Read Our Great Patient Testimonials in Puyallup

I used to be terrified of the dentist. My first dentist when I was a child was also our county sheriff. I had had a lot of pain with previous dentists, and from the first time that I came in here and sat down to discuss my options, I felt comfortable, all my questions were answered, and it was just a constant feeling of they really care about me as a patient and a person, not just let’s get the work done and move on to the next guy.

They’ve almost become like family. I’ve been here so many times now, and I used to dread the dentist. I still come in every six months to make sure that everything’s still where it should be. I never have a thought about coming to the dentist anymore. I enjoy my visits.

Most of my experience has been with Dr. Dan, and I love him. I mean, he’s kind of like a brother. He comes in, he pats me on the shoulder, asks me how I’m doing, asks me if I’m having any problems, is there anything I want to question him about. I’ve talked to him about having my husband come in and get work done. My son has been here and had work done, and he’s an adult also. They’re great people.

The crowns that I’ve had done over the years, and I’ve had several, the crowns in the front of my mouth have been the most important to me because they have restored my smile. I just feel more comfortable with my teeth, and as far as I can tell, they look completely natural, and they feel natural.

Well, the reason why I had to have crowns done is because I had some old fillings, and they were breaking down. The only way to restore my teeth would be to have new crowns. It’s real nice to be able to open my mouth and not see a whole bunch of silver in my back teeth. The crowns took care of that as well.

My smile to me now is something very natural. For me to be able to smile without thinking about it, it’s almost liberating because you feel like smiling. If you find yourself trying to not smile because you don’t like the way your teeth look, that’s inhibiting, whereas being able to just smile freely, it’s freeing.

The reason why I love this clinic is they take really good care of your teeth. And all the people who work here are very friendly, very caring. And I checked out this clinic before we started coming here. I paid a visit, wanted to see what it was like, the atmosphere in here, and I liked it from the very beginning. And so we changed clinics. And we’ve been here probably for 25 years. The staff that are here, they’re all friendly, outgoing. They always greet you when you come in, and they’re just very professional, very friendly, and they’re good at what they do.

The doctors that are here are great. My primary doctor is Dr. Wetterhus. And he’s always so friendly and makes me laugh, and does a good job of checking out my teeth and seeing if there’s anything that needs to be done, perhaps in the future. I just feel very comfortable here. If I’ve came across somebody who was looking for a new dentist, I would definitely recommend that they give Dr. Wetterhus or Dr. Smith a call. And come in here, and if they maybe pop in and pay a visit like I did before I started coming here. And I think they’d be very pleased.

The reason I chose to go with the Invisalign is because my teeth continue to wanna shift around after I had the work done. So the Invisalign was initially given to me to straighten out my bottom teeth and to keep the top teeth the way they were supposed to be. Now it’s just routine. I wear them every night, and ever since I got them, I’ve not missed a single night, because I wanna protect my investment. I wanna protect the way my teeth are, and it’s so important to me. I just never forget to wear my Invisalign, and they’re quite comfortable at night.

When I first started wearing them, it was to slowly shift my teeth to where they should be. Now the Invisalign is designed to keep them in position. It’s like having an invisible brace on your uppers and lowers, and they’re clear, so you really don’t see them. If I’m wearing them and I smile, you really would have to look pretty closely to see that there’s something covering up my teeth.

If I wanna keep my teeth the way they are, all I need to do is pop them on my upper and lower teeth and go to sleep. That’s it. It’s just a matter of making sure I wear them at night. Then I clean them properly in the morning, so they’re always fresh every evening. So it’s not a big commitment at all.

Finding a family dentist that can see the whole family has just been amazing. I try not to make my children afraid of the dentist as well, so I think it worked out well to be able to bring them here. Dr. Smith had to pull a tooth from my 7-year-old, and he made it kind of a funny adventure. He was not … my son was not very comfortable with it, and he was starting to panic a little bit at the end there. And Dr. Smith had actually already pulled the tooth out, and he’s like, “Okay, I’m going to pull it out. One, two, three.” And my child was just so nervous. It was the funniest thing ever, and he’s like, “I’ve already got it.” And so it really put my son at ease, too.

I feel that they value their clients. I feel that it’s relationship-based. They’re wanting to build relationships with families, make everyone comfortable and at ease, and feel like you’re family.

One of the biggest things is, I always saw it in pictures, I had a root canal years ago and never got the follow-up crown on it, so the tooth had discolored. And looking in pictures, looking back, I could always see this tooth. It was one of my front teeth, and I could see it. It was dark. It was turning gray. And looking back on those pictures, it’s just not fun. I look at when my kids were born, or vacations, things like that, and I don’t like it. Now that I look, I see pictures, I don’t see that anymore. I’ve fixed all of those things, and so I’m really thankful for them.

My teeth were just crumbling around those fillings, and so piece at a time, it was really great. Dr. Wetterhus made it more manageable. So we have kind of addressed my mouth a quarter at a time. It was amazing. I can’t even put it into words. It was almost unreal because I was just so used to seeing discoloration, and my teeth were crooked, and fillings all over the place, and you could see them so clearly. And it was almost surreal. I almost didn’t believe it.

