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Kids First Pediatric Dentistry
Pediatric Dentistry
DMD, Southern Illinois University; pediatric residency, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia
A father of five, Dr. Karsten has transformed his practice into a wonderland of games, toys, kids’ movies and extravagant wall art. He makes use of technology to benefit his young charges, and it’s working: He now sees an average of 130 new word-of-mouth patients a month.
After a stint in the Army, Dr. Karsten tended bar. One customer, a dentist, saw his potential: “ ‘If you like to work with your hands and help people, you should be a dentist,’ ” Dr. Karsten recalls the man saying. “I watched him work, and I was sold.”
Showing kids that a trip to the dentist doesn’t have to be a nightmare: “It’s the greatest feeling to take scared kids and get them through it.”
Lasers. “We can do almost all our work without having to numb someone,” he says.