Comfort Dental Podcast

About Comfort Dental Podcast

This is a podcast about Comfort Dental's amazing dentists and the patients they serve.

Publisher

Comfort Dental

Category

health & fitness · health & fitness · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Feb 2026

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   25 : A Person, Not a Tooth with Dr Harry Werner

   A new denture patient looks in the mirror and tells Dr. Harry Werner, "I don't have a smile." His answer: "No, you just forgot how to." Then he says something funny to coax that first smile out. Harry Werner grew up in rural Texas, where he watched which classmates had bad teeth and how the other kids treated them. He earned marketing and management degrees first, spent a weekend alone deciding what he really wanted, and went back for the sciences. After dental school he left three jobs that put sales ahead of care before he found Comfort Dental. Today he owns half of his office in Wheat Ridge, outside Denver. In this conversation with Shawn Zajas, he explains why great care starts with listening, and why he treats a person, not a tooth. He talks about the patients who rely on antibiotics until they lose a tooth, why laughter makes for better dentistry, and his six weeks treating Navajo patients in Flagstaff. For dentists, he talks about the road from business school to dentistry, what the mentorship model taught him, why he refused to settle, and who is a good fit for Comfort Dental. What you'll hear in this episode: - Why the kids with bad teeth in rural Texas stayed with him - Business degrees before dental school - Leaving three jobs that didn't fit - The denture patients who have to learn to smile again - Why he treats a person, not a tooth - Why antibiotics won't save a bad tooth - Keeping a twelve-hour day fun - Treating Navajo patients in Flagstaff - His advice for dentists who feel stuck Chapters 00:00 Coming up 00:41 Meet Dr. Harry Werner 01:14 Why dentistry 03:39 Business school first 05:23 The road after graduation 12:03 Choosing Comfort Dental 15:41 Finding his rhythm 16:16 The culture at his office 17:53 The best days 19:20 Patients who forgot how to smile 20:06 Outside the office 20:35 What business school taught him 21:18 Mentorship 23:59 Refusing to settle 26:16 Why the model works 27:46 Who's a good fit 29:00 The patients he sees 29:27 Support from Comfort 31:05 What's the catch? 33:43 Time with the people you love 36:00 Picking the right office 36:57 A patient he won't forget 38:48 Advice to his younger self 40:20 Treat a person, not a tooth 41:36 Antibiotics won't save a tooth 43:23 How his team would describe him 45:16 Treating Navajo patients 46:45 What he loves to do 47:21 The future of dentistry 48:27 Learning to talk with patients 49:44 Why he loves being a dentist Comfort Dental, Wheat Ridge, CO

2. 

   14 Oct 2026

   24 : I'll Treat Anybody with Dr Brian Severance

   A 17-year-old ran into the bleachers during a basketball game and broke all of his front teeth. He walked into Comfort Dental at 1:30 on a Saturday, bleeding, just as Dr. Brian Severance was heading out the door. His dad wasn't answering the phone and his mom lives out of state. Dr. Severance stayed. As a kid, Brian Severance envied his older brother's braces. When he got his own, his orthodontist invited him to shadow in eighth grade and took the whole staff out to lunch. He decided then that he wanted to be a dentist. He started as a dental assistant at Comfort Dental, went to dental school, and now practices at Comfort Dental Green Valley Ranch, near Denver International Airport. In this conversation with Shawn Zajas, he explains why he never leaves a patient lying flat to talk to them, and sits them up to talk face to face instead. He walks through how he ranks treatment so patients know what matters first and how much time they have. He shares his playbook for nervous patients. He also treats severe special needs patients under general anesthesia, people who cannot tolerate being seen or touched in a regular dental chair, in a city where the hospital wait list is two years. For dentists, he talks about joining the partnership model, the scholarship that got him through school, and what happened when he broke both of his hands and couldn't work for a month: his partners took care of everything. What you'll hear in this episode: - Why a lunch with his orthodontist's staff made him want to be a dentist - Going from Comfort Dental assistant to Comfort Dental partner - Breaking both hands, and what his partners did while he healed - The bleeding teenager who walked in at 1:30 on a Saturday - Why he sits you up to talk face to face - How he ranks treatment so you know what comes first - His approach for nervous patients - Treating special needs patients under general anesthesia - His advice for dentists graduating today Chapters 00:00 Coming up 00:56 Meet Dr. Brian Severance 01:10 Why dentistry 03:16 Where dentistry met the dream 04:38 Better than he expected 06:34 Learning the business side 09:02 Choosing Comfort Dental out of school 12:17 The scholarship 13:09 Buying into a partnership 18:16 What his classmates were weighing 22:50 The part people don't believe 26:11 The trial period 26:58 When practicing alone wears you down 30:36 Breaking both hands 33:21 If he had been a solo dentist 36:22 What's the catch? 39:55 Why franchising confuses dentists 42:40 The best days 45:04 A patient story he won't forget 48:27 Open on a Saturday 51:15 Why a new patient should trust him 56:48 Treating people well 1:01:40 Outside the office 1:02:55 How his team would describe him 1:04:24 Helping nervous patients 1:08:18 Special needs patients under anesthesia 1:11:11 Advice for new dentists 1:14:22 The dream of dentistry Comfort Dental Green Valley Ranch, Denver, CO

