ABOVE: Dr. Dan Fordice will be taking the lead of Birch Street Dentistry as Dr. Jeff Fordice retires after 40 years. Sentinel file photo.

FAIRMONT– Dr. Jeff Fordice is making his way toward retirement. He opened his dental practice, Birch Street Dentistry, in 1984. His son, Dr. Daniel Fordice, will stay on and run the business.

Originally from St. Paul, Jeff heard of Fairmont when he was driving through town to visit his friend, Dr. Steven Parnell, as the two had gone to church together in Duluth.

“I’m heading to his house and I said to my wife as I drove past this brand new office, ‘I want to practice there,'” Jeff said.

He ended up learning later that the owner of the office, Dr. Charles Nolop, was looking to move and sell the building.

“So I moved from Duluth to where I was practicing to here,” Jeff explained. “It seemed like a good community to raise kids.”

Jeff had completed his dentistry degree at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and his General Practice Residency at the University of Iowa. Prior to coming to Fairmont he had spent two years as an associate dentist in Duluth. The vast majority of his career has been spent with patients in Fairmont.

Jeff’s a general dentist, but took the required course in orthodontics so that he can work with braces and clear aligners as well.

He’s seen a lot of advancements in dentistry over the years.

“Now it’s all digital,” Jeff said, talking about scanners that take a series of images of teeth, stitches them together and produces a 3Dimensional image of how the teeth can fit together.

“I’ve seen lasers come in, one-visit milled crowns. I’ve seen all the digital stuff happen. Computers came into existence in dental offices. There were no computers when I started,” Jeff said.

As someone who enjoys learning new things, Jeff has welcomed all of the changes and has thrown himself into keeping up with them.

“What’s appealing about dentistry is it’s a combination of relationships with your patients and meeting their needs and utilizing the latest technology to make that the easiest it can be for people,” he said.

Jeff greatly enjoys what he does and while not fully ready to retire, he shared that he’s 70 years old and has a lot of other interests that he’d like to spend more time on.

“I’d really love to pursue, specifically watercolor painting, woodworking and auto restoration. I do a lot of community bible study teaching,” Jeff said.

He also knows that the business will be in good hands.

“Dan is a very accomplished, skillful guy. He’s a better dentist than I ever will be,” Jeff said.

Dan, who grew up in Fairmont, went through dental school in Chicago at Midwestern University. He delayed his residency in Santa Barbara, California, to come back to Fairmont to help care for his mom and Jeff’s wife, Paula, during her cancer treatments. Paula passed away in 2017. Dan and his wife, Meghan, returned to California where he worked at a practice for several years.

Dan taking over the practice wasn’t always something that was set in stone.

“I was going to have someone else come in (to the business) with me,” Jeff said. “I told Dan I had a guy that wanted to come.”

“Fairmont is a really great area to raise kids. I grew up here and knew a lot of people here and it’s been a really good fit,” Dan said.

He began working full-time at Birch Street Dentistry in 2020.

“The way I like to practice dentistry is with good technology and treatments and really forward thinking, which is along the lines of what had already been built up here,” Dan said.

He is also in the process of taking the required course to learn orthodontics.

Jeff has been phasing out by working two days a week for several years. This month he stopped doing check ups but he’s continued to see his orthodontics patients and will finish them out before fully retiring.

Looking back over his 40 year career, Jeff said it’s been good.

“I got to do what I love doing,” he said.

An average dentist has about 2,000 patients and Jeff estimates he’s seen around 4,000 over his career.

“The rewarding thing is, when you treat people the way you want to be treated, they can sense that. When you develop a trusting relationship and treat people with dignity and respect, things work out,” Jeff said.

He also spoke highly of all of the staff at Birch Street Dentistry that have worked to make sure that processes run smoothly there.

Dan is also confident in the staff and his abilities and he feels good about carrying the business on.

“We’re looking forward to offering great care in the future, integrating more technology into our daily practice and keeping people more healthy in a comprehensive way,” Dan said.

An open house to celebrate Jeff’s retirement will be held at Birch Street Dentistry from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 20.