OF THE MONTH
Story And Photo By Dave Hall
45 Years Full Of Smiles With Baker Lanoue Denture Clinic
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entistry and dentures have been in Denturist Greg Baker’s family for more than 90 years, starting with his father Omar and continuing with granddaughter Alexia Lanoue. Greg Baker started his business in 1972 when operating an independent Denturist practice was illegal, but, he and other denturists around the province, decided that the best way to change the law was to break it and fight to change the rules. “We paid $400 a year to belong to the Denturist Association of Ontario and that paid for legal fees and a publicity campaign,” recalls Baker, who now operates Baker Lanoue Denture Clinic, 850 Tecumseh Road East in Windsor. “We became legal in 1972 and even though we all had to write challenge exams to become licensed, the profession was on its way.” And while Baker, now 76, and his colleagues were fighting to see their profession recognized alongside that of dentists, his father was operating his own dental practice in Windsor. He opened that practice in 1923 in the downtown Canada Building. “I’m sure it was a bit embarrassing for my dad at the time,” comments Baker smiling. “But, it was worth it.” And the family’s involvement in the denturist profession still runs deep. Baker’s brother Gill operates a clinic in Leamington, daughter Tracey Baker is Office Manager in Windsor, and granddaughter Alexia Lanoue is a full partner in the Windsor clinic. Lanoue has been around Baker’s clinic since she was a child and helped out as a lab cleaner.
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Working in the dental industry runs in the family for Greg Baker and his granddaughter, Alexia Lanoue with the Baker Lanoue Denture Clinic at 850 Tecumseh Road East, Windsor.
“It was fun, I enjoyed it and it seemed a natural fit for me to follow in the same profession,” Lanoue expresses. “I was always interested in sciences so it was a perfect fit for me.” In the past, it’s largely been a male-dominated profession, but Lanoue says her 2013 graduating class was about 50 percent female. “I think I’m able to bring a different perspective to our clinic, especially among our female clients,” suggests Lanoue. It’s the fifth location for Baker’s clinic following two stops on Ouellette Avenue, another in the 3500 block of Tecumseh Road East and a fourth just a few hundred yards from his current location across from the Caboto Club.
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“We’ve been in here for about a month (February 2017) and we’ve had nothing but good feedback from our clients,” Baker reports. “It’s visible and a high-traffic area with easy access so we’re very happy.” Lanoue, who handles the practice’s implant business, explains she’s still learning about that part of the profession and the clinic works closely with Southwestern Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical Centres in an adjoining building to provide clients with all the services they need. In addition to his daughter and granddaughter, Baker also employs Dr. Jie Wang, a Chinese-trained Orthodontist who speaks Mandarin and is the clinic’s Dental Technician, and Secretary/Receptionist Emily Nostadt. Baker, who opened his practice after leaving a job as a Financial Analyst with Ford Motor Company when he realized he could make more money repairing dentures, indicates that while CAD/CAM technology has transformed the profession, it’s still based on custom work and individual designs. “It’s not about repeating the same work over and over again, it’s about custom fitting every client,” says Baker. “Like many denturists, we make all our dentures in-house and they are generally less expensive than many dentists who have to ship theirs out to be produced.” Baker and Lanoue also make service calls to institutions such as nursing homes, retirement residences and hospitals, to make it easier for clients to be fitted for dentures. For more information, visit their website: BakerDentureClinic.ca.