Generations of Trust

Washut Family Dentistry’s Enduring Partnership with Burkhart

When patients walk into Washut Family Dentistry, they’re stepping into more than a modern, 10 operatory practice. They’re entering the story of three generations of dentists, all of whom have been supported by Burkhart Dental Supply.

“[The Washut family is] personable, they care about people… whether it’s staff or patients or their business…and I kind of fit right in,” says Reedy Berg, their Burkhart Account Manager of nearly 40 years in Selah, Washington.

The Washut story began in 1965, when Dr. Rick Washut’s father, Dr. Richard (Dick) G. Washut, opened his practice in Wenatchee with a simple, small-town philosophy: do right by people, stay for the long haul, and let your name on the door mean something.

Rick launched his own practice in Selah in 1984, carrying forward his father’s philosophy. 2 years later, Burkhart Account Manager Reedy Berg joined the Yakima Branch, succeeding the previous manager who had worked with the original Wenatchee practice since the beginning. Reedy built relationships with both Washut practices, continuing to work with both father and son until Dick’s retirement in 1997.

He then partnered with Rick for the next 20 years, until his son Kyle joined the family practice in 2017. Once again, Reedy was a resource for 2 Washuts for 6 years as father and son worked together until Rick retired in 2023.

Today, Reedy remains Kyle’s Account Manager, 40 years later, providing the same services as he did to Kyle’s grandfather and father.

For the Washuts, dentistry has always been about relationships. As Kyle puts it, they aim to “marry old-school values and patient care with modern technology”, maintaining deep, long-term connections with patients while keeping their clinical skills on the leading edge.

Kyle explains further: “You fix a knee and say, ‘See you later,’ but in dentistry you see someone every six months, watch their kids grow up, and really build that trust.”

Reedy Berg has been more than just an Account Manager to the Washut Family, building a similar deep connection and trust. When Kyle Washut was finishing dental school, he wasn’t sure what his next step would be. So his father, Rick gave Kyle two options: complete a residency before joining the practice or work as an associate elsewhere for a few years to gain experience.

Kyle reached out to Reedy Berg for guidance. Reedy toured him through several practices in Wenatchee — including Kyle’s grandfather’s (Dick Washut’s) former office, and ultimately connected him with a residency opportunity at Union Gospel Mission in Yakima. Kyle spent a year there, training alongside multiple dentists across the Yakima Valley and serving patients in need. That experience proved invaluable, allowing him to return to the family practice with more than just what he had learned from his dad. As Kyle puts it, “You’ve got to bring something new to the table to take it to the next level.”.

After his residency, Kyle returned to join his father. The two practiced side by side until Kyle took over the practice in 2021, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, Dr. Kyle Washut represents the third generation.

“We want to continue to hit our mark of taking really good care of people. In today’s world, the more AI comes in, the more corporate comes in, the more we differentiate ourselves by being more human,” Kyle observes.

The physical space has evolved as much as the family. Dr. Rick Washut’s Selah office used 3 of the operatories in the space. Around 2017–2018, there was a major remodel to reconfigure several operatories so that left-handed Kyle could work efficiently, in part by installing new DCI chairs and cabinetry. The sterilization center was also reworked, and a new Midmark sterilization center was installed.

“There’s no question on who we’d ask to do our remodel,” notes Rick, speaking about Reedy.

This remodel created a space with 7 working operatories within the same footprint. The installation was the first project for Burkhart Equipment Specialist Dan Stucki, who had just been hired.

Dan remarks: “Doing that first project, my first one with Doctor Rick, I just felt like he wanted me to succeed as much as I did.”

Most recently, under Kyle’s ownership, they have added a new wing with three more operatories, revamped and enlarged the sterilization center, and expanded the front office space, bringing the practice to 10 operatories and supporting significant growth following a merger with a colleague’s office.

