SMILE!

Melinda Harr Dental

By Susan A. Stibbe

Dr. Harr has been practicing in Fargo for 15 years. She is originally from Jamestown, North Dakota and graduated from Jamestown College with a degree in nursing. She then attended the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and began her practice in Fargo. “I always knew I wanted to work in the medical field,” she said. “And I liked the immediate improvements that you can make with dentistry. My father is an orthodontist, so I was familiar with the dental field and felt it would be a good fit for me.”

Dr. Harr was one of only a handful of female dentists in Fargo when she began her practice. “I would say that now close to half of the new dentists are women,” she said. Dr. Harr believes dentistry is a great field for women. She feels the dental field is a little more family friendly with regular hours and a chance to be your own boss. “You can determine what areas of dentistry you want to focus on and have a little more control,” she continued. “If you find certain techniques or conveniences that patients really appreciate, you have the ability to make certain that you are able to provide that for them. You can make the type of office that you would want to visit if you, yourself, were the patient.”

Fargo dentist Melinda Harr is dedicated to bringing convenient and comfortable dental care to her patients. “We want our patients to have smiles that look good, feel good and last a long time,” said Dr. Harr.

She points to the early appointments they offer as one way patients' needs drive office decisions. “We have found people really like to come in first thing in the morning before work, so we open at 7 a.m. We also do sameday crowns. Patients leave, after about 90 minutes with a permanent crown. There is no need for a temporary crown or a return visit,” Dr. Harr said.

In an effort to make scheduling easier for families, Dr. Harr has four hygienists that see patients. “Families can set up the entire family at one time rather that scheduling back to back appointments. People seem to really appreciate getting the entire dental visit done at once,” she said.

In addition to the hygienists, the dental team includes three dental assistants and two administrators.

Dr. Harr believes technology plays an important role in dentistry and will continue to do so in the future. “New materials are stronger and more translucent like a natural tooth. We are able to use them in more areas of the mouth and can make veneers much thinner. Thinner veneers mean less removal of natural tooth structure. We can eliminate the dark lines that have been common around crowns by using tooth-colored crowns with no metal substructure,” said Dr. Harr.

Recently, Dr. Harr began using a new cavitydetecting laser called the CANARY. “We were one of the first dental offices in the state to have this advanced laser that can detect cavities in areas that we were unable to check before. This laser can detect cavities not only in the grooves of the teeth, but also under fillings, between teeth and around crowns. It is a safe and painless way to detect issues so they can be treated before they become serious problems,” she said.

Dr. Harr is a member of the American Dental Association and the Southeast Dental Association. She belongs to several local dental study clubs and is also a provider for Donated Dental Services of North Dakota. Donated Dental matches qualified applicants with participating dentists who provide donated services in their offices.

Melinda Harr and her husband, Curt, have two children. Lauren is thirteen and Sam is twelve. Dr. Harr’s dental philosophy has always been “Creating Beautiful Healthy Smiles” and that is exactly what they are doing in their Fargo practice.

“I love to see my patients become more outgoing, more confident because of what we do,” said Dr. Harr. “It changes patients. That’s the best part.” [AWM]