Mesa View Dental
St. George, Utah

A series of high-stakes decisions forced Dr. Ashton Prince and Dani Prince—partners in life and business—to adapt, persevere and ultimately create the permanent home their practice deserves.

Warm welcome:
Positioned for visibility throughout the building and even from the parking lot, the logo wall serves as both a focal point and a visual anchor connecting the reception area to the clinical spaces beyond.

AS THE GREAT 1980s philosopher Ferris Bueller once observed, life moves pretty fast. Sometimes, though, it moves a little too fast. Back in 2009, Dr. Ashton Prince was forced to make a weighty decision just three months into his associateship: buy the practice he’d just started working for or watch someone else do it. It was a whirlwind that pushed Dr. Prince and his wife, Dani, into ownership. Then, in 2021, he received a demand to vacate the office with only 90 days’ notice. That set the duo on the path to creating Mesa View Dental in St. George, Utah.

Those are the kinds of pivotal decisions that follow you home and keep you awake at night. But that’s not how the Princes chose to see them, then or now. Positivity and gratitude are constants for both. Spend a few minutes with them, and it’s easy to see why. Instead of dwelling on adversity, they have a knack for finding opportunity. They don’t so much finish each other’s sentences as build on them, one starting an idea, the other extending it, each bringing different strengths to the same problem.

Continuous flow: Curving floor patterns are echoed overhead, creating a layered sense of motion and helping visitors intuitively navigate the practice.

Coming Home, Ready or Not
Both southern Utah natives, Dani and Dr. Prince—a third-generation dentist—returned in 2008 because it felt like the right place to build a life and family. Dani had already supported them as a hygienist while Dr. Prince finished dental school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But moving back came with its own set of challenges. “Southern Utah is severely saturated for dentists. I couldn’t imagine setting up my own practice,” he says. Then came the moment they’d never expected so soon: the chance to buy the practice Dr. Prince had only just signed on with. “It was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying,” he says.

Light and shadow:
Ceiling illumination was minimized in favor of linear LEDs and decorative sconces to emphasize depth and texture, allowing natural light to play a larger role and creating a more dramatic transition throughout the office.

At home, the situation was equally chaotic. “Our second child had just turned 2 and was diagnosed with cancer while I was pregnant with our third child—and we had been in practice for only two years,” Dani says. “So then I became a nurse and a mom.” Professionally and personally, the two were learning in real time. “We had no idea what we were doing. And by all the graces, somehow we were able to make it all work.”

A study in contrast:
Wood slats became a recurring design motif, with asymmetrical arrangements and strategically placed sconces creating visual movement while casting dramatic up-and-down lighting throughout the reception and hallway spaces.

Tiring of Uncertainty
For more than a decade, they kept making it work: building the practice, earning a loyal patient base . . . and gradually outgrowing their space. Conversations about constructing a bigger office came and went. But now, at the tail end of the pandemic, it was suddenly about survival: finding a new location in 90 days or risking the loss of everything they had spent years building.

Their friend Dr. Cody Johnson, a pediatric dentist and fellow southern Utah native, stepped up with a generous offer: why not use his satellite office, which he needed just one day a week? For roughly three and a half years, the arrangement allowed the Princes to continue caring for patients, albeit with one unavoidable condition: Every week, they moved equipment and supplies to their garage to allow Dr. Johnson to use his space, and then hauled it all back in again before seeing patients the following Monday.

Fresh perspective: The open hygiene area “gave us an opportunity to be more playful with the angles,” says Benco Dental designer Angèle Hashoul, who also placed touches of coral that are echoed throughout the practice interior.

When they moved again, this time it was into an oral surgeon’s office courtesy of yet another generous friend, Dr. Shawn Davis. But this practice had only two operatories—and, of course, they were not ideally set up for general dentistry. “We were working from the mobile suitcases doctors take on humanitarian trips,” Dani says. Compounding the interior congestion, they had recently hired an associate. “We were already busting at the seams in five ops,” Dr. Prince says. With two doctors sharing two operatories, working from early morning to 8 p.m. became the norm.

