Preventive dentistry keeps small problems small. At Overland Park Dental Design, that means a one-hour hygiene visit, a digital scan of your mouth taken and stored at every appointment, saliva testing when the picture calls for it, and supplements matched to what the testing shows.
We call the system the Measure Protocol.
The stored scans are why it works. A single appointment shows you what your mouth looks like today. A decade of scans on file shows you which direction it has been moving the whole time.
Dr. Lillis has practiced at 109th and Roe in Overland Park since 2004, in a four-operatory office with roughly fifty years of history. Patients drive in from Leawood, Prairie Village, and across Johnson County, and many of them have been coming to this office for decades.
Four things shape how preventive care runs here.
A typical cleaning in this area books for thirty to forty-five minutes, and an assistant often finishes what the hygienist started. An hour changes what fits in the visit.
It leaves room for the cleaning, a full periodontal charting, a digital scan, and a real conversation about what changed since last time, so the clock never decides when your appointment ends.
Overland Park Dental Design runs from one Overland Park location with one dentist, and the hygienist has worked here for more than twenty years. Nobody hands you off to a rotating associate or reroutes you to a second office across the metro.
That continuity is the reason a hygienist spots something at visit twenty-one that no chart would ever flag.
A digital intraoral scan adds a few minutes to the visit and then stays in your record permanently. Comparing this year's scan with the ones already on file makes measuring change possible, rather than relying on memory or a number somebody wrote down last spring. Most offices scan only when they are planning a crown or an aligner case.
Dr. Lillis owns this practice outright. There is no corporate parent and no private equity firm setting how long your appointment runs or which materials the office uses.
| What changes | A standard hygiene visit | The Measure Protocol |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 30 to 45 minutes, often with an assistant finishing | A full hour with Shanda Overbeck, RDH |
| What is recorded | Probing depths on a chart, x-rays once a year | Probing depths, X-rays, plus a full digital intraoral scan stored at every visit |
| What you can compare | This year's numbers against last year's handwriting | This year's scan against every prior scan on file |
| Bacterial picture | Visual assessment and bleeding points | Saliva testing where indicated, which identifies the organisms present |
| What happens after | "Brush and floss more, see you in six months" | A recall interval set by risk, plus supplements matched to findings |
| Antibiotics | Frequently prescribed as a first move | Out of the routine antibiotic regimen for several years |
| Who you see | Whoever is on the schedule | Dr. Lillis and the same hygienist, every time |
| Ownership | Increasingly corporate or private-equity backed | Privately owned, one location, fee-for-service |
Your first visit builds the record everything else is measured against.
Where the exam suggests it, saliva testing identifies what is growing in your mouth rather than leaving it to guesswork.
Combined with the scan and the charting, that produces a risk picture instead of a verdict.
Three things change based on what the read shows:
Dr. Lillis partnered with Thorne so supplements can be dispensed from the office and matched to findings rather than guessed at from a pharmacy aisle.
Six months or a year later, the new scan overlays the old one.
Recession, wear, cracks, and movement that nobody can see across a single appointment become obvious across two.
Patients who stay in the protocol build up a decade of three-dimensional records. That is the difference between a dentist who is guessing and a dentist who can point at the change.
Gum disease is a bacterial infection. Two patients can have the same probing depths and carry completely different bacterial loads. That is why two people with identical charts respond differently to identical treatment.
Saliva testing gives us the organisms rather than an educated guess. It also gives you a number that moves when treatment works.
Shanda Overbeck has been in this practice full-time for more than twenty years. She worked with Dr. Bernie Williams here before that.
Same hygienist, same chair, for two decades of patients.
The reason a familiar hygienist matters for preventive work is simple. Somebody who has cleaned your teeth twenty times notices a change at visit twenty-one that no chart would flag.
Gum disease is linked to cardiovascular disease and to blood sugar control. Treating it is one of the few things a dental office can do that shows up in someone's bloodwork.
That research is the reason the visit here runs an hour instead of thirty minutes.
The Measure Protocol suits people who already pay attention to their health and want their mouth handled the same way.
It also suits anyone who has been told they have gum disease and wants to know whether it is improving rather than being told to floss more.
It is a poor fit for somebody who wants the cheapest cleaning their insurance will cover.
Overland Park Dental Design is fee-for-service.
Most dental plans cover a hygiene visit, radiographs, and an exam to some degree, and the office files on your behalf.
Saliva testing and supplements sit outside standard dental benefits, so those carry their own cost. You see those numbers in writing at the visit rather than as an estimate over the phone.
Dr. Lillis earned his DDS from Creighton University in 1998 and completed a two-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at UMKC.
He has run this practice since 2004 and teaches nationally through the Seattle Study Club. He also lectures for Straumann and the ITI on implant dentistry.
5.0 on Google · 32 reviews
Everyone at Dr, Lillis's office are very pleasant and helpful. Shanda Overbeck is the best Dental Hygienist. She is personable, friendly, and professional. She is very good at her work and determined. I highly recommend her.
I have been going to Overland Park Dental Design for over ten years and can't recommend them high enough. Everyone on the team is super friendly and goes out of their way to make sure the experience is comfortable. Both my hygienist, Shanda, and Dr. Lillis are extremely knowledgeable and perfectionists when it comes to the work they do.
Shanda is great at her medical care, a great communicator to help you understand your dental health, and always professional and thorough. Dr. Lillis is great an patient care, clear dental communication for the patient, personal care and interest and he has developed a very positive office culture. Visiting the dentist is something to look forward to!!
Overland Park Dental Design sits in the Foxhill Medical Building at 4601 West 109th Street, Suite 318, Overland Park, KS 66211, at 109th and Roe. Coming from I-435, exit at Roe Avenue and head north.
Patients come from across Johnson County, including Leawood, Prairie Village, Olathe, Lenexa, and the Kansas City metro.
Phone: (913) 451-7330
Preventive dentistry is the part of dental care aimed at stopping disease rather than repairing it. That covers cleanings, exams, radiographs, periodontal charting, risk assessment, and the home routine you follow between visits. The goal is catching decay and gum disease while they are still small enough to reverse or manage.
A cleaning removes plaque and hardened tartar from above and below the gumline, then polishes the tooth surfaces. At this office, the appointment also includes a digital scan, a full periodontal charting, and an exam with Dr. Lillis. That is why it takes an hour.
Twice a year is the common default, but the right interval depends on your risk. Patients with a history of periodontal disease, dry mouth, diabetes, or heavy plaque often do better at three or four months. Here the interval comes from what your charting and testing show rather than from a standard schedule.
An hour covers the cleaning plus a digital scan, a complete periodontal charting, and a real conversation about what changed since last time. A thirty-minute visit covers the cleaning and little else.
Saliva testing analyzes a sample of your saliva to identify the bacteria present in your mouth. Gum disease is a bacterial infection. Knowing which organisms are involved lets treatment target the actual problem and lets you measure whether it worked.
No. The practice is privately owned by Dr. Lillis, runs from a single location, and has no private-equity backing.
Dr. Lillis and the same hygienist, every visit. There are no rotating associates and no second office, so nobody hands your care to somebody you have not met.
The office files on your behalf for the standard preventive items. Saliva testing and supplements sit outside dental benefits.