By Ismay Woods
TWO long-standing dental doctors have attended to their last patients, as they retire from the practice they have run for over 30 years.
Dr Michael Park took over the former Mayne/Stewart dental practice in Regent Street, Newtownards, in 1991.
Michael, whose father and grandfather were both GPs, attended Newtownards Model Primary School and Campbell College, Belfast, before studying for dentistry at Newcastle University in England.
It was there he met his future wife, Liz, who is originally from Blackpool. After they both qualified, Liz and Michael married in 1992, and Liz joined her husband at the Regent Street practice.
It was not long after her arrival in Newtownards, Liz was to experience an incident which was to make headline news – the IRA bombing in Regent Street, which was to devastate much of the surrounding area.
Liz recalls: “I was working on an emergency with a child who had broken her teeth, when there was someone banging on the door. I didn’t want to answer it, but the child’s father said he would go. It was a policeman, saying we had to get out.”
Two days later, the builders had replaced damaged windows, a tarpaulin had been put on the roof, and the Parks were back at the practice.
In 2001, the couple bought and renovated premises in Frances Street; it was one of the first purpose built surgeries in the town. Before then, most of the dental practices had been established in former dwellings.
Michael recalls: “The new building had room for five surgeries; when we bought the premises, we had three dentists and 900 patients.
“It was only the second new build [surgery] in Northern Ireland, and we were the second practice to go fully computerised.”
The number of patients on the books has increased dramatically in the 33 years since the Parks established the surgery, with clients coming from most of the towns and villages in the Ards peninsula, as well as Newtownards and its environs.
Changes in treatments have also been in evidence over the years; as Michael explains, the practice of removing teeth has been replaced by that of saving teeth and more cosmetic treatments.
Liz reveals how, at one time, it was common practice for a bride-to-be to have her teeth taken out: “To avoid her new husband having to pay for expensive treatment,” while Michael recalls: “In my first year [of practice] I had a patient who was in her 90s who had all her teeth taken out as a young woman.”
In 2018, the Parks sold the practice to the Portman Dentex group, but retained the name; there are currently no plans to change the surgery’s title.
However, there is little chance of a Park being added to the surgery’s list of dentists; none of Michael and Liz’s children – Patrick (28), Gabrielle (25) and Francesca (21) – have followed in their parents’ footsteps.
The new lead dentist is Dr Gareth McGuigan, from Newtownards, who will be joined by Sarah Mossey from Bangor, and as Liz and Michael say farewell to their many clients and dedicated staff, they plan to spend their retirement ‘taking more holidays’.
