Dr Benjamin Dorantes was born and raised in Orange County, CA. He attended the University of California Irvine for his undergraduate studies, with a focus in Biology. Dr. Dorantes was granted his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Washington School of Dentistry in 2000. Upon graduation, he helped launch a group practice in Kent Washington, where he served as the managing dentist for 12 years. In 2012, Dr. Dorantes made the decision to open his own private practice and served the community of Kenmore, WA for 7 years. In May 2019, Dr. Dorantes made the decision to join his wife in practice and they both purchased Des Moines Dental Center.
Dr. Dorantes, known as “Dr. D” by his patients and staff, has been fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of the fact that he is bilingual in English and Spanish. He began volunteering time with Medical Teams International in downtown Seattle, providing dental care for those in need in mobile dental clinics. He has also participated in programs such as the Smile Power Organization, which provides dental care to tent cities in Washington and Compassion Washington to provide volunteer work to those in need in Auburn. Dr. D proudly serves as the International Ambassador for Smiles for Everyone Foundation, specifically associated with the Nicaragua and Paraguay outpost that he helped establish in 2013. He has had the opportunity to travel to the mountainside villages there in both 2013 and 2015 to provide care and support to over 550 people. He recently visited Paraguay in 2024 and 2025 and provided care to 225 people. Dr. D continues to feed his passion for helping others by continuously volunteering and is currently planning to join the foundation for another weeklong trip to Paraguay in 2027. His recent volunteer work was at Clover Park Technical college where he volunteered and helped treat many patients in May 2026.
In his personal time, Dr. D enjoys spending time with his wife and colleague, Dr. Kristin Vernon. He is an avid Husky football fan, likes to play chef for family and friends, enjoys a good run at Magnusen Park or around Greenlake and has a passion for WWII history, German artifacts, and his Volkswagens. Dr D has 4 grown children and two step-children that keep him and his wife busy.
Dr. D attends several continuing education courses per year to enhance his practice of dentistry and to provide exceptional care for his patients. He has traveled extensively abroad to Brazil to enhance his skills in implant dentistry at ILAPEO in Curitiba Brazil. He continued his advanced dental training at Resnik Implant institute gaining a Fellowship award in Prosthodontics and a Surgical Fellowship. Additional training at 4M Institute to sharpen his implant skills. And is proud to offer to his patients the All on X procedure. Dr D is one of the few Certified ND:yag laser dentists in his community to offer LANAP. He is an active member of the American Dental Association, Washington State Dental Association and Seattle King County Dental Society. He enjoys the technology side of dentistry and incorporates up- to-date technology in his practice; examples including intraoral digital scanning, CBCT (cone beam) technology, electric handpieces (that help with noise reduction associated with dentistry) and 3-D printing. As a new member of the Des Moines community, he has already received a warm welcome from existing patients of Des Moines Dental Center and looks forward to becoming your Des Moines Dentist!
