From left to right, Louie Wagner, Peter Wagner Sr. and Peter Wagner Jr., three generations of the same family behind Wagner Orthodontics in Chehalis, which celebrates 50 years in business this year.
From left to right, Louie Wagner, Peter Wagner Sr. and Peter Wagner Jr., three generations of the same family behind Wagner Orthodontics in Chehalis, which celebrates 50 years in business this year.
Twenty-two years after officially retiring from orthodontics work, Dr. Louie Wagner, founder of Wagner Orthodontics, got the best retirement gift he could have imagined.
His grandson, Peter Wagner Jr., joined the family practice in August 2019, making him the third generation of Wagners at the Chehalis orthodontics practice. Louie’s son Peter Wagner Sr. was previously at the helm of Wagner Orthodontics, which this year marks 50 years in business, from 1997-2017.
“I was proud of the kids and to have Peter (Sr.) come back and to work together, that was really a good time,” Louie said. “Then to have Peter (Jr.) become an orthodontist also, that’s really pretty rare.”
It is exceedingly rare for a family owned business of any kind to be still owned by the same family into a third generation. Being an orthodontics practice makes the family’s accomplishment that much more exceptional because of the amount of time the training takes (at least four years of undergraduate work, four years of dental school and a three-year orthodontic residency) and the ever-rising competition for the small number of spots in orthodontic residencies.
“It’s big commitment, timewise and financially,” Peter Sr. said.
Wagner Orthodontics, with branches in Chehalis and Longview, serves about 400-500 patients per year. It began when Louie Wagner was about to complete his orthodontics residency and looking for place to open a practice somewhere between Seattle and Portland. One of his dental school classmates, Richard Tausch, was already practicing dental care at an office at the corner of Cascade and Main in Chehalis.
“He mentioned they really needed an orthodontist in that area,” Louie said. “They were sending their patients to Longview or Olympia for orthodontic work at that time.”
Louie Wagner said he always felt like he was a small-town person, so Chehalis appealed to him. In 1970, he opened Wagner Orthodontics, at first in the same office as Tausch. In 1973, he built the current location of Wagner Orthodontics on Market Boulevard, near what is today the Chehalis Safeway.
Peter Sr. said he doesn’t remember coming into his father’s workplace as a kid, other than to have his own braces put on. But the career path of becoming an orthodontist like his father was something that he had an interest in from a very young age.
“I knew what you do as an orthodontist: you straighten teeth, you make people happy and confident,” he said of his interest in the profession.
Peter Sr. studied orthodontics at Oregon Health & Science University. It was the same university where Louie had studied, though when he was there it had been called Oregon Dental School. Peter Sr. joined the family business in 1995 and Louie retired from the business in 1997. Peter Sr. said the transition period was really smooth for the father and son team, mostly because most patients complete their orthodontic treatments in about two years.
“He just saw his patients and I saw mine,” he explained. “His practice was shrinking and mine was growing.”
Peter Sr. expanded the practice, opening a location in Longview in 1997. The two elder Wagners said they have always really enjoyed serving their community and seeing the changes they can make in people’s lives through straighter teeth.
“It’s been enjoyable,” Louie said. “We’ve had really good support from the community and through the years, we’ve had an excellent staff.”
“You can’t go to the bank, to Safeway, to Walmart without people saying ‘hi,’” Peter Sr. said. “It’s kind of neat to have that many people who know you and you know them.”
Peter Jr. said his road to joining the family profession also began at a young age since he grew up around the profession.
“I always thought it was something that would be fun and interesting,” he said.
Peter Jr. did his dental studies at OHSU like his father and grandfather and finished his training at the Georgia School of Orthodontics in Atlanta. He joined the practice in August 2019. Prior to that, a medical emergency in 2017 forced Peter Sr. to retire so for a few years orthodontists from the Longview location filled in while the family awaiting his completed training.
Over the 50 years since Wagner Orthodontics opened, the field of orthodontics has changed in many ways. When Louie began his practice, he would hand-make and solder the bands that were fitted around each individual tooth. Today, computer imaging, three-dimensional printing and new materials and techniques like Invisalign clear aligners have dramatically changed the way orthodontists straighten teeth. But the three generations of Wagners said some of the same methods used 50 years ago are still part of the toolbox that orthodontists use.
“The materials have changed but the fundamentals are still the same,” Peter Jr. said.
“Since the field of orthodontics has been around, the fundamentals have not changed,” added Peter Sr. “It’s how you get from point A to point B that has.”
Peter Jr. has three young sons but like the generations before him, isn’t putting a lot of pressure on anyone to go into the family business just yet. At the moment, he said he is focused on helping bring better smiles to Lewis County residents in the best way he can.
“I just want to keep serving patients and continue the legacy,” he said.
