A multi-disciplinary, all-women dental service provider is opening in Parker by the end of the month, the first of its kind in the Denver area.
Isra Ahmed, of Denver, is moving a new practice to Parker to fulfill a need that has been a dream of hers since she started dental school at the University of Colorado — a “community hub” for dental work.
Ahmed, 30, will head a practice of all-women dentists, including an orthodontist, endodontist, periodontist and herself, a prosthodontist. Hers will be the first prosthodontist practice in Parker, at 11005 S. Parker Road.
Ahmed, 30, grew up in Sudan and emigrated to Denver in 2001 amid the Sudanese Civil War. She draws her inspiration from her father, and credits where she is today because of him.
“The reason I don’t bring up the story is because I don’t like when people define by where I’ve been,” Ahmed said. “I like when people define me by where I am now.”
Colorado Community Media spoke with Ahmed recently about beginning her new dream practice in Parker.
What is prosthodontics?
Prosthodontics is one of the recognized specialties in the dental field. Basically, it’s the most comprehensive specialty of them all. If you can think of a traffic light, directing every specialty in dentistry—that’s what a prosthodontist is. We work a lot with multi-disciplinary cases, meaning one case could entail different specialties, meaning ortho- (braces), endo- (root canals), oral surgery (restructuring the jaw and bone, implants). You can think of a prosthodontist as someone equipped to put together a case, diagnose it in a very detailed manner and execute a plan …
It’s becoming more and more interesting and relevant to the public because there’s a lot of digital stuff that’s going into it. Digital dentistry is a large part of prosthodontics, these days.
What is this new practice you’re opening in Parker?
This office that we’re building is a multi-disciplinary women provider network …
What I’m trying to do here, there are some providers I’ve been talking to — an orthodontist wants to join us, a periodontist (specializing in fine-tune surgery) … also an endodontist, and then me, a prosthodontist.
Sort of like a one-stop shop?
I don’t want to have this center be a “one-stop shop.” I don’t want to have that. For me, I want it to be more of a community center. I want other dentists to utilize our center and I want to refer to other dentists on smaller cases they can do or cases that are prevalent. I want to involve the community in other aspects of this practice, which is focused on women and children — that’s another aspect I’m very passionate about.
I want to do a lot of volunteer work here, too. I want it to be a hub for the community—that’s the best way to describe it. Because we have a lot of tools, we can help a lot of people, not just dental, but everything else.
I’m not interested in doing quantity. I’m not interested in having a waiting room full of people, that’s not me. I’m interested in delivering very customized ways of doing dentistry that’s catered to the individual.
What makes this place unique to Parker?
Here, in Parker, there is no prosthodontist, so it’s definitely a prosthodontist under-served area, and there is a need. The other part of it is, an all-women provider network like this is unheard of.
The only women care provider places you think of are like a women’s health clinic, which is catered to women. That’s not what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to provide access to patients who want women providers — men and women. We’re not saying we’re catered to women only. We’re saying we are women who are a group, a collaborative group, who want to provide the best care for you.
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