Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Edward McLaren.
Hi Dr. McLaren, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Well, where I’m at today, why don’t we start from there and work backward? By definition, I’m a prosthodontist. That’s a type of dental specialist that specializes in dental prostheses, all the way from implants to something like veneers and everything in between.
I went to UCLA. I got my specialty training at UCLA 22 years ago. I was the director and founder of the UCLA Advanced Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry program. Along the way, I got very fascinated with ceramics and went to school to be a master ceramist, too. So I am one of the very, very, very few dentists on earth who is a prosthodontist dentist and also a master dental ceramist.
That means that’s the person that makes the teeth. Okay. What the dentists would normally send to. I have several dentists who send me their work because I enjoy doing that as much as I enjoy being a dentist.
So I have a very unique practice in that, I highly specialize in aesthetic dentistry and just people that are looking for, I guess, very natural, but bright, beautiful, and believable. I’d like to say teeth. And that’s the type of person that is looking for something special and real. I make very real teeth, but nice teeth, very believable teeth. And really, that’s my story to get to here.
I ran a program at UCLA for 22 years. The University of Alabama, Birmingham decided to at some point do my little training center, which I have here in Park City, Utah. And I trained dentists and technicians, and I still still enjoy seeing patients. So that’s kind of my life today. And I travel a little bit and, still teach courses on the road.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think life is ever completely smooth along the way.
Yes, there’s been some pretty significant obstacles in 2015 when I was at UCLA. Probably still be there. Unfortunately, there was a bad fire that took out a couple of floors of the dental school, and in the rebuilding process, the dean didn’t want to rebuild the lab, which is an extremely important, part of what you do in aesthetic and prosthetic dentistry.
And so that’s how I ended up at the University of Alabama for a couple of years to help them get started and then wanted to again do something in private practice and do something in a fun, beautiful place part of the world.
And that’s how I ended up in Park City here. But that was the major struggle.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Well, I chose artist and creative.
Because a Prosthodontist tends to be a very somewhat creative person, and ceramist is considered an artist. And like I said, I’m one of the very unique people that’s a combination of the two.
And so I love doing that. As I look around my space here, I do ceramics. I make these little miniatures like Michelangelo’s David and Venus de Milo. I’ve taken courses at the Florence Academy of Art, the world-famous Florence Academy of Art. I teach photography to dentists, and I teach ceramics too, along with doing the ceramics, making, you know, miniatures of things, making teeth and that’s as much fun as creative as anything.
All of that translates to the smiles that I create for my patients, I try to do something very creative, and very beautiful but fits with their personality and their aesthetic goals.
I’m most proud of, I guess, what I did at UCLA creating an Aesthetic Dental Center graduate program, and also a graduate program for ceramists. I have 300 graduates around the world who are specialists in those two categories and are now becoming leaders in the field of aesthetic dentistry.
As for what sets me apart from others haha is really, I’m the only one that’s ever done that.
I’m one of the very few people in the world that does ceramics. And really, I’m considered, Christ, sorry for bragging, the G.O.A.T in both areas. And so I know that sounded probably a little bragging, but, that’s the uniqueness of what I do, that I can control the whole process from the patient.
From treating the patient as a dentist, but controlling the aesthetics, and the looks of everything that’s all in my hands. I’m sort of the artist builder from start to finish.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Wow. Okay, that’s an interesting thing. I wouldn’t say there’s one particular wonderful memory.
I loved playing sports as a kid. I thought I’d be an orthopedic surgeon. Initially, I got started doing coaching when I was in college. You know, junior football, junior baseball, and I noticed that the fathers of the orthopedic surgeons never came to the games. They were all in surgery. And where some of the dentist’s parents, and orthodontists, which I was interested in for a while, would always come to the practices and games.
And so I thought that would be fun to do too because I wanted to be professional and work with that. Um, other than that, I had a normal, happy childhood. Everything went fairly positive for me and, and had, you know, good opportunities, good schools to go to. So I feel very blessed in that respect and thank my parents for that.
Contact Info:
- Website: Edmclaren.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/edwardmclaren?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/edwardmclarenthinkgreen
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@edwardmclaren
