I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in History of Art and had the privilege of attending the University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco.

I am an active member of several continuing education groups and study clubs in prosthetics and periodontology that perform actual clinical work on patients. I have worked as an expert witness in legal dental cases. I’ve also volunteered as a dental surgeon in Jos, Nigeria.

I raised three daughters without cavities (all without ingestion of fluoride). I enjoy downhill skiing, alpine touring, mountain biking, photography (alas, mostly digital) and listening to jazz and classical records (you know, those flat analog 12-inch vinyl discs).

I really do love telling people about their teeth, and restoring them to their original function and beauty, from high tech implants (think digital) to low tech gold inlays (think analog).

I welcome your comments and questions and encourage you to subscribe to my free updates on dental health and advice (all you need is your email address, which I’ll use for no other purpose than to send you the updates).

What would you like answered on Ask the Dentist? Tell me here.

Mark Burhenne DDS

Sunnyvale, CA

Why I Became a Dentist

I started my practice when my first child was born in 1988.

I remember buying a copy machine for the practice hours before Catharine was born. Scary to think what she would have thought if she’d known that her father was starting the practice from scratch and that the revenue wasn’t yet trickling in as she was just entering the world.

But starting it from scratch meant it would be exactly the practice I wanted it to be: 100% about my patients.

Then the internet came along.

Virtual-Dentist.com, my first website, was one of the first resources for dental health information on the web. I made it for my patients, but soon realized that people all over the world were coming to learn about their teeth.

Now, over 20 years later, it is my first daughter Catharine who acts as webmaster to spread the message with Ask the Dentist.

My aim with Ask the Dentist is to create a place for people to get answers about their oral health.

Why?

• ■ Because oral health is integral to overall health. In fact, poor dental health can cause Diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and a slew of other major medical conditions.
  
  
• ■ Because 50% of the American population only sees a dentist when in pain.
  
  
• ■ And because caring for your teeth will let you enjoy a longer, healthier life!