Throughout each phase, Burkhart’s equipment team partnered closely with the Washuts. From reusing portions of their original Midmark sterilization cabinetry to control costs, to carefully planning plumbing, air, and electrical systems with local contractor Kitt Construction, the installations reflect the same practicality and long-term thinking that guides the practice.

Kyle has brought an interest and focus on digital dentistry to the practice, most recently upgrading to a TRIOS 5 intraoral scanner through Burkhart, calling it ‘like scanning with a Ferrari’. The scanner has streamlined the practice’s workflows and helped the doctors communicate treatment more effectively with patients.

“Dr. Kyle’s been kind of a leader in the community with the implementation of digital dentistry as well. [He’s] actually sold additional scanners to people in Study Club. We’ve had other people come to us for digital scanners to model what Doctor Kyle is doing,” says Dan.

Yet for Kyle and Rick, technology is only worthwhile if it makes them better dentists and better communicators, not just early adopters. “‘We want to be on the leading edge, not the bleeding edge,” they say.

“You can be a leader in digital and be 110% clinically competent, but you’d better still be able to relate to somebody and take care of somebody,” explains Kyle.

Over the next three to five years, Kyle’s priority is clear: continue to keep the human side of dentistry front and center. With a strong team, a modern facility, and a trusted partnership with Burkhart Dental Supply, Washut Family Dentistry is still all about relationships.

Kyle sums up the practice philosophy that has continued for 60 years and through all 3 generations with a story about his grandfather, the original Dr. Washut, during his last days in his nursing home in Wenatchee. Some of the people that were on his staff would come in weekly to bring him lunch or bring him cookies. As he was getting close to the end, there was a patient also living in the nursing home who been his patient from a long time ago, and she came in to pay her last respects and said she remembered how he made her feel comfortable all those years ago when he made a bridge for her.

“He gave her her dignity back with that front tooth. That’s this traumatic thing, and people don’t forget the way you make them feel. That was a pretty powerful story to hear, see firsthand, and see the impact that we can have as dentists.”

The Reedy Factor

For the Washut family, Burkhart has never felt like just “a vendor,” and a lot of that comes down to Account Manager Reedy Berg .

Rick Washut explains Reedy, for over nearly four decades, has never used high-pressure tactics to push sales. Instead, he shows up with options, advice, and a long-term view matching the practice’s own philosophy of only recommending what patients truly need.

“I don’t consider him a salesman. I consider him a friend” explains Rick Washut.

That relationship has shaped careers as well as equipment choices. When Dr. Kyle Washut was finishing dental school and unsure of his next step, it was Reedy who opened doors, introducing him to practices, connecting him with the Union Gospel Mission residency, and helping him find mentors to improve his clinical skills. Years later, that same trust extends to staffing. According to the Washuts, when hygienists consider joining the practice, they often call Reedy first to see if it’s a good fit.

On the operations side, the Washuts know that when something goes wrong, they’re not alone. If a compressor or sterilizer goes down, Reedy and the service team are there, fast. That responsiveness, paired with competitive pricing and supply programs, is why Kyle says the service Reedy brings is worth far more than what they might save piecing orders together online.

Kyle puts it this way: “They’ve taken good care of us through the remodels. That’s been huge. I think there’s a lot of options out there with the internet for dental supplies, and the service that you get [with Burkhart] is valuable. Burkhart seems to be competitive, in my opinion, with the KOIS program, and they look out for us. That’s why we continue to do supplies through them.”

Ask Reedy, and he’ll tell you the respect runs both ways. After hundreds of projects and practices, he ranks the Washut family “in [his] top five” – not just for the quality of their dentistry, but for how they treat people. In his words, there’s “a ton of respect both ways,” built over 40 years of laughter, growth, and solving problems side by side.

 

Learn more about Washut Family Dentistry.

 

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Written by Dawn Kahl.

Published in Catalyst – Q1 2026.

 

Category: Equipment, Office Planning & Design

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