3. 

   7 Oct 2026

   23 : The Veteran Who Came Back to Say Thank You with Dr James Parfitt

   A homeless veteran drove from Fort Collins to Denver for one reason: to tell his dentist he had a girlfriend and a job. That dentist is Dr. James Parfitt, and this is his story. Dr. Parfitt grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. Before college he worked in a car dealership garage. A friend from the neighborhood started dental school the same year he started undergrad, and for four years they rode the bus to campus together, one studying dental anatomy and the other studying biology. It was his sister who finally said it out loud: maybe you should be a dentist. Nobody in his family was one. He applied anyway, landed at Temple University in Philadelphia, and finished a general practice residency at Denver Health. He needed a little money to take his wife on a Saturday date. A Comfort Dental dentist offered him $100 a day to come in on weekends and learn how the office ran. That was 24 years ago. In 2013 he opened Comfort Dental Mile High at 8th and Federal, close to the Broncos stadium, in a part of Denver where, in his words, no one was practicing. Some colleagues thought he was crazy to leave a busy office for it. He has been there ever since. His patients come from group homes, from off the street, and from hard times they did not see coming. Dr. Parfitt does charity dentistry as part of a normal week and works with a veterans organization to treat veterans for free. He says the patients in 80204 remind him of the communities he serves on mission trips, and that is why he feels most at home there. He also explains something every patient wonders about. His office does not need to pad a treatment plan to cover the bills. If you need a filling or a cleaning and nothing else, that is all you get. Shawn and Dr. Parfitt also talk about a recent mission trip to Guatemala, where a mobile clinic saw close to 100 kids and moms a day and his son came along as a pre-dental student. They talk about what a new dentist should expect in year one, and the advice he would give his younger self: don't be afraid, and say yes. What you'll hear in this episode: - Why a Canadian mechanic ended up a Denver dentist - The $100 Saturday job that started a 24-year career - Why he opened Comfort Dental Mile High in the 80204 zip code - How his office does charity dentistry every week - The veteran from Fort Collins who came back to say thank you - Why his office never invents treatment to pay the bills - A dental mission trip to Guatemala with his son - His advice for dentists thinking about a change Chapters 00:00 Coming up 00:32 Meet Dr. James Parfitt 01:06 From Edmonton to dental school 03:23 The $100 Saturday job 06:22 Why he chose the Comfort Dental model 09:02 The hardest part of the first five years 10:51 The first paycheck that confirmed the decision 15:20 Choosing a different path 16:38 Paying off dental school debt 20:16 When dentistry doesn't match the dream 24:38 Treating the patient, not the overhead 26:47 A mission trip to Guatemala 31:19 Generosity nobody talks about 32:43 Autonomy inside Comfort Dental 37:07 What great partners look like 40:08 What a new Comfort Dental dentist should expect 42:25 Who is a good fit 44:53 Opening Comfort Dental Mile High in 80204 46:33 Charity dentistry and Medicaid patients 49:38 The veteran from Fort Collins 51:10 How his team would describe him 51:42 Life outside the practice 53:07 Advice for dentists who feel trapped 53:48 Don't be afraid. Say yes. Comfort Dental Mile High, 8th and Federal, Denver, CO 80204

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