Building Practices, Changing Lives: The Journey of Grant Dental

From 0 to 27 Chairs: Dr. Grant’s Dental Journey with Burkhart

Dr. Scott Grant of Boise, Idaho was 2 years into his solo practice before he knew about Burkhart Dental Supply. The year was 2008, and after leasing space inside another dental practice, he was more than ready to build his own office.

He knew he wanted to go into medicine. He knew 2 people he really admired: an ENT who let him scrub in, and a dentist who allowed him to shadow and took him under his wing. Both advised him to pursue dentistry, citing better work-life balance, more time for education, and lower costs. No one else in his family was in dentistry, so he was paving a path in this new area.

“I was thrown into it,” is how Dr. Grant describes starting his practice in 2006. A graduate of Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio he always knew he wanted to own his own practice but thought he had to do the associateship route first. Barely 2 months in to working as an associate dentist in a satellite location, he was informed that the company was being dissolved. “When that opportunity fell apart, I thought, if I’m not going to get paid working for someone else, I might as well not get paid working for myself.” That decision launched what would become a remarkable 20-year journey of growth. After getting advice from a trusted mentor, he leased a space, rented 3 dental chairs, and Grant Dental was born. It was a scratch build, and he started relationship with Burkhart from that initial phase. He met and connected with the Burkhart Regional Manager and has used Burkhart for all of his builds since.

“Initially, we built four operatories in our current location,” recalls Dr. Grant. “And from 4 of them went to 8, and from 8 to 12, and from 12 to 17. So, we’ve been with the Burkhart design center, and we’ve remodeled this space multiple times.” At the same time, they bought another practice, Caring Smiles, in a different part of Boise, and then another, All Smiles. They have had three locations, using Burkhart for all the areas as they’ve grown.

 

As Dr. Grant puts it, “We’ve used Burkhart…their design and their people in lots of different ways.”

They are now consolidated into Grant Dental Boise in a new building designed and equipped by Burkhart. Grant Dental Meridian is the original building, but four remodels later, going from 4 up to 17 chairs within the same space. Grant Dental Boise has 10 chairs.

Along the way they’ve built a relationship with the Boise team, including Troy Stout, Burkhart Regional Manager. “Troy’s been awesome,” says Dr. Grant. “Troy’s always attentive, and whenever he’s in town, he connects, and I felt like he’s been a really good friend and mentor, and a connection for us.”

Dr. Grant has assumed a mentorship role now for the Boise location, something he’s learned the value of in the last 20 years. It’s become important to him to make sure he has time for his other associates and his hygienists. He appreciates the help from his Burkhart Account Manager, Louis Ullrich. “Louis, our rep, is fantastic. Louis is an all-star,” emphasizes Dr. Grant. “He makes a difference, and he streamlined our processes. He makes it easy to have multiple locations because he really is a part of our team.”

Both Grant Dental offices feature state-of-the art operatories outfitted with A-dec chairs and equipment, and most sterilization areas include A-dec sterilization centers. The practice prioritizes keeping lab work in-house, supported by a fully equipped 3D printing suite with advanced scanners. They produce a wide range of items on-site, including dentures, night guards, models, and wax-ups. CEREC technology is used daily, and the workflow is fully digital. The offices are also equipped with multiple milling and finishing units, as well as cone beam imaging and laser technology. Dr. Grant says, “Digital dentistry has really transformed what we can do for patients.”

Already, the future is bright for Grant Dental, with designs for a 33-chair building in progress with Burkhart in order to accommodate growth. Expanding to other locations is not out of the picture, either. Dr. Grant still marvels at how far he’s come since that small office 20 years ago.

“It’s been a journey from, 0 people over 20 years with three rented chairs to 27 chairs, to a team of 45 now with 6 dentists and 10 hygienists.” Becoming a mentor is a fitting role for a dentist whose own career was shaped by mentors’ advice and who took that advice to transform a sudden setback into an incredible story of growth and success.

 

Changing Lives through Humanitarian Service: Grant Family Foundation

Taking at least one trip to the Dominican Republic each year, Dr. Grant has been participating in dental missions with the G3 Foundation since he was in dental school back in ’03. His passion is not only providing dental, medical, and optical care in the Dominican Republic, but also changing the lives of the next generation through the experience. Several of his dental school classmates, including founders Dr. Len Aste and Dr. Ganon Rowan, officially created the G3 Foundation in 2004 with a mission to “provide quality dental care and basic medical services to areas of the world where access to this care is limited or unavailable,” per their website.

