One on One is a weekly feature profiling Clark County business people.

The Columbian: Tell us about your job.
Dr. Lance Heppler: I own a dental office called Dental Designs by Dr. Lance Heppler. I’m a tooth fixer and smile changer. About half my practice is cosmetic stuff, and the other half family dentistry. I’ve got comfortable chairs, video iPods, paraffin hand wax dips-women love that stuff-and warm chocolate chip cookies.

The Columbian: How did you feel about going to the dentist when you were a child?
Dr. Lance Heppler: My father was a dentist and he used to torture me in a chair. Don’t ask me how I ended up becoming a dentist. I wanted to make the experience a good one for people. I want them to be comfortable.

The Columbian: At what point did you know you wanted to be a dentist?
Dr. Lance Heppler: I knew when I was in college that I’m great with my hands and I can work quickly with my hands. I knew this industry would be a great field for me.

The Columbian: How did you end up working in Vancouver?
Dr. Lance Heppler: I bought the office seven years ago and opened shop. It was an existing practice.

The Columbian: Where did you work prior to that?
Dr. Lance Heppler: I spent about a year and a half with my father. That was great. My father is an extremely intelligent man. There just wasn’t room for both of us. I worked in four other dental offices to learn what kind of office I wanted to run.

The Columbian: What are your hours?
Dr. Lance Heppler: I work Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and occasionally on Friday.

The Columbian: What are the most challenging aspects of your job?
Dr. Lance Heppler: One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with new technology. Things change yearly. I can make crowns for people in one visit during a one hour appointment. That’s completely than the two-week process most people go through. The next thing is amalgam fillings, the silver mercury fillings. I haven’t done them. I only use tooth-colored fillings.

The Columbian: What was your first job?
Dr. Lance Heppler: It was cleaning rabbit (droppings) and digging ditches at a rabbit farm in Oregon City, Ore. I was 13.

The Columbian: What did you learn from it?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Nothing will make you want to get an education more than cleaning rabbit droppings and digging ditches.

The Columbian: What business decision are you most proud of?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Choosing not to use amalgam fillings.

The Columbian: Why is it hard to go amalgam free?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Because it’s controversial. For 95 percent of the population it’s not a factor.

The Columbian: What are you reading for fun?
Dr. Lance Heppler: “Becoming an Ironman” by Kara Douglas Thoms. “It’s a pretty inspirational book.”

The Columbian: How do you find time to train?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Balance. I usually sacrifice sleep.

The Columbian: What’s playing on your iPod or car stereo these days?
Dr. Lance Heppler: The highlights right now are Fall Out Boy, U2, Linkin Park and the All-American Rejects.

The Columbian: As a kid, what did you dream about doing when you grew up?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Being a rock star. I wanted to be a singer, but I can’t sing.

The Columbian: What’s your favorite restaurant?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Yooskyme Teriyaki. It’s cheap, fast and tasty.

The Columbian: What is the most you’ve ever spent on a pair of shoes?
Dr. Lance Heppler: $120 on my cycling shoes.

The Columbian: What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Nobody ever got ahead in the world by sleeping in every day.

The Columbian: What kind of business advice would you give someone considering becoming a dentist?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Continue their education and to not sleep in every day. Don’t be afraid to take your chance.

The Columbian: Favorite vacation spot?
Dr. Lance Heppler: Sunriver, Oregon

When he’s not training for triathlons, playing soccer, spending time with his wife and three children or taking scuba-diving lessons, Dr. Lance Heppler, 32, loves being a dentist.

In his bright, open Cascade Park office at 900 SE Chkalov Drive, Heppler gets excited just talking about advancements in the dental field. He spends more than 150 hours a year in continuing dental education classes.

He found his niche in the profession thanks to athletics, Reader’s Digest magazine and church missionary work when he was 19.

“I was serving a two-year mission for the Mormon Church in South Carolina in the 1980s, and my partner and I went into a barbershop to get our haircut. I was reading an article about dentistry in Reader’s Digest,” Heppler recalled. “As I was reading it, it struck me: that would be a good profession to get into.”

He liked the idea of setting his own schedule so he could raise a family. So Heppler finished his mission, graduated from Bringham Young University in Utah and then graduated with honors from Oregon Health Sciences University School of Dentistry in Portland.

“Just getting through dental school was a result of my experiences as an athlete and with missionary work. I learned to persevere and keep my promises…and to push through the pain,” Heppler said.

And there were painful times on his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Besides two years of paying for everything himself and living without radio, phone or girls, people were shooting at him.

“My partner and I were riding our bikes though the projects in Greenville (S.C.) at 9:30 p.m., and a group of people came out of an apartment and took a couple of shots at us. We heard the bullets whizzing in front of us and hitting the ground,” Heppler said.

“We didn’t stop to find out what the problem was. We looked sort of out of place, with our suits on and riding bikes.”

Another time in Spartanburg, S.C., he and the same friend heard a neighbor shooting a gun.

Apparently, the drunk neighbor was taking shots outside his window at his ex-girlfriend, who lived across from his in the same complex.

“We went into his room and tackled him. We held him on the ground until the police arrived. I wasn’t trying to be brave, I was trying to keep my neighbor from getting into more trouble.”

No wonder Heppler has earned the nickname “Golden Boy” from his 35 year old wife, Brandee.

“My favorite thing about him is he is everything. He’s fun and makes me laugh…and is always calm,” Brandee said. “He has this happy-go-lucky, adventurous, fun attitude.”
The adventurer loves to channel his energy into athletics.

“Track in college taught me the value of hard work. I put in long hours of training,” Lance Heppler said, for the decathlons he participated in. He then applied these concepts to dentistry school, where each week he spent 40 hours in class and 40 hours studying.

Things haven’t changed too much for Lance Heppler today. After performing eight triathlons and running in the Portland Marathon and Hood to Coast Relay last year, he’s now training 10 to 15 hours a week for November’s Iron Man triathlon in Florida.

“I get something in my head I want to accomplish, and I go for it,” he said.