We’re a small practice, and we like it that way.
There are bigger orthodontic offices than ours. Offices with more chairs, more doctors, and a schedule packed tight enough that you might see a different face every visit.
That’s not us, and it’s not going to be.
When you come to Spain Orthodontics, you see Dr. Spain. Not an associate, not a rotating cast, not whoever happens to be covering that day. He knows your name, he knows your kid plays soccer, and he remembers what you were worried about last appointment — because he’s the one you talked to about it.
Getting to know the families who trust us with their care matters more to us than being the biggest office in the area.
An orthodontic specialist — that’s all we do
This matters more than most people realize, so let’s be direct about it.
Dr. Spain is an orthodontic specialist. After dental school in San Francisco, he completed a full-time orthodontic residency at the University of Colorado in Denver, earning his Certificate in Orthodontics and a Master of Science in Dental Medicine — years of additional training beyond dental school focused on one thing: how teeth and jaws move, grow, and fit together. He’s practiced orthodontics, and only orthodontics, for 17 years, more than a decade of that right here in Shoreline.
Plenty of general dentists offer orthodontics on the side. Many of them are excellent dentists. But moving teeth safely — especially in a growing child, especially in a complicated bite — is a different discipline. When something unexpected shows up mid-treatment, you want the person in the room to have seen it a few hundred times before.
What parents ask us
Most parents walk in with the same handful of questions, and they’re all fair ones. We try to answer them before you have to ask.
“Will my child be treated like a number?” No. Small practice, same doctor every visit, a treatment coordinator who knows your family by name. That’s the whole model, not a marketing line.
“What is this actually going to cost?” Most treatment here runs $6,000 to $8,000 depending on complexity and length. You’ll get your specific number at the first visit, in writing, before you leave. Braces and Invisalign are priced the same, so money never quietly steers your child toward one option over the other. Down payments start as low as $500 with monthly payments from $199, and we handle insurance verification and claims in-house so you’re not the one stuck on hold.
“Am I going to get a sales pitch?” You’re not. Dr. Spain’s goal is to educate, not to sell a case. You’ll take a tour of your child’s mouth together, look at the same pictures, and co-discover what’s going on. If you want to go home and think, please do. Coming back next month when you’re ready beats saying yes immediately in the chair and regretting it.
“Is it going to hurt?” A little, for a couple of days. It’s like a sore muscle after a run — tender when you bite down, handled easily with Tylenol or Advil, and settling within two or three days. We won’t pretend otherwise, because you’d find out on your own soon enough.
Straight teeth are healthier teeth
Orthodontics isn’t just a cosmetic service to us. It’s health care for your mouth.
Teeth that line up are easier to brush and floss, which means fewer cavities and healthier gums over a lifetime. A bite that fits together wears more evenly and puts less strain on the jaw joints. And in some patients, jaw and airway development connects to snoring and sleep quality in ways that ripple well beyond the mouth to the whole body.
Dr. Spain trained with the Pankey Institute, which teaches whole-person dentistry. A quote from the founder of Pankey that really resonates with him is “I’ve never seen a set of teeth walk into my office — they’re always attached to a person.”
We aim to hit every treatment goal we set out at the start in the overwhelming majority of cases. In the rare hard one, you’ll hear about the trade-offs from us early and plainly rather than discovering them at the end. Real improvement and a result you’re happy with — that’s the goal in every case.
Areas we serve
We’re at 19929 Ballinger Way NE, Suite 201, Shoreline, WA 98155 — seconds off the I-5 corridor, which makes appointments easy to slot around school pickup, work, and practice. Most of our families are within a ten- or fifteen-minute drive.
También, hablamos Español. Dr. Spain spent a year in Ecuador after high school and has been pretty fluent ever since — so if Spanish is the language your family is most comfortable in, that’s the language we’ll use.
Come meet us
The consultation is complimentary, and nothing is attached to it. Come in, ask everything on your mind you’ve been wondering about, and leave knowing exactly where you stand.
It’s never too late to care about your smile or your health. And there’s no day like today to start your journey towards a great smile.
