Moorcroft Welcomes new dentist

The dental clinic in Moorcroft has always been a satellite of the center in Newcastle and, while the town has benefitted by having a local treatment facility, the monies and personnel always returned to Weston County at the end of the day.

Meet DDS Lucas Kaufman and his wife, dental hygienist Kelsey, who aim to solve that issue. Dr. Kaufman has purchased the local establishment, changing the name to Moorcroft Dental to better represent the local community they want to serve.

Lucas says that another difference he has implemented with the departure of the Weston County staff is the advent of qualified local personnel from Moorcroft and Pine Haven.

The clinic will now be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “With the possibility of extended hours in the future to best serve the patients,” according to Lucas, “We just have to figure out how busy we’re going to be.”

Lucas hopes to build his business in the future with the plan to provide needed treatments for the community, alleviating the need for people to travel away from home to facilitate tooth and gum health. To this end, Lucas plans to bring implant placement to this facility in the future; he has had the training and experience, “I just don’t have the equipment to do it yet. It might be a year before we can do that.”

Lucas is originally from Chugwater, WY, a town with a population of around 200. He attended grade school in the small hamlet before moving to Yoder, WY for high school.

Then he schooled in Nebraska and Kansas for his career in dentistry. He met Kelsey during this time and as she said, “My plan was to go into dental hygiene and [by some] coincidence, we met and shared the same passion.”

After finishing his training, Lucas was ready to buy a practice of his own back home in Wyoming, reasoning that he would be able to “practice ethically, serving patients and running staff”. He had come to the opinion that the larger corporations for which many of his friends worked do not always demonstrate ethical decisions for their clients.

“Dentistry can sometimes be more than just treating what’s there. I treat what’s there and do what’s best for the patient,” he says.

The Kaufmans are happy to part of the community and say, “we’re ready to reserve ourselves to serve this community and are looking forward to revitalizing the community”.