Nothing promotes dentistry like smiles, and Tracy and Sam Thomas of Dysart Dental had plenty of them - even before they were chosen as the faces for the Arizona Dental Association.
The husband-and-wife dental practitioners recently were chosen to represent the AzDA in a "house ad" promoting the benefits of belonging to the association.
"We had used a sort of generic faces to represent our members," said John Lighthizer, business development manager of the Arizona Dental Association. "Some other state associations were using their members to promote their organizations, and we thought it would work for us."
The association solicited its members to write essays about the value of the professional group's for-profit subsidiary, AzDA Services. The spin-off organization arranges discounts on a number of products and services for members, on everything from insurance and benefits programs for dental office employees to equipment to office remodeling services.
The ad with the Thomases is appearing in the monthly journal of the AzDA, Inscriptions. The ad also will be used during the Western Regional Dental Convention, where more than 300 exhibitors from throughout the Western United States convene. The convention will be April 3-5 in Phoenix.
Besides offering discounts to AzDA members, the companies that AzDA Services endorses also pay royalties to the AzDA itself, helping to fund "the greater good of the association," Lighthizer said.
"We chose Drs. Sam and Tracy Thomas because they wrote a very good essay on the value of AzDA Services to their practice," Lighthizer said.
The Thomases have practiced in the West Valley for a couple of years, after moving to the area from San Francisco, where they practiced for several years. They chose the West Valley because its growth meant there probably would be a need for dental professionals.
The Thomases' practice is at 5220 N. Dysart Road, Suite 160.
"We really wouldn't have been able to start our practice here without the discounts offered through the association," Tracy Thomas said.
The AzDA Services ad in which the Thomases appear shows head-and-shoulder photographs of the dentists, and quotes a portion of the essay they wrote.
Sam Thomas is shown wearing braces, the efforts of a neighboring practice, Dunn Orthodontics, which, as it happens, also is run by a husband-and-wife team.
"We refer all of our patients needing orthodontics to them," Tracy Thomas said. "And it shows that you need to take care of your teeth over your lifetime, not just when you are kids."
Daniel Burnette can be reached
by e-mail
at dburnette@westvalleyview.com.
