You’ve been voted Favorite Orthodontist year after year by the Owensboro community. What does this recognition mean to you and your family?
We feel so blessed to be part of such an incredible dental community—one that truly cares for people. Every day we get to work alongside an amazing team, impacting patients’ lives while growing as individuals.
Being voted Favorite Orthodontist is such an honor because it means we’re carrying forward the culture this practice has stood for since 1981, when Dr. Tony Durall and his wife Cindy laid the foundation. For us, this recognition isn’t just about orthodontics—it’s about continuing a tradition built on faith, family, and service, and making every person who walks through our doors feel truly special.
Running a practice together as husband and wife is unique! How do you balance your professional partnership with family life?
Working together has been such a gift. The challenge is keeping the “life priorities triangle” from flipping upside down—faith first, marriage second, children third, and work fourth. Work often sneaks into evening conversations, but we’re intentional about protecting that order.
As partners, we balance each other out—our strengths fill in for one another’s weaknesses. We’re proud of each other, grateful for what the other brings, and honestly, we’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders. Justin also grew up watching his grandparents, Bud and Marylyn Ervin, who were the original husband-and-wife team in his life. They modeled what it means to serve side by side, and carrying that forward in our own practice feels like an honor and a continuation of their legacy.
Patients often mention that you go above and beyond. What do you think sets your practice apart and keeps families coming back?
Two things: our team and our culture.
We’ve been blessed with a team of exceptional human beings—people who are genuine, caring, personable, and fun. We hire based on core values first, then teach orthodontics, because skills can be trained but heart cannot.
Our culture guides everything we do. From morning huddles to monthly meetings to what we choose to celebrate as a team, we’re intentional about reinforcing our mission and values daily. That culture pushes us to keep growing, improving, and finding ways to better serve our patients.
Giving back to the community seems to be an important part of your work. Can you share some ways your family and practice get involved in Owensboro? And why is that important to you?
We believe providing orthodontics is just one piece of how we can make Owensboro a better place to live. From day one, this community embraced us, and we’ve always felt called to give back in meaningful ways.
As a practice, we’ve made serving the special needs community our primary focus. Each year our team participates in Night to Shine, the Color Blast, the Wendell Foster 5K, and other events. We also partner with incredible community leaders like Travis Owsley and his team to provide food and Christmas gifts for families in need.
We feel we’re in a unique position to use our connections to set an example: that we’re all here to serve one another.
As parents yourselves, how does your family life influence the way you connect with patients and their families?
Our good friend Mary Katherine Wathen once told us, “Work isn’t just something you do—it has a purpose and it’s FOR you.” That rings so true for us.
Being part of the WTO team makes us better parents, spouses, and children of God. The lessons we learn, the ways we stretch and grow to serve our patients and our staff—all of it helps us love and care for our daughters, Ellington and Laurel, even better.
What’s your favorite part about raising your family — and running a business — here in Owensboro?
Owensboro is a place where roots run deep and people truly care. It has that rare mix of southern warmth and small-town connection that made us feel at home right away. People genuinely care—whether it’s our church family, the girls’ teachers, or their friends. We know they’re growing up surrounded by love.
That same support has carried over into our practice. Stepping in as young orthodontists after someone as respected as Dr. Durall could have been intimidating, but this community rallied behind us and gave us the opportunity to grow. When people say, “I can’t believe you all created something like this in Owensboro—it feels like I am in a big city here,” it fills us with pride. It reminds us that we’ve been able to add a little something to a community that has given us so much.