Married dentists focus on warm, family

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As “meet cute” stories go, the Klines’ tale is a little messy.

Established dentists now in practice together in Steamboat Springs, Andrea and Clayton Kline first met over a human cadaver in dental school at Ohio State College of Dentistry.

The cadaver lab experience was the second for Clayton but the first for Andrea, who reacted with tears to the bodies being opened. That was just when she looked up through her tears to see Clayton for the first time.

“Oh, dang it, he’s cute,” Andrea thought, embarrassed to be crying in front of five male members of her lab group.

The friendly, warm couple laugh about that meeting now. After that day, the two spent hours together in the lab, then four years dating, more than a decade married and years parenting their two young children.

In January 2022, the Klines purchased the dental practice of retiring dentist Gary Fresques, who Andrea worked alongside last year for four months. Since the two young dentists had worked full time at two different locations on the northern Front Range after earning their doctorate degrees in dental surgery, they one day hoped to create a better work-life balance and raise their family in the mountains. That family-centered practice is Steamboat Family & Aesthetic Dentistry, 940 Central Park Drive.

With the experience of parenting their children ages 5 and 8, the couple already knew each other’s skills and strengths, but working together has increased their appreciation of each other’s hard work and led to a new level of mutual respect. To be able to respond to needs of their children and cover for office staff as needed, the dentists tag-team and alternate heavy work days to help maintain that flexible work-life balance.

The dentists made significant investments to upgrade the practice equipment. Chief among the upgrades is equipment to create same-day crowns. Previously patients wore a temporary crown for about two weeks and visited the dentist again for the final crown that had to be ordered from Denver.

Now the crowns are made in-house from zirconia, which is a newer material for dental restorative treatments in a zirconium oxide type of ceramic, according to WebMD. Zirconia is stronger than porcelain and some metal alloys and creates fewer sharp edges from normal wear and tear over time.

The precise crowns are cut from a small block of zirconia in a CEREC dental tool machine and then cured at approximately 2,800 degrees in a small furnace device in the office, Clayton Kline explained.

The practice utilizes 3D imaging equipment, also known as cone beam computed tomography, that allows accurate, three-dimensional imaging to help identify infections, disease, cysts and other problems sooner in the mandible, teeth and sinuses, Andrea Kline noted.

In addition to traditional services of veneers, crowns, fillings and extractions, the dentists also offer such services as restoration of implants and blue laser treatments. The blue laser can be used to treat tongue-tie through a frenotomy, or a surgical cut to release the frenulum when that band of tissue that tethers the bottom of the tongue’s tip to the floor of the mouth is too short or tight, according to Mayo Clinic.

The dentists already have plenty of patient fans, including Olivia Kimmeth, a 30-year Steamboat resident who received a same-day crown. Kimmeth said she highly recommends the practice to people moving to town. She said the dentists are calming, gentle and reassuring while also possessing good teamwork and patient manner.

“I feel like I’ve walked into a friend’s place. You believe in them immediately; the trust is there,” Kimmeth said.

Routt County resident Nissa Brodman said she is pleased the dental practice accommodates her family with appointments on the same day as well as providing special care to one of her daughters working to overcome dental visit anxiety.

“We are really happy with all the services they provide and how great the practice has been for us,” Brodman said.

The dentists recently received a handmade thank you gift and note from a visiting patient.

“You fixed my crown while we were visiting Steamboat. You went above and beyond the call of duty,” said Ted Foley, an artist from Michigan.

Before moving to Steamboat, the married dentists spent eight years in Ohio, where they were both born. Andrea Kline established a nonprofit dental clinic as part of a charitable medical clinic in northwest Ohio, and the caring couple brought that altruistic mindset to Steamboat. The couple gives back to the community by providing flexible payments for people in need. At Christmas time, the dentists chose a patient in need of more complex dental work that she could not afford and then gifted that care.

To reach Suzie Romig, call 970-871-4205 or email [email protected].

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