In recent years, it started to become more difficult for Dr. Grant to be able to bring all the people who wanted to go on the G3 trip with him, given the popularity and size of the foundation and the demand within his office. Two years ago, family friend and dental assistant Terry approached Dr. Grant with a request. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had always wanted to go on a humanitarian trip.

Inspired by Terry, he created the Grant Family Foundation, working with the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic to carry out their own yearly “Sonrisas de Amistad”(Smiles of Friendship) annual missions. “I really credit Terry for giving me the push that I needed to do that, and everybody we’ve taken down, it has changed their lives,” he explains.

“And we’ve taken down Terry and her family, her boys, and my family and kids. Now I can take 30 of my people, so instead of one or two every year, I can take full families. We go down there and have fantastic experiences.”

Important to Dr. Grant is how he wants the trips to impact the lives of both the people they help and the people who travel down to help. He has found that often teenagers, aged 14-18, who may seem lost in life, can benefit from a humanitarian mission and possibly even change the trajectory of their lives.

“That’s been my most proud moment, to take these youth and these families who always say, ‘Man, I needed this time. I didn’t realize that by serving in this way, I grew.’ And I want them to grow, too.”

 

He wants everyone who donates, whether it’s bandages for first aid kits they take down, large equipment, or cash donations, to feel the joy of giving and know they truly contributed to a worthwhile cause.

“Burkhart has just been so good about donating supplies. 100% of it goes there, and whatever supplies are left over, we leave it with the local dentists in the hospital to continue to bless. I feel very passionate that’s a responsibility that if we’re donated stuff, it needs to absolutely go to the right people. Burkhart has been phenomenal with us on that. They really have.”

A typical trip lasts for 7-10 days and will be in a different area each time. The local hospital coordinates the time and location. They can take any space, any available church, or community center, and in about one hour, it will go from a blank floor to a fully set dental, medical, and optometry clinic and be ready to service the local area, from about 8:30AM to 4PM. They bring everything in, take everything out, and are at a new location the next day.

“You can’t do these without a good in-country team. And our Dominican country team is the best” says Dr. Grant. “Those guys are always available, come from all over the country to join us. Everywhere from other dentists to security detail, to the hospital personnel. It takes a village to do this.”

 

 

Many of the locations are Haitian bateys – a remote, very poor village built around a sugar cane field for workers, or on the outskirts of the bigger cities, where there are people in need. Every village has a promoter, and the promoters are in charge.

They run the show for that particular little pueblo or village, organizing the church or the community center space. Or if that’s not available, often the work is done outside.

“We’ll go clean teeth out under the trees. We’ll go anywhere we can, as long as it’s not raining, & even then the big palm trees keep us dry when it does rain. It’s just hot.”

There are 3 distinct teams: a dental team, a medical team, and a small optometry team, all qualified in their various areas.

The dental team cleans teeth and is able to do any restorative procedures and any root canal procedures. While they currently can’t provide anything removable, Dr. Grant is hopeful that someday he will get a 3D printer down there.

They have a team to provide general medicine. The Foundation works with the Idaho State University Physician Assistant Program and other local physicians to go on the trip. They work with the hospital to administer parasite medication to the local children.

For the team that provides optical care, there is an optical machine that measures prescriptions in donated glasses so that they can be matched up to the closest prescription. The Lions Club donates a lot of readers to the Foundation, and they’ve already cleaned the glasses, measured the prescription, and written it on the lens. “It’s more funky than I would like, but the people love it. They love it, man.”

Most of the equipment was purchased through to Burkhart is brought down in suitcases. They also have access to a mobile dental RV unit. However, most of what they do, pulling teeth, is just done on folding chairs or mobile dental units hooked to a generator. They hire local translators, about 10 of them, to come on the trip, and work in different areas, everywhere from triage to medical to check out.

Dr. Grant is still a member of the G3 Foundation Advisory Board, and his hope each time he takes a trip down is for the people they work on to have their lives blessed, to be healed and healthy. It is also his hope that every person that travels with him is able to have a life-changing experience.

“It’s been a joy, and it’s my absolute passion. It makes me happy and I love being down there.”

 

 

To learn more about the G3 Foundation, visit G3Foundation.org

To learn more about Grant Dental, visit ScottWGrantDMD.com.

 

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Written by Dawn Kahl

Published in Catalyst – Q3 2026.

 

Category: Giving Back, Office Planning & Design

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