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By Larry J. Grard
SKOWHEGAN – Gary and Dawn Boudreau complement each other well at their family business, Skowhegan Denture.
Boudreau is the denturist, taking impressions of the patient’s surrounding tissues, building the denture and bringing it to the patient.
He constructs the denture in the basement of the couple’s Benton home, delivering the finished product to patients at Skowhegan Denture, 140 Madison Ave. His wife, who has a degree in finance and accounting from the University of Maine, handles that side of the business.
“We work well together,” she said.
The dental business is a far cry, however, from Boudreau’s beginnings. The Lawrence High School graduate took off for California and worked for seven years in the aerospace industry. Then came a calling from home.
Boudreau’s mother, who owned Fairfield Dental Lab, needed help with the business. Boudreau had worked there before, and he was ready. “She needed a partner, and I wanted to come home,” he said.
Back then, Boudreau and his mother made dentures for area dentists. Later, he attended classes from New England Dental Technology in Bangor. He passed his boards, and last year took over the business of Richard Berry, who had operated in downtown Skowhegan for half a century.
Skowhegan Denture is open Tuesdays and Fridays until and whenever the last patient walks out in the afternoon. Boudreau and his assistant, Katie Poirier, handle 15-20 patients a week, and it doesn’t take long for patients to get their dentures.
“The lab work I’ve done for 20 years, so I’m pretty quick,” he said. “I have people come from all over. I have people drive an hour to get here. It’s a really good business. Everybody knows Dr. Berry.”
Boudreau stressed quality as a hallmark of the business. “Everything is hand-done to match the patient,” he added. “We don’t cut corners. It’s a small practice, and we want to keep everybody happy.”
The Boudreaus — married in Benton in 1996 — have two children. Morgan, 19, attends Maine Maritime Academy, and Gage, 14, is an eighth-grader.
PHOTO: Gary Boudreau uses a lathe to finish off a denture in the workshop at his home in Benton. (Larry Grard photo)
