Dr. Chal's Clinical Team

Lesa

Dental Chairside Assistant
Laboratory Technician

Lesa has been with Dr. Chal for 20 years and has 35 years of experience in dentistry. Not only does she provide expert help for Dr. Chal chairside, but she lends her highly developed skills to your laboratory work behind the scenes, helping craft beautiful prototype restorations with artistic custom shaping and tinting, among other critical tasks.

Rick Durkee, CDT, AAACD

Master Ceramist
Certified Dental Technician
AACD Accredited Dental Technician

Mr. Durkee and Dr. Chal have worked as a doctor-technician team for over 30 years. Rick has over 35 years of experience in dental laboratory technology. He is regarded as an accomplished artist, an award-winning amateur photographer, and a master ceramist. He and Dr. Chal have studied with other leading ceramists around the world.

Mr. Durkee's credentials are truly rare. Very few dental technicians are certified, and fewer are AACD Accredited. Less than 5 percent are certified, and only 32 master dental ceramists worldwide have so far passed the rigorous cosmetic dentistry accreditation standards of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.

Bruce Keeling, CDT

Certified Dental Technician
Dental School Instructor

Mr. Keeling has been a specialist for his entire career in removable and implant-supported restorations. He is also one of the fewer than 5 percent of technicians who are certified, and is one of fewer still who can create the technically demanding dental implant hybrid restorations with the precision and care Dr. Chal requires.

Mr. Keeling is an expert in removable restorations including prototype dentures, conventional dentures, implant-supported dentures and implant-supported fixed hybrid restorations that replace all your missing teeth and gum tissue. Not only does he serve as an adjunct instructor at the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, but he is in high demand as a lecturer to other laboratory technicians and dentists around the country and internationally.

Mr. Keeling and Dr. Chal have worked as a doctor-technician team for nearly 25 years.

David Hatcher, DDS, MSc

Specialist in Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology

Dr. Hatcher received his D.D.S. degree from the University of Washington in 1973 and an M.Sc. from the University of Toronto in 1983. He was an Associate Professor and Chairman of the Division of Radiology for five years at the University of Alberta, Canada. He was also Director of the Temporomandibular Joint Investigation Unit and Clinic while at the University of Alberta. He has faculty appointments at both the University of California San Francisco and the University of Pacific Dental Schools. He has published many articles, lectured extensively to medical and dental organizations in the United States and Canada, and has co-presented with Dr. Chal.

Dr. Hatcher is recognized internationally as a major TMJ expert. He has published many articles, lectured extensively to medical and dental organizations in the United States and Canada, and has co-presented with Dr. Chal on various occasions. He has worked with Dr. Chal for over 15 years, and provides our radiographic diagnoses for our complex implant cases. While other dentists work with Dr. Hatcher, Dr. Chal is the only one who has him review every major case. Because of this, he has helped Dr. Chal discover some significant pathology that has made the difference for some important cases. You may be interested in reading Lonnie's dental implants case for an illustration of the importance of this careful attention to diagnostic detail.