Meet Dr. Hansen
Meet Dr. Hansen
Dedicated to Marin’s dental health and well-being
Dr. Hansen has devoted his career to delivering exceptional results in reconstructive and aesthetic dental care. As the leader of his private practice and as a dental volunteer, he has helped thousands of people improve the health of their teeth and gums. He also works to maintain high standards for his profession through participation in California Dental Association and Marin County Dental Society committees.
Dr. Hansen chose to open a family-focused dental practice in Marin County. He wanted to extend his expertise to build close, long-term relationships with patients. Many patients measure their relationship with Dr. Hansen over the course of three decades. He and his team find these relationships deeply rewarding. For Dr. Hansen, coming to the office each day brings him joy.
Dr. Hansen works to improve dental health and wellness beyond his office, too. For 20 years, he has volunteered as a dentist for Marin Head Start. He’s volunteered with the Buck Institute for five years, and he continues to support the Novato Human Needs and the Novato Youth Center. As a volunteer internationally, Dr. Hansen was part of a team that performed life-enhancing dental surgery in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Venezuela. He served on the Board of Directors of Rotaplast International for eight years, including two years as chair. Rotaplast provides free reconstructive surgery for cleft lip and other issues.
Education
University of California,
Berkeley
- Biology
Tufts University,
School of Dental Medicine
- DMD
Honors
International Congress of
Oral Implantologists
- Fellow
American College of Dentists
California Dental Association
- Recognized for Practice Excellence
Educational background
Dr. Hansen earned his BA in biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He then spent four years on the East Coast, earning his DMD at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. These top-tier schools instilled in Dr. Hansen a love for the art and science of dentistry.
Continuing education
Dr. Hansen takes three to four times the required continuing education, seeking out and studying with top dental innovators including:
Spear Education Center
Direct hands-on education with Dr. Frank Spear and Dr. Gregg Kinzer, leaders in aesthetic and advanced reconstructive dentistry and leading proponents of evidence-based dentistry.
Studies include coursework with these doctors:
Dr. Frank Spear
Dr. Gregg Kinzer
Dr. Bob Winters
Dr. Gary Dewood
Fahl with Fahl Center, Brazil
Dr. Newton Fahl
International leader in composite dentistry.
UCSF School of Dentistry
Dr. Harry Albers
Multi-year course on aesthetic reconstructive dentistry.
Community outreach
Dr. Hansen shares dental health and wellness in Marin through leading volunteer organizations.
Spreading smiles globally
Dr. Hansen regularly travels internationally to perform dental procedures as a volunteer. These procedures, such as cleft lip surgery, give people the gift of a smile and better tooth and gum health.
Barquismeto, Venezuela
Rhotaplast
Cleft lip and palate surgeries.
“One of the more rewarding experiences in my professional career is to change someone’s life. Those with cleft lip suffer from the abnormality but also from the social stigma. Correcting the cleft lip can be transformational for the patient on many levels” — Dr. Mark Hansen
”Here, I performed dentistry out in the open, in a makeshift structure, bringing my own dental, hand tools, and there was no electricity. I cleaned my tools by cold sterilization, and I was mainly performing extractions.“
— Dr. Mark Hansen
Guazapa, El Salvador
Jungle dentistry
Dr. Mark Hansen, another dentist, and an ophthalmologist did this outreach together.
Aracaju, Brazil
Rhotaplast
Cleft lip and palate surgeries.
“One of the more memorable aspects of this project besides reconstruction was that, after a certain, age cleft surgeries are not performed. An alternate solution is to create a custom prosthetic palate. I created one of these for a patient in Brazil. He gave me the biggest smile of excitement as he was able to drink water, without all the liquids spraying out of his mouth.”
— Dr. Mark Hansen
Peronia, Brazil
Open Wide Foundation
Performing operative dentistry, where other local dentists were interested and joined in.
“It was great working with the patients and their families, along with sharing new dental approaches with local dentists in the area.”
— Dr. Mark Hansen
Juarez, Mexico
Presbyterian Church of Novato
General dentistry
“For this outreach project, we travelled down to Juarez with a team of people working on a housing project. I brought my dental assistant Sumaya, and we volunteered at the dental clinic that they had on-site.” — Dr. Mark Hansen
