One of the first things one notices when they walk into Pacific Northwest Dental is the beautiful wall-sized nature photography throughout the office space. Dr. Tyler Peterschmidt has found that displaying his own artwork, which began as a personal hobby, has grown into a conversation starter with his patients. He started taking pictures about six years ago, teaching himself through YouTube. At first, he was a bit shy about sharing his art. He first hung up a picture and didn’t tell anyone it was his, and let it sit there and waited to see how people responded. Now he is proud of his work and has photos in all the operatories. Now, instead of shying away from sharing his personal interests, he uses his photos as a way to connect with his patients, and some even buy his prints.
Dr. Peterschmidt’s mother recognized his potential for dental work when he was given a kit of dirty old Roman coins to restore. Tyler enjoyed the fine detail work coin restoration took, and his mom associated his talent with the work that dentists do. Since he has an aunt who is a dentist, Tyler was able to shadow her and he also benefited from clinical volunteer opportunities and soon decided that dentistry is the career he wanted to pursue. In addition to enjoying dental work, he found being your own boss and the ability to build your own culture and work environment appealing.
Dr. Peterschmidt partnered with Dr. Watkins when Dr. Joe Jensen retired. Their partnership is based on shared values and complementary skills. Dr. Peterschmidt has been drawn to oral surgery, participating in advanced training on implants, bone grafting, soft tissue surgery, and periodontics. Whereas Dr. Watkins has done training on sleep apnea devices. Dr. Peterschmidt said that they mesh well in terms of our business relationship and their easy-going personality style. They also have both embraced in house technology, such as doing their own scanning and 3D printing.
