By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Dr. Alexis Klassen is bringing her passion for dentistry and for community service to Bowling Green.
The dentist is a veteran, both because she has 14 years in practice and because five of those years were in the U.S. Navy. And she’s picking up the baton from another experienced dentist Dr. Todd Stoner, who has practiced in Bowling Green for 20 years.
Klassen purchased the practice at 1218 Ridgewood Drive, Bowling Green this summer. She said they’ve been discussing the move for three years.
Dr. Stoner is getting ready to retire, and Klassen wanted to have her own practice. He will continue to see patients for a few more years, she said, though he’ll be cutting back on his hours.
“He’s very popular,” Klassen said. “He has great reviews and his reputation is outstanding in the community. … When I was looking to buy a practice that’s what I was looking for.”
Before opening Klassen & Associates DDS, she had been practicing for 11 years in Sandusky. Previously she’d served for five years in the U.S. Navy and is still in the Navy Reserves, where among her duties she serves as a physical fitness instructor.
Klassen discovered her love of dentistry at 16 when she worked with her cousin in his practice in Michigan.
One of first procedures she witnessed was her cousin completely rebuilding a tooth. “I was in awe that someone could crack a tooth off and someone could totally rebuild it,” she said. “I knew this is what I wanted to do. This is amazing you can help people, and you can be an artist. My passion really started then.”
The lure of the science and craft of dentistry has endured. On one hand, dentistry poses the same challenges over and over. But there’s something new every time the dentist walks into the examining room. “Every patient is unique, every procedure, every shape of the filling or the crown,” Klassen said. “It really is so much of a thinking profession. You have to take that thought and turn it into a vision and do it on a human being. I think that’s incredible. I love that part of my job.”
The practice will continue to treat patients of all ages. In her first weeks she’s treated people age 3 up to 94.
The dental problems vary with age.
Teenagers, for example, may not have the best dental habits. That causes decay. As people age, though, the problems involve gum health, not so much decay. The roots of the teeth dry out and teeth become brittle.
Patients who previously had good dental health are surprised when these issues occur.
The pandemic exacerbated some problems. The office opened back up to patients in early July. Klassen started practicing in BG shortly after on July 13.
The hygienists are working hard removing a year or more buildup of plaque, instead of six months’ worth.
“I think their dental heath really suffered,” she said of patients. “Small things that could have been fixed with a simple solution definitely got worse when you can’t treat someone for six months,” Klassen said. “We’re happy to be able to deliver care now because if it had gone on much longer our patients would have been in a much different spot and more negatively affected.”
The practice has strict Covid safety protocols in place. The practice purchased four aerosol reducer machines that vacuum up and filter out aerosols in the air that are produced as the dentists and hygienists use hand tools.
Seeing how many aerosols are going into the air, Klassen has decided, even once the pandemic has passed, those filtering devices will be a permanent part of the office.
Klassen also plans to bring in a dental anesthesiologist into the practice periodically, once a month or every other month. They sedate people, especially adults with special needs, so the dentist can provide dental care that’s almost impossible without sedation. The wait to have these services provided in a hospital can be as long as two years.
Klassen is eager to get involved in the community.
The past four years in Sandusky, the practice she was in participated in the Make Vet Smile Day campaign, during which they provided free dental services to retired, separated active duty and reserve military personnel. That amounted to as much as $30,000 of free care during the day. She wants to do that here as well.
The practice also sponsored a Toothbrush Trot Relay Race and Dental Health Fair that benefited a dental clinic in Toledo for those with special needs.
That event highlights her passions – dentistry, fitness, and serving those with special needs.
Klassen, 40, is an active runner. Her team won the Toledo Marathon relay last year.
She first came to Bowling Green to attend Bowling Green State University where she intended to run cross country and track.
“I found out pretty quickly that if I wanted to get good enough grades to become a dentist, I couldn’t put in the 100 hours of training a week,” she said. So, she stepped back from track and devoted herself to biology and chemistry, graduating with a degree in biology. She received her dental training at Detroit Mercy.
She met her husband, Brent Klassen, a standout player on the Falcons basketball team, at BGSU as well.
In 2016, they ran, often with their children on their backs, across Ohio in a series of 10-mile runs, to raise awareness about the challenges and joys of raising children with special needs.
Their sons, now 10 and 12, suffered seizures when they were infants, and that caused significant developmental delays. The younger boy didn’t walk at all until he was 6, and neither of their sons talk.
Klassen said people anticipate what their life will be, yet it often takes another turn. Still, she said, “you find joy.”
Being the mother of children with special needs is reflected in her practice. “I know how hard it is to find a doctor,” she said. “If I can be that doctor, it would be incredible. You can bring your daughter or son in, and we can actually help them. That would be so huge.”
She also served as a volunteer coach for two years at Whitmer High School, and is interested in being involved in youth athletics in BG.
Her experience at the university is what made her want to move her family here. “What brought me back was how much I loved my time and my husband’s time here.”
And she’s also excited that her 17-year-old niece will be working with her in the office. “So, the tradition of the passion for dentistry is being passed along.”
