“The kids that I once saw are now bringing their own kids in, so I guess I can call them ‘grand-patients,’” Matlock says. “They come in with their kids and I say, ‘I’m sorry, you’re permanently in sixth grade to me.’”
Building those relationships has been the cornerstone of what Matlock has strived to build at Matlock Dental Care since he opened in Lee’s Summit in 1998.
“And that is the reason I went into general practice and not a speciality,” Matlock says, “because I can live vicariously through my patients. To be part of that journey alongside them, seeing them every six months and the first thing out of my mouth is ‘hey, what’s going on in your life?’”
Matlock has been practicing since 1995 after graduation from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry.
When he opened his practice here in 1998, Lee’s Summit was not a town of 100,000 with a robust retail and downtown scene.
“My practice has grown alongside Lee’s Summit over the last 23 years,” he says. “As a city, Lee’s Summit has certainly done it right as far as development and infrastructure. Downtown Lee’s Summit, through activism and through business owners, is now a destination, and also a family destination.”
Matlock has ingrained himself into the community, active at Our Lady of the Presentation Catholic Church and as an officer in the local Knights of Columbus Council chapter. All three of his children attended school at OLP and graduated from local, Catholic high schools. His wife, Amy, is a former OLP teacher, too.
“When you live and work in the community, and that community has supported us since 1998, it is my responsibility to offer service to said community,” Matlock says.
Matlock Dental Care’s first location was off South 291 Highway and Persells before moving to its current office at 301 NE Mulberry St. near St. Luke’s East Hospital.
As Lee’s Summit has grown, so has his office. With the addition of Dr. Beau Butzirus, Matlock’s office staff now counts 12, up from five in the very beginning.
Growth in patients—his office averages 500-550 a month now—has also led to growth in the area of dental technology.
Matlock Dental Care offers cutting-edge advances in dentistry, including digital CAD-CAM dentistry where crowns are done in-office while the patients wait, eliminating the two-appointment process. Patients no longer have to wait on a temporary crown that may or may not stay in.
Going one step further is the ability to match the exact tooth color when molding a crown.
“Every tooth color is unique like a fingerprint,” he says.
Matlock Dental Care also offers a Solea/Co2 laser, which can accomplish a filling without local anesthesia or the drill.
Matlock says the best gift he can give his patients is that of one-on-one time.
“We are a busy practice, and one of my big things is making sure we manage the schedule such that every patient has their own individual time.”
