Bonded over their love of teeth: Trevor and Ashley Blattner both have dental practices in Cape

When you first meet someone, many people say a smile is the first thing that's noticed. For Cape Girardeau dentists Drs. Trevor and Ashley Blattner, it was teeth, more specifically.

When asked whether they noticed each other's teeth right off the bat, Ashley replied, "100%."

"I guess it was really our second year of dental school before we finally started dating," said Trevor, a Cape Girardeau native. "She turned me down at least a couple of times."

"I actually remember the day I saw him by himself at church," Ashley said. "I thought, 'Well maybe ...'"

Dr. Trevor Blattner is an endodontist with Blattner Endodontic Care and Dr. Ashley Blattner is a general dentist at Bennett Family Dentistry, both in Cape Girardeau.

The Blattner family in an undated photo. From left, Ashley, Trevor, Kate, 7, Nora, 5, and Lenna, 3.Submitted

Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, Ashley's family dentist was an inspiration for her future profession.

"I absolutely loved him. He reminded me so much Mr. Rogers," she said, describing him as the "kindest, most loving, gentle man you'd ever meet."

Ashley always wanted to be a dentist, even when she was a child.

"I can remember being 4 or 5 and telling my mom that I was going to be a dentist, and she thought it was really strange," Ashley said. "She remembers me looking at people's teeth growing up."

When she was 18, Ashley wanted to go to dental school, but her parents encouraged her to get an undergraduate degree first, which she received in dental hygiene, and worked as a dental hygienist for a few years in Kansas City, before going to dental school.

Ashley and Trevor Blattner pose for a portrait at Blattner Endodontic Care on Friday in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

For Trevor, the field of dentistry wasn't a childhood dream, but he knew he wanted to do something in the medical field.

For both of them, the late Dr. Michael Bennett played a role in either the decision or affirmation of choosing the dental profession.

"Honestly, Mike Bennett was a pretty heavy influence on me in terms of just the kind of guy that I wanted to be like," Trevor said. "He was my dentist, and he just loved his job. I thought, 'Man, if I can do something like he does and be that happy, that would be pretty good.'"

Trevor shadowed Bennett and a couple other dentists in the area, and by his second year in college, he knew dentistry was his calling — endodontics, to be specific, which deals with root canals.

"I'm not a multitask-type person," he said. "I like to get very focused on something and go very deep into it and get really good at it. I decided on endo because the residency was shorter and oral surgery, you have to take call."

Trevor also chose endodontics for its ability to bring comfort to patients who are in a lot of pain and anxiety because of a pending root canal.

"By the end of their hour with me, they are in a place where they're not scared; they feel comfortable," he said. "My job is to make sure people are feeling better when they leave."

For Ashley, she crossed paths with Bennett once she arrived in Cape Girardeau.

"He reminded me so much of my dentist growing up and why I wanted to be a dentist," she said.

After dental school, the two moved to a Baltimore, where Ashley practiced general dentistry while Trevor completed a three-year residency, earning a master's degree and specialty certificate in endodontics at the University of Maryland, before settling in Cape Girardeau.

Being married to a fellow dentist helps the couple understand each other's stressors, Ashley said.

"What he does takes a lot of time and concentration," she said. "It's hard on your body."

"I think it's a huge benefit to know what each other's day looks like, which is kind of hard for couples to really understand somebody that's in a completely different field — it's hard to understand what their day looks like," Ashley said.

They share a mutual admiration of each other's unique skill sets, Trevor said.

"We both understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, and the ability to identify with those things probably a little bit better than someone that's in a different profession would be able to with their spouse," he said.

They consult each other about patient issues "several times a week," trusting and appreciating each other's expertise.

Juggling a marriage, children and professional life is a struggle at times, but Trevor said, "We try to give each other as much grace as possible. There's nothing perfect about it, but we do as good as we can."

Their middle child wants to be an endodontist when she grows up, but "I don't know if she really knows what that is," Ashley said.

Getting to see multiple generations of patients and families is the reason Ashley enjoys dentistry.

"You get to see grandparents and children and grandchildren. I love that," she said.

"In Cape versus somewhere like Kansas City, you really get to know each and every patient, and you see them out and about, whereas you don't usually get that in a big city, so that's been really fun being a dentist in Cape," Ashley said.

In addition to dentistry, Trevor is the founder of The Top 1% podcast.

"I've always been interested in the business world. And really probably mostly leadership related topics," he said.

Trevor started the podcast so he could meet and interview people such as authors John Maxwell and Simon Sinek and Patrick Lencioni, which eventually led to wanting to write a book himself. His first book, "Redefining the Top 1%," comes out in July. He describes it as "a leadership book ... it's really for the post COVID world, people that are either aspiring to or already in leadership positions."

This year for Valentine's Day, the Blattners planned to be at home soaking up time with their kids, and "open a nice bottle of wine," Trevor said.