Mark Olson is a dentist, but he is also much more than that.
At its core, the dental profession has always generated not just a small amount of fear. The image of getting teeth pulled, mouth prodded and drilled into, with the expected amount of pain and discomfort it brings, makes a visit to the local dentist a thing to avoid. Enter Mark Olson, and his state-of-the-art practice, located in a beautiful building in Newport Beach. It is definitely not your grandparents’ dentist office. It is bright, with lots of light, contemporary art work on the walls, friendly staff, and of course, the cutting edge in dentistry services.
Mark’s journey started up in Northern California with a passion for both art and science, which dentistry is a great fusion of both. After the sudden and unexpected passing of his father (also a dentist), he started establishing a practice in that area, which was successful for about a decade, leading to the 2008 economic crash. Northern California was hit pretty hard, and the impetus to move south, where a whole new crop of clients was rising, became apparent. Practically on a whim, Mark and his wife sold their practice and their home and moved down to Newport Beach, without too much of a plan… They realized that this was a hot spot for the kind of concierge dentistry services that they had always envisioned.
After finding the building where they currently hold the practice [which was owned by a previous dentist] it became quite apparent that a whole restoration of the place was needed, which Dr. Olson and his team (well…his wife) undertook to create the kind of place that would be welcoming, and offer an unparalleled experience, one that is not readily found.
While the building was getting ready, a whole grass root campaign was designed to introduce the practice to the neighborhood. With a heavy dose of social media, featuring personalized content created by Mark and his wife, visiting people in the community, and other guerrilla marketing tactics, the word of mouth about this new concierge dental services became the talk of the town. The experience at Mark Olson Dentistry is one where the patient comes first. They have created a welcoming space that is conducive to trust, therefore enabling the patient to understand the treatment they will undertake in a friendly, yet professional atmosphere.
After being asked about “fear”, Dr. Olson elaborates: “The idea of being in the dentist chair is one where you absolutely have no control over what is going to happen. Someone is very much into your space, with sharp tools, and needles, and you have to trust that they know what they are doing.” He continues: “One way that we circumvent this, is that our patients are also people that we come to know, we take time to talk to them about how they feel, and develop a relationship. Was there an experience that completely shaped the way they view dentistry? From that point on, we are able to find the best way to treat them and alleviate their fears. We are a “service-based” industry that just happens to perform dentistry.”
When asked about the future, Dr. Olson paints a picture of having the practice becoming a destination for patients to travel to, as opposed to having several offices. “Multiple locations is not the model, he says.” In Southern California, especially in Orange County, this is a much saturated market with a lot of competition. Our experience is that people love to come here, where they deal with a husband and wife team, which is a bit unusual. We want to be always better, not necessarily bigger.
As a man of many passions, an artist, a scientist, and yes… a dentist, Dr. Mark Olson continues to make his mark.
Dr. Olson recently has been voted the best Cosmetic Dentist in Orange County.
Words by Yves Le Sieur
