Denturist Profile: Tad Burzynski

Although many Oregon denturists have been actively involved in the growth and development of the profession, none have dedicated themselves more completely and enthusiastically than Tad Burzynski.

Tad’s exposure to denturism began early. His father Robert was one of the original lab technicians to be grand fathered into the profession in 1980. Two years later his mother Charlene obtained her license as well. From the age of 12, Tad worked in the family’s denture clinic, first as a self-described “plaster monkey”, and later as a lab technician doing denture repairs and relines. After graduating from high school and obtaining an Associate of Arts degree from Umpqua Community College he was drawn by the then-lucrative lure of the lumber industry and went to work driving forklift for Roseburg Forest Products.

In 1989 Tad married Dee Dee, now his wife for 18 years, and soon thereafter realized he wanted more opportunity and security from his work than a mill job could provide. His parent’s successful business gave him an option to explore. After talking with his father, attending a few National Denturist Association meetings and talking with others in the field, the decision to follow the path his family had blazed was an easy one for him to make.

Tad’s preparation to become a denturist was thoughtfully planned. He began by returning to school to get the training needed to become a dental hygienist. With this license and his dental lab experience Tad was confident he could be the first to successfully challenge the state board examination, which he did in 1992. “I am very proud that I was able to establish a pathway to becoming a denturist for those with dental lab technician experience and dental hygienist credentials”.

At this point Tad left the family business and struck out on his own. Initially he split his time working as a hygienist and denturist for two Roseburg dentists and operating a mobile practice serving elderly residents in area assisted living and nursing home communities.

Tad’s ultimate goal was to establish a practice in the Bend area. For eight months he traveled there to work three days a week as both a hygienist and denturist for area dentists while at the same time maintaining his Roseburg practice. Tad and Dee Dee moved to Bend permanently in 1993 and have been practicing from the same location at Denture In ever since.

But Tad did not stop here. Wanting to learn more than what he could through the practical experience he was getting in his parent’s clinic he enrolled in the distance learning program offered by Toronto’s George Brown College and in 2000, along with Oregon denturist Shaun Murray, was among those in their first graduating class.

Over the last 14 years Tad and Dee Dee have worked hard to make Denture In into one of the most successful denturist practices in Oregon. Like his father before him, Tad also has his 14 and 17 year-old sons Andrew and Ryen help around the office. “I don’t ever have a slow day”, he says. Tad has an estimated patient base of 5,000 and says he sees from 8 to 20 patients each day, depending upon the needs each person has. He routinely works on a referral basis with from 15 to 20 area dentists and 4 oral surgeons. “I look at myself as a professional, not just as a “denture guy”, he adds. “We’re part of dentistry, but we are specialists in denture and partial technology.”
 
Tad has invested his time and energy into more than establishing a successful practice. He has been actively involved at every conceivable level of the profession. His resume includes:

• Membership in the National Denturist Association (NDA) since 1989
• Membership in the International Federation of Denturists (IFD) since 1989
• Membership in the American Oregon Dental Hygienist Associations since 1990
• IFD World Symposium Committee member since 2002
• NDA board membership since 1992, serving as Vice-President from 2003-2005 and President Elect from 2006 until 2008
• Membership in the OSDA since 1990, currently serving on the Board of Directors and as President-Elect
• Complaint investigator for the Oregon Health Licensing Agency from 1996-1998
• Member of the Oregon Board of Denture Technology since 2000
 
“I see myself as a leader because of my values related to the profession”, he says. "I’m a straightforward guy who is going to tell it like it is and do what I can to make things as right as can be. I try to take that approach in everything I do.” 
 
All of these experiences have given Tad the opportunity to develop a broadly based and well considered perspective on his profession and where the future lies. Nationally, his thoughts focus on the need to get practitioners across the country thinking and acting as one. “My wish list begins”, he says, “with wanting to unify denturists on a national level in order to create a more professional status that will give practitioners both the credibility and protection they deserve and enhance the ability for denturism to establish itself across the nation.

As President Elect and, in two years President of the NDA, I will do whatever I can to make this profession something that its practitioners can be proud of, both in the State of Oregon and across the nation.”

“The US has been a leader in just about everything else in this world, except for denturism”, he continues. “But there is absolutely no reason why we can’t be a leader here too. We have the education and  knowledge, we simply need to get the numbers, and it is our lack of success in uniting state associations into a national organization that prevents this from happening.”

While Tad sees significant challenges ahead for the development of denturism on the national level, he also recognizes the successes that have been achieved here in Oregon.  “I am extremely proud of the accomplishments we have made through the Oregon Board of Denture Technology. We have created a way to protect and develop the profession by streamlining the written examination and making it more readily available for a candidate for licensure to take. I am also proud to have taken part in the process for developing a procedure for licensure by credential and establishing the multiple pathways that can be taken by those wanting to obtain a license to practice in Oregon.”

Tad recognizes that he owes a great many people thanks for their help and support throughout his professional lifetime. “In the beginning”, he says, “it was my parents. They are the ones who got me started. Later on it was the practitioners I looked up to after I graduated from George Brown; people like Ken Holden and Shawn Murray in Oregon, Val Charron and Kurt Roehl in Washington and Sam Whisenant, Austin Carbone, Paul LeVasseur and Fred Gerrity on the East coast.”
 
“And I can’t forget my wife Dee Dee”, he continues. “She has always been there for me, tirelessly managing the front office and doing so much more. In the most difficult times I have always been able count on her. And for a long time she has also been an important part of the NDA, coordinating conference trade shows that helped to keep the association alive and financially in the black.”
 
At a deep personal level, Tad admits that the untimely death in 2000 of his youngest son Kyle has had a profound influence on how he approaches his personal and professional life.  “Even though he was with us for only three years, Kyle lived a very happy life. He gave me a new outlook on life, how short it is and how you never know what is going to happen.”
 
“Everybody always has the ability to give an excuse for not to doing something”, he continues. “Kyle had everything in the world going against him, but it never stopped him from accomplishing things others were impossible for him. His life really was influential on me in terms of what I do and how I try to do it, with energy, honesty and integrity.”