A Herd of Unicorns

A New Location for BridgeCreek Prosthetic Dentistry

 

These four Denver prosthodontists provide individualized, fee-for-service care for complex cases in a 2-location practice emphasizing partner collaboration and patient education.

At the new Glendale location of BridgeCreek Prosthetic Dentistry, you can see the entire Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado through the large picture windows. The 7 new A-dec operatories provide much-needed space for a growing practice. Previously operating a location from a small 4-operatory space in an old building, the elevators didn’t always work, and the equipment needed updating.

The crisp, clean, and considered aesthetics of the new office fit the quality of their care, says Dr. Aaron Bellis, one of 4 prosthodontists in the practice. Even the patients have remarked on it. “I had patients who had seen the old Cherry Creek location, and when the build-up happened, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re in a space that matches actually what your dentistry is,’’ he says. But this isn’t just a bigger, prettier clinic. It matches the philosophy of the group, a team of highly trained, specialized doctors who understand the efficacy of partnership and who care deeply about educating their patients to empower them with choice.

“We joke and say to our patients that we haven’t seen a lot of unicorns, but if you take most of our patients and you put them in other practices, they are unicorns, and we just happen to have a whole herd of them, and that’s what we like,” notes Dr. Dennis Waguespack.

“We love the challenge of it. It’s not easy…It’s difficult dentistry, but we pride ourselves on being able to accomplish those really complex problems with our other specialists.”

Dr. Brian Butler was the first of the four current prosthodontists to join BridgeCreek, buying half of the practice from the original owner, Gary Hoffman, in ’03 and becoming a partner in 2006. Dr. Dennis Waguespack joined in 2013 and bought Dr. Hoffman’s share. When Dr. Hoffman retired in 2020, Dr. Aaron Bellis, a maxillofacial prosthodontist, joined and became a partner in 2023. Last July, the final puzzle piece fell into place when Dr. Eva Otgonbayar, the first female prosthodontist of the practice, joined, bringing digital training to the group. All four doctors are focused on complex, highly individualized restorative and prosthodontic care – from full-mouth reconstructions and implant-supported restorations to maxillofacial prosthetics for oncology and other medically complex patients. The practice is fee-for-service with no insurance contracts.

“We want to provide individual elite care for patient-specific problems that are not dictated by the insurance reach,” explains Dr. Waguespack.

“We want our patients to come in the door, and we’ll build a cookie-cutter for them. It’s not that we’re going to fit them into a barrel. It’s individualized.”

The doctors have tailored it as a specialty practice and get many referrals from other dentists. They work closely with other specialties, providing comprehensive interdisciplinary care for patients, so they work with periodontists, oral surgeons, orthodontists, endodontists, pediatric dentists, maxillofacial and head and neck surgeons, and ENTs. They also offer family dentistry, performing regular fillings, crowns, and hygiene for patients of record.

Dr. Waguespack explains that another core component of the practice philosophy is patient education. “We are not a practice that sets a production goal for the day. We don’t have production incentives for any employee, including hygienists. The patients get what the patients need, but ultimately, it’s their decision.”

Education is hardwired into the BridgeCreek philosophy: it’s their job to diagnose the problems, thoroughly teach the patient about the different solutions, and outline the pros and cons of each. This includes whether that solution is cost-effective for the patient. The practice believes that fully educating patients and not forcing solutions on them are part of what makes them respected in the dental community. They also don’t do what other specialists are specifically trained to do: surgery is performed by oral surgeons and periodontists. Periodontists handle periodontal therapy. Implants, orthodontics, and pediatric cases go to the corresponding specialists, and maxillofacial cases not handled by Dr. Bellis are referred to ENT/head-and-neck teams. They prefer to follow the medicine model to provide patients with an experience that delivers specific, individualized outcomes.

“I think what sets our specialty apart is we have that knowledge & toolbox in our practice that we can implement it to whatever out-of -the-box case that comes through our door”, says Dr. Otgonbayar.

This method parallels nicely with their team approach. In their new location, the four doctors share an office with four desks, allowing for constant case discussion and collaboration. Dr. Butler likens it to being back in residency, with several specialties in the same building, learning from each other, and the ability to bring complex problems to each other, so multiple minds can attack the same issue. In doing so, both internally and in the close working relationships they share with all their specialists, they can take a truly interdisciplinary approach, which ultimately is better for their patients.

“I think a lot of dentists, especially right out of school, get out in practice and they feel isolated”, observes Dr. Butler. “They don’t have that team approach or camaraderie to get help anymore, and so, especially being in a specialty like we’re in, having that ability to run it by each other and our other specialists is another thing that sets us apart and makes us unique.”

One of the things they love to do is teach, and they say they always have an open-door policy for local dentists seeking help, from complex cases to stubborn screw removals. They have a long tradition of study clubs and case reviews – ones that started with using light boxes in restaurants and have now moved to modern digital meetings, all of which add to the strength of their referral community.

BridgeCreek Prosthetics’ new Glendale office opened in July 2024, replacing and expanding its Cherry Creek location, and was purposely designed to support the four prosthodontists and a largely referral-based patient population that travels from across Colorado and neighboring states, including Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico.

The build was carefully thought out. The practice invested over a year in planning and design before construction began, working closely with architect Bloom Studio, A-dec, and the Burkhart team. Burkhart and A-dec flew the team to A-dec’s Nashville facility, a crucial step in the decision-making process. “I think for all of us it was eye-opening when you actually can move the wall, see the different operatories as you’re trying to build your design with an architect,” recalls Dr. Butler. “It really helped seeing that in person live.”

The detailed planning paid off during construction, resulting in a build with almost no issues. “The build-out went great,” says Burkhart Equipment Specialist Stan Wiening. “We used one of our local dental contractors, everything was on schedule, everything was on budget. They have other offices, so they were pretty accessible to use their other offices and make sure that this one was installed correctly before they did any closing of anything or moving over. Having that contingency plan where they had other offices was paramount in this install,” Dr. Butler agrees, adding,

“I think having that big team group approach & bouncing all that off each other really made it as successful as it did.”

Much credit is given to BridgeCreek’s long-time Burkhart Service Technician, Karl Casebeer, with his guidance during construction. “He had a lot of great input through the actual construction process,” says Dr. Waguespack, explaining that those things were invaluable. “Those are things you just don’t know, just like us. It’s like a non-dentist builds a handpiece and gives it to a dentist, and you give us about 12 seconds, and we’re going to tell you why it’s not going to work, you know? Because that’s what we do, and that’s what you guys do, and I think that’s the hidden value in what we receive from Burkhart.”

Their technology is fully integrated but restrained. Digital scanners, ExoCAD software, and SprintRay 3D printers support models, night guards, provisional restorations, and patient education, while laboratory partnerships provide capabilities that are not currently cost-effective to keep in-house, such as mills and certain printers. Due to their heavy reliance on intraoral scanners, they deliberately have multiple as intentional redundancy. The team preferred to focus on durable infrastructure such as chairs, operatories, and handpieces versus chasing every rapidly obsoleting digital gadget.

The result is a stunning new office that pleases the ‘herd of unicorns’ and doctors both. “I think patients are blown away more than I would have expected,” says Dr. Waguespack, explaining that it also improves their care. “I think that most of the patients appreciate how clean and thought-out it is, and how we expose the technology we have in front of them. I think it allows us to be more active, have them be a more active participant in that education process for the new patients.”

Learn more about BridgeCreek Prosthetic Dentistry.

 

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Written by Dawn Kahl

Published in Catalyst – Q4 2026.

Category: Office Planning & Design

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