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City Councilman Martin Hernandez, Chamber Board Member Talia Wunder, Dr. Jared Lee, Deborah Lee, Nancy Marie Ulloa, Mayor Ralph Fernandez and Chamber Board Member Chris Sayer at a recent ribbon cutting for Dr. Jared Lee. |
Dr. Jared Lee: Orthodontist sees Santa Paula as beautiful smiles
May 17, 2013
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Dr. Jared Lee’s calling card is his dazzling smile, good advertising for someone who creates beautiful smiles for others. Of course Jared Lee, DDS, MS did not straighten his own teeth, but it was when he was fitted with braces at the age of 15 that he decided he wanted to be an orthodontist. Said Lee, “I thought it would be a great job; you get to work with great people and you make people feel good” with the results.
The motto of Lee’s practice, Santa Paula Orthodontics, is “Every reason to smile,” and he’s had plenty of reasons to smile since he and his wife Debi discovered Santa Paula. “We were looking for a place to start a practice from scratch” rather than joining a larger practice, and, Lee said, “we picked Santa Paula because we loved the community and it seemed like a great fit for us.”
First Lee, a native of Fullerton, had to go through the years of schooling that is required for his chosen profession, as well as missionary work required by the Church of Latter Day Saints - spending a lot of time in Guatemala and Mexico. The latter also included time about a decade ago as an anthropological researcher with his wife Debi after he obtained a degree from Brigham Young University in exercise science and anthropology.
A prestigious science foundation picked up the tab for the study designed and conducted by Lee, which occurred just prior to his marriage. During their adventure the couple each wrote a chapter for a book, “’Healthcare Among the K’iche’ Maya’ - no one ever read it,” laughed Lee.
Also a graduate of UCLA Dental School, where he had about 100 classmates, Lee next attended Columbia University where he became president of his postdoctoral program’s class. “There were,” he noted, “only seven of us.”
An Eagle Scout who remained active in the Boy Scouts organization, Lee was California Boys State representative, honored numerous times as a dental student, was a champion UCLA soccer player, and just recently was named Bishop of the LDS Church of Santa Paula. He has also been active in professional organizations, was an educator both for his professional peers and teaching for children, a lecturer, and a writer.
When asked how many orthodontists are in the United States, Lee admitted, “I don’t know - but we’re the only full-time specialty office in Santa Paula!” And one that has gotten “a very warm reception” since the practice opened late last year.
The Lees were living in New York and researching a place to open a practice. He found “There was a big hole in Santa Paula and I thought how could this be? I took trip out here in April 2011,” and once in town picked up a phone book and looked up dentists.... I was able to get in touch with Dick Yamamoto and he said he’d love to have lunch... so we had lunch and I decided we should stay here.”
Lee learned people had to drive out of town for orthodontic services, and he hired a demographer for more research. “I liked what I saw and knew I would do here what I would want for my family... excellent care at reasonable prices. Besides,” noted Lee, “Debi is from Maryland and she loves palm trees at Christmas.... Living in Santa Paula was a big part of it” for the couple, who moved to the city in August 2011.
Lee said, “I really wanted the autonomy” of a private practice. “What is appealing about it was I get to make all the decisions, what I would want for the practice and to keep it affordable... that’s what attracted us to Santa Paula - folks raising families. And we loved the community and it seemed like a great fit for us.”
Although orthodontics has evolved over the decades from plain wire braces to invisible plastic, gold, silver and tooth matching, Lee said, “They’re all just tools... different ways to get to that high standard of treatment” that nationally averages about 27 months. “I like to maximize the results with the minimum of work” to make it more comfortable for his patients, who usually get braces at about 12 years old. Kids as young as 6 years old can be pre-screened if there are particular problems, and Lee said he is seeing more adult patients including those in their 50s who want to improve their smile.
His family and the practice have become active in church and community, with Lee joining the Rotary Club, his practice forming a Relay for Life team, joining the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Merchants Association, continuing work with the Boy Scouts, and driving his 1960 robin’s egg blue F100 Ford pickup that belonged to his father in local parades.
Debi has a Masters degree in public administration and, said Jared, “She worked for a huge consulting firm... I call her the First Lady of Excel.” She is now kept busy with their 3-year-old twins and is expecting another child.
The Lees have so embraced Santa Paula that their office at the corner of 8th and Main streets office in a vintage building is decorated with old photographs of city scenes. Although “getting this started up has taken longer than what we thought,” said Lee, “it was worth it.”