By that point, they realized they had perhaps only one path forward if they wanted to stay sane. “We didn’t want to lease, period. We wanted to own so we wouldn’t find ourselves in another situation with 90 days to get out,” Dr. Prince says. That nonnegotiable line item narrowed their options instantly. “It’s a tough market for commercial real estate here,” he adds. “There’s nothing to buy. Everything is leasing.”

Building Something That Lasts
They finally found a suitable space for sale in a two-story shell on a busy commercial tract lined with shopping centers and restaurants. While their bigger vision was clear, the path forward wasn’t. “It’s finally my turn, so what takes precedence: clean interior design? Organization? A specific patient experience and team ergonomics that we can be proud of?” Dr. Prince says. “I’d never had those kinds of options in the past.”

Rock-solid branding:
“Their logo became the foundation for much of the design language,” says Benco Dental’s Hashoul. “Angular forms represent the mesas, while the curves reference the red rock formations that surround the area.”

After years of working in offices that weren’t designed for them, the blank slate was both liberating and unnerving. “We were overwhelmed,” Dani says. Yet planning moved quickly over “just a few months.” The Princes credit their Benco Dental team for that. “I feel like they know our practice and patient base. They understand what we want, they know our area. I had to make a lot of decisions, but it wasn’t like, ‘OK, you have the whole world to pick from.’ They narrowed it down. They said, ‘You can choose this, this or this.’ That was immensely helpful. I can’t imagine doing an office without them.”

We can actually do everything we want instead of making the best of what we had.”

—Dani Prince

Guiding lights:
Patterns in the flooring subtly guide patients through the space. Curving transitions between carpet and luxury vinyl tile improve durability while reinforcing the flowing forms found throughout the office.

Construction was slower. “I would wake up and call people and check on the process,” Dani says. Their contractor and subcontractors were wonderful, she adds, but post-pandemic supply chain shortages, building delays and a lengthy certificate-of-occupancy process stretched the project well beyond the planning phase. Mean­while, the Benco team was doing everything it could to keep the momentum going. “They were really pushing things along,” Dani says.

Designed around experience:
“Every major design decision came back
to one objective: creating a modern
office that feels organized, welcoming
and connected to the landscape and
community around it,” Hashoul says.

Getting Comfortable—but Not Too
After years of improvising in borrowed and temporary spaces, they finally had a fully built, eight-operatory office. “When we opened in March 2025, we were ready to run,” Dr. Prince says. If the process exposed gaps in areas dentists and hygienists don’t train for—construction management, business operations, project over­sight—it also clarified what mattered. Because what carried them through wasn’t systems or design or even the relief of owning a permanent home. It was the loyal patients who followed them through every temporary location for years.

Repurposed refinement:
Leftover material from the custom 3form slats and wall installations was repurposed into room numbers and decorative accents.

Particularly for those patients, Mesa View Dental is exactly the destination the Princes spent years working toward. The change was immediate. “Without hesitation, I’d say treatment acceptance increased,” Dr. Prince says. Patients who had been postponing procedures started saying yes in droves. “The floodgates are open,” Dani says. “We can actually do everything we want instead of making the best of what we had.”

For them, the journey still matters as much as the outcome. “Would I change anything? I wouldn’t,” Dr. Prince says. Still, neither sees Mesa View Dental as a finish line. “Are we able to sit back, relax and say that things are on a positive track? Yes . . . for now,” Dr. Prince says, “but there’s too much potential for me to settle and say that this is good enough forever.” Dani agrees. “On one hand, only about 25 percent of the years we’ve been in practice have been what I’d call smooth sailing. On the other hand, when you’re too comfortable, you’re not growing, learning or progressing. Looking back, we’re grateful for the struggles. They made us better. They also helped us appreciate what we have today.”

The Design Team

Photography: BK Media, St. George, Utah
Interior Design: Angèle Hashoul, Benco Dental
Equipment Specialists: Cameron Hutchinson, Ryan Perez
Friendly Benco Rep: Steve Dutson
Construction: Mark Dickerson, DDS Constructors
Online: mesaviewdental.com