New dentist joins CHC

Going to the dentist often ranks with some sort of medieval torture. Think iron cuffs and shackles.
Dr. David Andersen completely understands.
“I know what it’s like to be poked and prodded, so I can relate to my patients,” he said. “I myself have a mouth full of metal from when I had cavities.”
Andersen, a new dentist at Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Iola, said he wasn’t very fond of visiting the dentist before he entered the profession.
His motto is, “I’m not comfortable until you are.”
Dentistry wasn’t always on his career map.
“I stumbled into dentistry,” he said. “I always wanted to be in the medical profession and thought I’d become a cardiovascular surgeon.”
But after studying a unit on pulmonary cardiology, he was less enchanted.
For starters, the surgeons were always “on call” and had little time for family.
The nudge for dentistry came from his girlfriend — now his wife — Alisha’s father, also a dentist
“He took me under his wing and said why don’t you come check this out,” Andersen said. “I was thinking ‘yeah right, I don’t want to be a dentist.’ I hated dentists like everyone else.”
To humor his future father-in-law Anderson decided he would visit his practice for 30 minutes, which turned in a half-day visit, which in turn led to several days of observing.
“It was like a light came on and I realized this is what I was going to do,” he said.
Andersen graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 2001 and earned his doctorate of dental surgery from the University of Colorado School of Dentistry in 2005. He began his dental career in Greeley, Colo.
Born and raised in Colorado, Andersen never saw himself leaving, but his first experiences were not positive.
“I worked in private practice for six years and I never liked it and I couldn’t figure out why,” he said. From there he took a job with a corporation, which he regards as “the biggest mistake of my life.”
Andersen said he felt uneasy with the corporation’s ethics, which he regarded as geared too heavily to profits.
“At that point I started looking for something that was more satisfying,” he said. “I didn’t want to push something on a patient that they didn’t need.”
So the Andersens packed up and headed to western Kansas where he began working at the United Methodist Mexican American Ministries, a community health center in Dodge City.
While in Dodge City he served many patients who were immigrants and many who didn’t have health insurance.
“I love community health because I help people regularly and I’m not trying to sell them something,” he said. “It’s just pure 100 percent helping. I love it.”
When he interviewed for the Dodge City position he also interviewed with the Pittsburg-based CHC. At the time he and his family were uncomfortable moving so far from Colorado, so they selected Dodge. When the opportunity came up again for the CHC job, he jumped at it. He said he would like to finish his career with CHC.
“The organization as a whole has its act together,” he said. “When I interviewed in the past with director Krista Postai she told me about all these grand plans she had and here we are today and they’ve passed. CHC is a class act. I’m excited to be working for a company that does so much good.”
Andersen has noticed the “need for dentistry in this region is phenomenal.”
“Most people don’t want to live in rural America anymore, or at least the hotshot dentists who are in it for the money. I’m a dying breed,” he said. “I like it for the self-satisfaction of helping people, so this is a great fit for me.”
Anderson said he would love to see CHC’s dental presence grow in Iola. An extra provider and more chairs would be beneficial. He said he is already booked out for the month which can be good and bad when trying to balance keeping the schedule open.
His family has only been in Iola for two weeks but enjoys the transition thus far. He and his wife have three children, Jacob, 14, Hannah, 11, and Max, 8.
The Andersen clan enjoys spending time together hiking and fishing. Andersen said he enjoys playing video games with Max and creating arts and crafts with Hannah.
Andersen joins Dr. Steve Oakson at CHC. Oakson is an instructor with the UMKC School of Dentistry and began private practice in 1978.  For more information or to schedule an appointment with either dentist call 620-365-6400 during regular business hours.