Dr. Reza Khazaie is simply an amazing character. While his Willow Pass Dental Care office, on Willow Pass Road in Concord, bustles with patients, the walls indicate that this is no ordinary dentist’s office. The walls are covered with extraordinary photos of the many missions Dr. Khazaie has served. There is also a TV with a rolling screen of his missions’ activities.
There is so much more to this complex and interesting man than dental services. After completing his military service in Iran and graduating from dental school in 1979, Reza finally arrived in the USA. His father, a general in the Iranian military was also a doctor and trained at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. After achieving his US license, Khazaie knew that he wanted to do more than general dentistry and trained at USC Los Angeles as a prosthodontist and surrounded himself with dental specialists and a staff of twenty employees.
His passions and interests are many. From a very early age, he learned to ride horses, and today owns and trains show horses.
As a Master scuba diver, he has traveled all over the world seeking out exotic and unusual dive sites. Still an avid mountaineer, he has climbed many of the world’s biggest peaks including Aconcagua in Argentina (alt. 22,000 feet). In October, he will travel to Nepal to practice high-altitude climbing in preparation for an ascent to Mount Everest next year.
Outside of these extraordinary adventures, Dr. Khazaie’s real passion is to care for children. He is a volunteer member of KIDS International Volunteer Dentists organization. Its fundamental mission is to provide pro-bono dental care to impoverished children in developing countries such as Guatemala, Philippines, South Africa, Morocco, Cape Verde, Mongolia, Haiti, and Cambodia.
He has given his time to projects in these eight countries for fifteen years and usually travels on three missions annually with all expenses coming out of his own pocket. The team takes with them all necessary equipment and supplies, including generators, much of it donated by the dentists themselves. In an average two to three-week mission, often working out of rudimentary and makeshift facilities, the team will treat up to 2,000 children.
Currently, he is working with a team in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where phosphate mines, an essential export commodity for the country, are ruining the teeth, especially of children. Most of the local traditional wells are the only source of water for the surrounding villages. These wells are contaminated by the runoff and seepage from the mines. As a result, phosphate makes the children’s teeth turn black and soft.
The only permanent cure is prevention, either by using filtered and or an alternative source of uncontaminated water. Working with the High Atlas Foundation, KIDS International Mission here is looking for partners who can help with finding a solution. Knowing that the Rotary Club of Concord has initiated clean water projects in many countries, Dr. Khazaie is reaching out to them in hopes that they might be able to help and become a partner. Clearly, this is not your typical dentist’s work. He says he will be going back there again next year on another mission.
It is amazing who our neighbors are, and Dr. Reza Khazaie works just down the road!
