The O2 Doctor
Dr. Katherine Wallace (“Dr. Ahn”), DDS
Founder: Impression Dental Care, Aviara Centers, Life Cornerstone, Origin Natural Products & OCCares
Dr. Katherine Ahn (Wallace) began her journey in wellness from birth, being raised a vegetarian by her health-conscious parents. Dr. Ahn developed a special passion for learning about how Lifestyle Compromise can lead to systemic diseases and how a healthy lifestyle can prevent and reverse the disease process. This early exposure to wellness piqued her interest in healthcare, and she proceeded to obtain a degree in dentistry from the UCLA School of Dentistry in 1993. She also completed a two-year pediatric dental residency at UCLA, where she acquired skills in children’s dental wellness, craniofacial development, and early orthodontics. She continued to further her knowledge in comprehensive dentistry by advancing her education in Cosmetic & Reconstructive Dentistry and Sleep, TMJ, & Orthodontic Therapies. This deepened her understanding of the connection between orofacial muscle imbalances and underdeveloped jaws, faces, and airways and how Airway Compromise can lead to breathing & sleep disorders, craniofacial pain, and malocclusion.
Growing up with caring parents who dedicated their lives to helping others, she also understood how Environmental Compromise (e.g., stress, loneliness, abuse, trauma,...) can lead to mental and systemic disorders and how a positive environment filled with love and purpose can promote wellness. In an effort to make an impact in this area, Dr. Ahn founded OCCares, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the next generation of compassionate leaders.
Ultimately, Dr. Ahn’s life-long experiences culminated in the creation of 5 entities supporting the vision of the 3 pillars of wellness: Airway, Lifestyle and Environment.
Airway, Lifestyle & Environment
Aviara Centers
In 2019, 26 years after Dr. Ahn first received her dental license, she founded Aviara Centers. Aviara Centers’ flagship building in Los Alamitos, CA opened in the following two years in May 2021. Born out of her passion for providing true, whole-body wellness solutions for her patients, Dr. Ahn sought out exceptional interdisciplinary providers in sleep, TMJ, orthodontics, myofunctional and myofascial therapy, breathing re-education, integrative sleep, and lifestyle medicine to address Aviara Center’s patient needs. Following her research in comprehensive body wellness, Dr. Ahn founded and established the Three Pillars of Wellness - Healthy Airway, Lifestyle & Environment into Aviara Center’s core philosophy. With a singular treatment philosophy in mind, Dr. Ahn and her team at Aviara Centers are leading the way in revolutionary approaches to treating the root causes rather than the symptoms of disease to help their patients Breathe, Live & Smile.
Life Cornerstone
To combat her patients’ sleep, breathing, teeth, and TMJ/jaw alignment issues, Dr. Ahn began designing her own oral health products as a result of the lack of quality oral products in the market that addressed the issues she was observing in her patients. Dr. Ahn founded Life Cornerstone in 2015 to provide innovative solutions for airway compromise as a way to provide both consumers and professionals with effective tools that could enhance their airway, breathing, and sleep quality. Over a period of eight years, Dr. Ahn perfected the vision, designs, and concepts of Life Cornerstone, leading to the long-awaited launch of its first product, the “VIA Lip Tape” in the Summer of 2022. Lip tapes, mouth tapes, or sleep strips are used widely to improve nasal breathing and dry mouth & lips, reduce mouth breathing and mouth snoring, reduce clenching, & improve sleep quality. Unsatisfied with the uncomfortable nature of the current lip tapes on the market, Dr. Ahn designed one that would allow people to wear them comfortably while exercising or sleeping. VIA Lip Tape provides the flexibility to speak, drink, and breathe easily without having to remove or reposition the tape between actions. Her improved and unique design of VIA only represents a portion of the innovative tools Life Cornerstone has planned to release.
Origin Natural Products
As a mother, dentist, and entrepreneur, Dr. Ahn always found that finding quality supplements and healthy, simple cooking solutions was a challenge. These experiences and passion for healthy lifestyle to address lifestyle compromise led her to develop Origin Natural Products where simple solutions to lifestyle compromises can be created to help people improve their lifestyle. Over 30 years of personal research and experience led Dr. Ahn towards the creation of a supplement line that incorporated essential vitamins and nutrients for healthy living. Origin Natural Products launched Origin Supplements in 2017, a comprehensive line of supplements including, Vitamin B12, Calcium, and all-rounded multivitamins that targeted particular systems and functions in the body. As a lover of food and the importance behind a balanced diet, Dr. Ahn didn’t stop there. Born from her love of global food and her busy lifestyle, Origin Natural Products will be releasing its first Origin seasoning product, “KISS: Keep It Simple Seasoning” in Winter 2023. KISS was a direct result of her love for cooking delicious healthy food and repeatedly hearing, “if I can have food like this, I could totally be vegan”. Regardless of what type of protein you want to include in your meals, KISS provides simple solutions for young college students, novice chefs & busy adults desiring to cook healthy delicious food without going to a culinary school or following complicated recipes.
OC Cares
Dr Ahn was raised by a father who was a minister and mother who was a social entrepreneur, supporting his mission by operating a Jujube Farm in Apple Valley. Their selfless dedication to God and all the people around them were a daily inspiration to Dr. Ahn to live with a vision to be compassionate and purposeful in life. She noticed one day that she and many mothers were spending an enormous amount of time and money in developing their children’s talents. While she felt that there was nothing wrong with wanting more for your children, Dr. Ahn was struck by the lack of opportunities for our young children to be selfless, compassionate and giving. She saw this as a threat to the next generation's emotional wellness & environmental wellness. This is how OCCares was founded in 2013, to provide opportunities for our children to be inspired and learn how to incorporate compassion & giving back as part of their life philosophy. OCCares is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the next generation of compassionate social entrepreneurs. OCCares uses the curriculum exclusively developed for OCCares by UCI and Pepperdine University to help high school students learn how to make a positive impact in this world through compassionate leadership. She partners with local artists to raise funds for OCCares to make the educational programs & volunteer opportunities available to as many students as possible through “Aviara Collaborative Care Project (ACCP)” and to donate to other wonderful causes. Dr. Ahn finds time to mentor students who are committed to creating social impact through projects like “MindfulMealsByKids.org” (www.OCCares.org)
“My mission is to help people breathe, live & smile”
—Dr. Katherine Ahn (Wallace)