West Plains has new dental clinic

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Residents of the West Plains now have a new full-service dental/medical clinic with the opening of Dr. C Family Dentistry, 11919 West Sunset Highway in Suite C2.

The office officially opened on Thursday, April 21, and according to owners Josh and Amy Cochran, they have seen a lot of clients during the first week of business.

The facility in its entirety provides general medicine, vision care, and physical therapy on top of dentistry services, including kids' and general family dentistry and orthodontics and specialized services.

"We want to make sure we have everything under one roof," Josh said. "We want to reinvent dentistry around the patient."

General family dentistry, orthodontics and specialized service are the only services currently offered. General medicine, vision care, and physical therapy services will be available in the building later.

The Cochran's own two other dental facilities in the region and have been building the Dr. C brand for several years now. They attribute their success to the business model they have incorporated.

"We put the patient as the center of our mission and try to figure out what our patients need and want," Josh said. "We aim to deliver on our mission of having a positive impact on our patients, team, and community. If I feel we can improve the service model, that drives and motivates me."

According to Josh, the company's chief executive officer, their practices offer hours of service that help people access the care they need without missing work or school. He said the hours of operation fit well in the West Plains because of the military population that requires alternative hours of service.

"You're a busy mom right, and you have no time." Josh said. "The mom is kind of like the quarterback of the family, and you want to be able to take yourself, your kids, your husband, and even your parents to the same place at a time convenient to you."

The Cochran's also operate a dental facility in Cheney and the Spokane Valley.

Amy, who works as the children's dentist, said the alternative hour requests became popular when running the Valley office.

"That's when we found our niche' for the evening and weekend hours," Amy said. "It became a really hot commodity for people."

Josh and Amy have been building the Dr. C brand for several years now and attribute their success to the business model they have incorporated.

"We put the patient as the center of our mission and try to figure out what our patients need and want," Josh said. "We aim to deliver on our mission of having a positive impact on our patients, team, and community. If I feel we can improve the service model, that drives and motivates me."

The patient need was a significant reason they built the Airway Heights facility. Josh said data shows the West Plains is an area underserved in terms of dentistry, so he made it a goal to address that need. He also realized the area was medically underserved in general, so this facility will be the first of its kind for Airway Heights.

Cheney Dental Care is their sister practice. According to Josh, having active community partnerships is essential for their business model.

The company's Marketing Specialist Bridget Plese explained that developing those relationships is crucial to newly opened offices.

"What is really cool about this area is that it seems like the community members really want to help each other," Plese said. "Everything revolves around those connections and what we can do for people and how we can work with them to build this community up."

Plese has been with the company for several years. She started in the Spokane Valley location as an intern. Plese said being part of the growth process has been vital for her learning experience.

"It's been really exciting to see a new Dr. C from the start," Plese said. "It's been fun to see how much work and thought goes into a new practice, and it's been really nice to see all of the hard work be put into action so we can continue to serve."

The Cochran's said. They've had plenty of obstacles to overcome to get to where they are now with their practice.

"When we started in 2014, we only had one doctor and we grew from there," Amy said. "Then we noticed a huge change when COVID hit. We were basically cut down to just providing emergency care and saw an increased need for alternative hours due to the changes in the school systems.

"It's taken a lot of work, and there have been a lot of setbacks. We just never lost sight of our goal, and we wanted to make sure it would be a place we would want to take our own family."

Other impacts related to COVID included price increases for construction supplies for the newly built facility in Airway Heights. It also impacted medical supply availability, according to Amy.

According to Josh, the numbers starting for the Airway office are well above average as the dentists have seen close to 60 new patients in the first week. He noted that the American Dental Association data shows a national average of 18 new patients per month for dental offices.

"I think people have been waiting for us to come out here," Amy said. "I feel our patients are ready to come see us out here."

The Spokane Valley office is bringing in around 230 new patients per month and boasts a growth rate of 70 % per year over seven years.