’m not talking about your favorite coffee shop or restaurant where they know your order by heart, I’m talking  about your dentist! And it’s not just the dentist, it’s their entire crew of wonderful staff. This is the feeling I get when I walk into Gillespie Dentistry in Vancouver, WA. I have never felt more welcomed or wanted in a dental office. That is such a special thing to me! Find a dentist office that takes the time to get to know you on a personal level.
4. The last thing to consider is quality of work. Unfortunately there are dentists out there that will undermine the dental process to cut back costs,  or they might take the short cut in care at the cost of the patient. What I love about Gillespie Dentistry is that they are extremely passionate about their work. To them, it’s about giving people the power of a beautiful smile. They love caring for patients and restoring confidence in someone’s smile. I can guarantee if you ask either of the Dr. Gillespie’s why they are a dentist, their answers would be something similar to that! Dr. Greg is a perfectionist. He spent an extra half an hour perfecting my chipped tooth because he didn’t like the way he did it the first time. I can’t rave about these guys enough! I am a passionate person myself, and I can see how much the entire staff at Gillespie Dentistry loves dentistry and cares about their patients!

If you live in the Portland, Oregon, Southern Washington or in the Vancouver, Washington area you definitely need to check out Gillespie Dentistry. As I mentioned before my whitening treatment was amazing and the results really show! I can’t wait to share more before and afters of my entire care plan after my teeth are straight. Thank you to team Gillespie for helping my smile shine!

Top: Billy T, Necklace: Muru Talisman

Portraits by Mallary Olson Photography