There are plenty of reasons to name a dental practice after a family name, a street or even a beautiful Idaho landmark. Dr. Grason Hadfield went a different direction.
He named his new Eagle practice Level Up Family Dental—and once you know Hadfield’s story, the name makes perfect sense.
Hadfield is a gamer. But “leveling up” also describes the philosophy behind a 13-year journey through undergraduate school, dental school, residency and service as a Navy dentist that eventually brought him back to the community where he grew up — Eagle.
Long before dentistry, Hadfield worked the kind of jobs many teenagers do: lifeguarding, telemarketing and construction. Those experiences helped him figure out what he didn’t want—and what he did.
Even as a teenager, he knew family would be important to him. He wanted a career that allowed him to work with people, help others, continually learn and still have a predictable, family-friendly schedule.
Dentistry checked every box.
His interest deepened at age 19 while living in Nicaragua, where he helped coordinate a dental mission traveling along the coast. Seeing firsthand the impact dentistry could have on people helped solidify his direction.
Then came the challenge of paying for dental school.
Military service was already part of Hadfield’s family story. His father served in the Army, while both grandfathers served during World War II, including one as a Marine. With no one else footing the bill for dental school, Hadfield discovered the military’s Health Professions Scholarship Program, which covered his education in exchange for service as a dentist.
He owed four years. He stayed five.
His military career included a one-year residency in San Diego and service at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina. Remarkably, Hadfield provided dental care at both of the country’s Marine Corps recruit depots—San Diego and Parris Island.
Through it all, his wife, Michelle, was beside him. The couple married during his undergraduate years and had their two children, Lincoln and Nova, during dental school. There were babies, moving trucks, new duty stations and years of building toward the ultimate goal: coming home and opening a practice of their own.
Hadfield was raised here when it was a much smaller community, attending Eagle Middle School and Eagle High School. After living in Utah, Arizona, California and South Carolina, returning to Idaho—and specifically Eagle—felt right.
But Hadfield didn’t simply want to own a dental office. He wanted to build one from the ground up.
After working in dentistry, he became increasingly aware of the tremendous trust patients place in their doctors—and how much the overall experience determines whether someone feels comfortable walking through the door.
As corporate care has become more widespread, Hadfield wanted something different: a practice built around strong, uncompromising ethics, attention to the smallest details and a culture where the patient remains at the center.
And that brings the story back to gaming.
“I named it Level Up Family Dental because I am a gamer,” Hadfield says. “There’s a lot of lessons in video games about constantly improving and solving problems.”
Level Up will even have an arcade, but the gaming connection goes much deeper.
The practice is partnering with Gamers Outreach, an organization that provides gaming consoles to children facing extended hospital stays. Level Up plans to donate $5 from every new patient exam toward placing gaming systems in hospitals, beginning locally.
It turns a clever name into something much bigger.
For Hadfield, Level Up is about improving dentistry, improving the patient experience, continually improving himself and his team—and ultimately helping level up the community around him.
After 13 years of school, military service, moves, marriage, children and dentistry, the former Eagle High School student has made his way home.
Now Dr. Grason Hadfield is ready for the next level.