I’ve had quite a lot of fillings over the years, quite a lot of dental work that’s been done. My bite was off a bit in my mouth as well, so I had Invisalign for two years to try to get everything to realign where it needs to be first.

I was always curious about Invisalign, but I wasn’t really sure where to go, how to start that process. They offered it to me here. Obviously I had a lot of questions. I didn’t want to wear braces. That wasn’t really something that I wanted to do. They made me feel very comfortable and I understood what was going on, and if I had questions, no matter what, they would answer it. They made it easy.

I’ve had full-mouth cosmetic reconstruction and Invisalign. I’ve been coming here for years. My husband comes here as well, and both of my children. They’re very friendly. They’re patient. I’m not a big fan of the dentist. Coming back after many years of not going to the dentist, they made me feel very comfortable. I like the staff here. I love the dentist. Everyone here is really great. I had a big fear of the dentist from pain and having lots of fillings over the years. It had been quite a few years since I’d been to the dentist. I was referred to Dr. Wetterhus. My first visit here was very comfortable. The put me at ease. They didn’t make me feel bad for not being at the dentist for a long time. It was just comfortable, and it was easy. They took care of me very well. It made me feel great.

The atmosphere is very comfortable here. It put me at ease. It made me feel good. It was worth it. I shouldn’t have waited so long, but I’m somewhat glad I did, because I did meet the staff and dentists here. Dr. Wetterhus is very friendly. He’s funny. His bedside manner is awesome, puts you at ease, makes you feel good. I’ve been here lots of times, and it’s always fun. I look forward to talking to him every time I come here. I’ve been coming here for quite a few years, and every single time, without fail, they are friendly. The second I walk through the door, they’re welcoming.

The hygienists and the assistants have always been great. I’ve actually made friends with some of them here, and everybody’s very personable, very sweet, and very caring. It’s just fun. It’s fun here, and you can’t say that about the dentist. They ask you about your vacation. They ask you about your family. You know, they remember you and they care, and I think that that’s really important, and I think that in relationships, it’s very important to make your patients feel comfortable and make them feel like they are family.

You know, in addition to Dr. Smith being great, I just want to say the staff in general – from the front desk to Miranda who helps with scheduling and everything else she does, to all the assistants, everyone – they treat me how I like to treat my clients. They’re just very kind and patient. No one would get upset or seem frustrated when they’d have to do the impression for the third time because I have such a small mouth. They’re just very good.

As a result of that too, my husband needed a new dentist. So of course I’m like, “You’ve got to go try these guys.” He’s had experiences with both Dr. Smith and Wetterhus because my husband broke a tooth recently and had to come in unexpected at 7:00 a.m., and Dr. Smith wasn’t available. So he was able to see Dr. Wetterhus and he said, “I like him too.” He says, “You know, I could go either way. They’re all great.”

My husband had a really good analogy. He said, “It’s like going to visit a family member.” He said, “You walk in the door, they know your name. It’s warm.” It’s not like going to a dental place in all the strip malls that you see around it. It feels like a family, a family-owned business. It just gives that feeling when you walk in the door.

We moved to this area, my family and I, about, gosh, about 25 years ago, and we found Smith & Wetterhus here. It was Heartland Dentistry at the time. And from the first time we came here, we just loved it. Dan and Greg, both very friendly, and the hygienists were just very welcoming and friendly and gentle.

It’s just, it’s the convenience and the … just the not having to think about stuff. I just know where I’m going and what’s gonna happen. I don’t feel like I’m going to the dentist. It’s always a pleasant experience coming in here. So it’s a lot of things, mainly it’s just, it’s pleasant. And again, it’s like visiting friends and getting important stuff done and being on your way, and never feeling like it’s a major chore to do it.

I came to see Dr. Wetterhus because I was having teeth issues. My old fillings were falling out, and after each filling fell out, the tooth it was in cracked in half and fell out, causing me a lot of problems.

Dr. Wetterhus and I discussed the best option for me, and we decided dentures was the way to go. I decided that I wanted to go with the implants because they’re more secure. You don’t have to worry about them falling out when you’re in public. I decided it was a good investment in myself.

They extracted teeth on one side first, gave me time to heal, extracted teeth on the other side. Then after about a year I got my final set of teeth which I’m thrilled with. I’ve had no problem since, it’s been wonderful. I called it my denture adventure. It went well.

Getting the implants in, I don’t recall any pain the next day at all. Most of the pain occurred when they first extracted all the teeth and I had to wear the temporary dentures. Obviously as my jaw shrunk and the fit changed, it went very quickly. Nothing moves, my teeth are permanently … I take them out, obviously, at night, and it’s very easy to take them out and clean them and put them back in. But I can eat anything I want. I have no issues whatsoever when I’m talking, when I sneeze, I don’t ever worry about them flying across the room. They’re just, they stay put.

Having these dentures is better than having my natural teeth because my natural teeth have some discoloration. They weren’t straight, I was often embarrassed of my smile, and with the dentures, the way they did the color-match and the putting them in, taking them out, I sleep with them sometimes. Nobody even knows that I have dentures. They think it’s natural. I have a lot more self confidence because my smile is so much prettier than it used to be.