Ivy is the kind of place people choose on purpose — a crossroads village in the foothills west of Charlottesville, where Route 250 slows down and the Blue Ridge starts to rise. For close to three decades, this practice has been part of it, at the same spot on Ivy Road: 2216 Ivy Rd #205, about eight minutes from UVA Grounds. Long enough to care for children who now bring in children of their own. That kind of continuity isn’t something you can install or franchise — it’s earned one honest visit at a time, and it runs through everything on this page.
A Practice With Roots
The office was founded roughly thirty years ago by Dr. Michael Tisdelle, a skilled clinician with a particular focus on cosmetic dentistry, who practiced in Ivy for his entire career. In 2022, the practice passed doctor-to-doctor when Dr. James Willis purchased it. Dr. Willis has lived just outside Ivy and Crozet since dental school and raised his kids in the local schools — this is a locally owned, family-operated practice in the most literal sense. He’s written about what that means for how care gets delivered in his own words on choosing a dentist.
When one dentist buys a practice from another — rather than a group folding it into a portfolio run from out of town — the things that matter most tend to stay put: the location, the unhurried pace, the relationships built over years. That continuity was the point. Dr. Willis didn’t set out to rebrand a good practice; he set out to steward one, and to keep it in local hands for the long run.
Better Every Year
Longevity only counts if a practice keeps improving. In 2026, the office was expanded with five additional treatment rooms and CBCT 3D imaging — room to see more neighbors without rushing anyone, and the diagnostic detail that makes implant and root canal planning far more precise. It joins the rest of our technology: iTero digital scanning in place of goopy impression trays, and Overjet AI reviewing every X-ray alongside the clinical team, catching things earlier. Every addition faces the same test — does it make care gentler, earlier, or more precise? If not, it doesn’t come through the door.
For patients, that shows up in small, concrete ways: a scan taken with a wand instead of a tray of putty, a three-dimensional image on the screen that turns a hard-to-picture problem into something you can actually see, and a second set of eyes on every X-ray so nothing subtle slips past. None of it is technology for its own sake. It’s there to make visits shorter, diagnoses clearer, and the decisions in between easier to trust.
Care That Answers to Patients
A great deal of dentistry in Virginia has quietly changed hands over the last decade, absorbed into groups managed from somewhere else. We went the other way on purpose. In a locally owned, family-operated practice, the person deciding what you need is the same person who has to look you in the eye and see you again in six months — not a manager working from a target. That one fact shapes everything downstream: recommendations stay conservative, second opinions are welcome, and “let’s keep an eye on it” is a real option when it’s the honest one. Here, you’re a patient, not a production number.
Who Runs the Practice Today
Dr. Willis and his partner, Dr. Michelle Kim — the practice’s lead dentist — oversee the office together. You can read more about Dr. Kim on her bio page. Between them, the standard is straightforward: show up on time, explain things plainly, invest in better tools, and treat every patient like a neighbor — because around here, they usually are. It’s what patients describe in our reviews, and it’s the culture we hire for on our careers page.
Behind the two of them stands the rest of the team — hygienists, assistants, and a front office chosen for the same reasons: people who explain rather than upsell, and who tend to remember your name by the second visit. It’s a small enough practice that the people caring for you actually know you, and a steady enough one that you tend to see the same faces year after year.
Still Here, Still Local
Thirty years in one place comes with obligations we take seriously: supporting the community that supports us, and keeping care within reach — including our Virginia Dental Club membership plan for neighbors without dental insurance. History, in the end, is a promise about the future: the way this practice has treated patients for three decades is the way it intends to treat you. Whatever brought you here — a move to town, a long-postponed cleaning, or a second opinion you can actually trust — you’ll be met the same way: careful hands, straight answers, and no rush. We’re open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM — call (434) 977-4101 or book online.