Meet Caitlin Chamberlain of Vitality Dental

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlin Chamberlain

Hi Caitlin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I graduated dental school in 2015 from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Following graduation, my husband and I moved to Honolulu for 1 year so that I could complete an Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at a public health facility in an underserved area in Honolulu, Kalihi Valley. We had a great year in Hawaii, but ultimately knew that we wanted to have children and be closer to family, so we moved back to Kansas City, settling in the Liberty area. Upon returning to Kansas City, I worked at KC Care Clinic, a public health facility, and we began our family with the birth of our son in 2017. In 2018, I began working as a General Dentist for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in Leavenworth. My experience at the VA was eye-opening and was the impetus for opening my own private practice. While working for the VA, I became disparaged by the very sick patients that I was taking care of, and felt like I really couldn’t make an impact on their health – for numerous reasons, but primarily because it isn’t easy to elicit change or be heard when you work for a large bureaucracy. My patients would often come back to me with new cavities every time I saw them, and I felt like I was just treating symptoms instead of actually addressing the complex issues that they had. Simultaneously in my personal life, I discovered functional medicine in an attempt to optimize my own health after having my first child. I began to voraciously consume books and listen to podcasts, and learned so much about how lifestyle can impact epigenetics and truly affect both health span and lifespan! The idea of treating the root cause of issues really resonated with me, and aligned with how I wanted to treat my own patients. I decided then that I needed to figure out how to bring my own personal experience with functional medicine into my professional life so that I could help my patients overcome their health challenges and get them out of the cycle of drilling and filling teeth. Soon thereafter, my vision became a reality and Vitality Dental was born, when I closed on my office on December 31, 2021.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This question is hilarious – Has anyone had a smooth journey into business ownership?! 🤪 In reality, opening my own business has been one of the biggest challenges of my life – but I also know that it will be one of the most rewarding. I have encountered a number of obstacles over the last 2.5 years – ranging from a rocky practice acquisition, navigating the ins and outs of insurance billing and financial conversations with patients (which I had never had to do before since I had worked in public health), handling all of the challenges associated with the post-Covid workforce and understaffing, a number of facility issues like multiple days of office closures due to water main breaks, and loss of power from storms, as well as navigating how to manage and run a business while also being the sole dentist in my office! Needless to say, it has been a HUGE catalyst for both personal and professional growth and has also been an incredibly humbling experience.

As you know, we’re big fans of Vitality Dental . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My office is called Vitality Dental. We are a functional/holistic dental office and focus on educating and empowering our patients to be the healthiest and happiest versions of themselves! We provide a non-judgmental and educational experience for our patients, and work to get to the root cause of oral issues so that our patients don’t get stuck having work done over and over again because we are only treating symptoms. We do this with personalized testing and spending quality time getting to know our patients and their histories.

We provide an array of specialty services including Cone Beam scans to assess root canal treated teeth for infections and look at the sinuses and airway, ozone treatments, safe mercury filling removal, sleep apnea testing and appliances to treat sleep apnea, as well as no-preparation veneers and full mouth rehabilitations. We spend a lot of time with our patients discussing their lifestyle, including sleep, nutrition and supplements. We also provide functional medicine laboratory testing and pharmaceutical-grade supplement recommendations and can even perform dental materials sensitivity testing. At our office, we also pay close attention to the materials we are using to ensure that they are as non-toxic as possible and utilize fluoride-free materials whenever possible. We even utilize fluoride-free pastes when we clean our patient’s teeth, ozonated water during cleanings, and have a hydroxyapatite varnish (fluoride-alternative) that we can apply afterwards! I am really proud of the atmosphere and office that we have built – it is a comfortable and beautiful space that feels very welcoming – and we’re always playing a great playlist!

What makes you happy?
I LOVE travelling! If I wasn’t a dentist, I would have a job that allowed me to travel and experience different cultures, or perhaps one that allowed me to frequently visit or live in another country. Travelling and exploring new places and learning new things brings me immense joy and I think this is because of my love of learning. I’ve recently been reflecting on my hobbies and what I like to do with my leisure time, and I discovered that my hobby is learning new things – whether that be new dental techniques, learning and trying a new recipe, or learning a language – I just truly enjoy the process of learning new information!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vitalitydentalkc.com/
• Instagram: @vitalitydentalkc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vitalitydentalkc/