Dr. Brian J. Hanratty is a graduate of Loma Linda University, where he was inducted into the prestigious Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) honorary dental fraternity. Other scholastic honors include the American Academy of Oral Medicine award, Academic Excellence Silver award, Dental Foundation of California Scholarships award, and the Doctor-Patient relationship awards for both the third and fourth year of dental school. Dr. Hanratty holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and a Master of Science in Computer Science. Blessed with his wife and a large family, Dr. Hanratty not only juggled family obligations, but finished in the top 15% of his class.

Not always a dentist, but a fearful dental patient much of his adult life, Dr. Hanratty wrote CAD/CAM computer software for Manufacturing and Consulting Services, Inc., the company that founded the commercial CAD/CAM industry. As the Executive Vice-President, he was responsible for the technical side of the company and pioneering many new software techniques and computer algorithms. Much of this technology has been incorporated into dentistry today.

Aviation provided the pathway that led Brian Hanratty to dentistry. With over 5,000 hours of flight time, Dr. Hanratty holds an Airline Transport Pilot license for multi-engine airplane and Citation jet, a commercial license for instrument, single and multi-engine airplane. Twenty years ago, he bought a Cessna 210 for the expressed purpose of taking physicians, dentists and other health professionals down to Mexico for volunteer services to remote, undeserved areas. Dr. Hanratty is the dentist coordinator and past president of the Phoenix chapter of the Flying Samaritans. Dr. Hanratty continues to volunteer his dental and pilot skills to the Flying Samaritans in addition to providing dentistry at St. Vincent De Paul Society each month.

Dr. Hanratty is happily married to his wife, Ellen and has five daughters. Although now an Arizona resident, he still considers himself a surfer after devoting much of his early life to the salt water endeavor. He keeps several surfboards at friends’ houses on the coast. Once an avid skier, he hopes to soon return to that sport. Having run three marathons, and possibly one more in the future, Dr. Hanratty entertains running in an attempt to keep the waistline in check and the heart pumping. In the dental operatory,
you might find your friendly dentist singing with little inhibition.
As a vocalist and instrumentalist, Dr. Hanratty played
weddings, bars and restaurants throughout most of his
life. * He no longer takes requests...unless asked.

Volunteer Work

The Flying Samaritans is an all-volunteer organization which operates free one-day medical clinics in Baja California Mexico. Doctors, dentists, nurses, translators, pilots and support personnel fly to clinics in private aircraft on weekends. Dr. Hanratty volunteers and provides his dental services to help supplement medical care for the local populations. The Flying Samaritans is a not-for-profit organization and includes 10 chapters which operate approximately 16 clinics in Baja Mexico.

Dr. Hanratty enjoys helping other communities with his aviation and dental services. He has been volunteering for over 20 years and will continue to help as much as he can in the future.