Girdwood Dental Clinic to relocate to Anchorage:
Dr. Joe Harmon provided 28 years of local dental service

Ken Smith/Turnagain Times Dr. Harmon will end his local dental practice in Girdwood after 28 years of service. As of June 1, all records and x-rays will be transferred to Family First Dentistry of Anchorage where Dr. Harmon’s staff will continue to serve patients. Dr. Harmon will leave in September on a six month pilgrimage through Europe and return to part-time practice at Family First upon his return.

By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times

After 46 years of living dentistry as his major focus of life, and after 28 years of providing dental services in Girdwood, Dr. Joe Harmon has decided that it is time for a six-month personal sabbatical.
Dr. Harmon is going to relocate his clinic back to its original source and will be rejoining Family First Dentistry of Anchorage in June. Dr. Harmon and his entire staff: Mary Kelly, dental assistant, Teresa “T” Coronado, the office manager and dental assistant, and Anjie Walsh, the dental hygienist, will continue seeing and treating patients at the Anchorage location.
In addition to his dental clinic, Dr. Harmon and his wife Lydia have supported workshops and retreats at their home clinic in Girdwood, the Health and Regeneration Clinic. They hope to focus on the retreat center and expand health and wellness related activities there.
The use of the dental clinic space will permit expansion of these activities, Dr. Harmon said.
“There’s two parts of this environment,” he said during an interview at his office. “One with the clinic, one where we live, and the other part is like a health center where we do workshops and bring people in and have a retreat center. That’s been going on ever since we started this project 20 years ago. The expansion that permitted the clinic also allowed us to have an environment where we could do workshops and retreats and ongoing programs. The retreat center currently serves about15 patients with cancer that come in on a biannual basis and for support of their personal needs and other programs that will be expanded upon.”
Looking back on his time serving the Girdwood community, Dr. Harmon said the privilege of contributing to the Turnagain Arm family remains a highlight of his many years in dentistry.
“Coming from a small town, living in the mountains and helping wonderful, country people has been a blessing,” he said.
Whether re-implanting teeth knocked out during a ski accident or treating a small child suffering from aching teeth, Doctor Harmon has made a life service of being there when dental care was needed.
“I’ve basically lived dentistry as a major component of my life for the last 46 years,” he said. “When I turned 66, I realized that I need to pursue other things. That I need to free myself from other things and total dental focus.”
Family First Dentistry of Anchorage was part of Dr. Harmon’s original dental practice. He said they have been there over the years to help support his patients in his absence.
“Family First has been supportive and provided treatment of our patients when I was out of town or wasn’t available and they were the logical group of people to be there in my absence.”
He wanted to reiterate to his Girdwood patients that they will be treated special and be well supported in his absence.
“You can look forward to Anjie’s smile and skills at our new location,” he said.
Being a dentist was a lifelong dream of Dr. Harmon, since he was 12 years old. He pursued that dream with a passion entering Gonzaga College in Spokane, WA and completing his studies there in two years. He then went on to dental school at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, graduating first in his class in 1967, receiving his Doctorate of Dental Surgery License.
He worked first in hospitals in Texas and then served as a Captain in the Army Dental Corp in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969.
“I spent two years basically helping GIs in Vietnam,” he said. “I got the President’s Accommodation for medical work in villages. I spent a lot of time working on people in villages and been back many times. I’ve done volunteer work in third world countries in and out for the last 20 years.”
After his military service, Dr. Harmon moved to Anchorage, and in the early 70’s purchased property in Girdwood and built his current home where he and his wife raised their son and daughter.
In 1976, Dr. Harmon became an early pioneer in Implant Dentistry and lectured and supported this unique area from infancy to mainstream.
He has spent many years on the Alaska Comprehensive Health Council and said he’s never lost the joy of doing simple fillings on people in need.
“I think if you were to ask me that after 30 years what’s the most important thing that served me well as a dentist, I would say the ability to treat people not teeth,” he said. “Always treat the patient foremost and whatever service you do will be better served. Realize the patient as the most important person in the office.”
Looking back on his lifetime of dental work and raising a family, Dr. Harmon said his proudest moment was raising a family in Girdwood and watching his son and daughter grow, prosper, and enjoying their dedication to service and others as health care providers.
Dr. Harmon’s son, Jason, is a Naturopathic Physician and founder of Avante Medical Center, and his daughter, Christina, has a Diploma in Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture. His wife also has a degree in Medical and Physical Spiritual Therapy.
Through the years, Dr. Harmon has flavored his life as a ski racer, coach, gardener, and hunter-gatherer, always, he said, offering fish, berries, wild meat and fresh vegetables and flowers to his patients for tolerating the reality of dental treatment.
Now Dr. Harmon is ready for the second part of his life, away from the dental chair, as he prepares for a six month sabbatical traveling the world.
In September he will begin his journey when he leaves for France to begin a 1,000-mile pilgrimage through the Pyrenees to Santiago De Compostela, Spain and onto the Atlantic Coast. This will be followed by other travels, he said, but at this time, he is undecided as to what will be his focus after that time.
However, no matter where his travels take him, Dr. Harmon will always carry a piece of Girdwood with him, a place where he touched not only the teeth of his patients, but their hearts.
“I come from a small town born in Juneau,” he said. “I’m basically an Alaskan born mountain boy who has just always loved a simple country environment, and the one thing that I wanted to do in my dentistry was to support a small community as a practicing dentist and to add value to the community in my knowledge of dentistry and also the ability to relieve pain and suffering and to take care of people who otherwise may not be able to afford or to follow through on necessary dental treatment.