Ron Hansen started his career proudly serving his country in the Air Force. Once he finished serving, he returned to Whatcom County and, with help from the G.I. Bill, he was able to begin his training at Precision Dental Lab in Bellingham, Washington.
At the time, denturism was not recognized as a profession by the state of Washington, and denturists had to work alongside dentists in order to make dentures. Despite this setback, Ron wanted to work in his own lab and after his training was over he succeeded in starting his own dental lab. It wasn’t long before it had grown enough that he was able to service dentists in both Whatcom and Skagit Counties. After his son, Eric, graduated high school and showed interest in dentures, the two of them set out to change the denture world.
Eric Hansen began his career as a denturist at a very young age, playing with wax in his father’s dental lab. After he graduated high school, he put the playing aside and worked alongside his dad in his new dental lab. The two of them attended Idaho State University and the Oregon Denturist College. They both became licensed denturists in 1988 after successfully passing their exams at the Oregon Denturist College and receiving their Denturist Licenses.
Soon after they achieved their licensing, Eric and Ron owned and operated a small denture clinic in Deming, Washington on the Nooksack Indian Reservation, as denturism was not yet recognized in the state of Washington. This became Eric and Ron’s next mission: to get denturism to be a recognized profession by the state. Teaming up with other denturists across the state, they worked together and successfully passed Initiative 607, which formally recognized and regulated the denturist profession.
Eric and Ron now operate their business as Northwest Dental, with full-time dentists and denture laboratories in Bellingham and Burlington, WA.
Rodney “Ron” Hansen peacefully left us in January 2010 and will be remembered through his wife Michaele and his two sons, Eric and Jeff. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend.
