Today I’m interviewing none other than Dr Gunadi Wibowo himself. He is the owner of the brand new office called Uxbridge Dental Care in Calgary, located in the Uxborough Development near the Foothills hospital, in the neighborhood of University Heights in Calgary. Where should we start? You already have a biography on the website, why don’t you start by summarizing that for us.
Hey thanks for the plug! Well, I graduated DMD in ‘99 from Winnipeg and then came back to Calgary to practice in Centre Street Dental in Chinatown and then added Sunridge Dental at Sunridge Mall soon after. After a few years, I purchased the Sunridge Dental office with Dr. Ulka Parmar. 25 years later, I recently left that office and now starting a new office at Uxbridge Dental Care in the Northwest area of Calgary.
I live in the area by the University of Calgary and so this will be a very short commute to work. I want to focus on serving the area of University Heights, St Andrews, Parkdale, Hillhurst, Varsity, Montgomery and maybe as far as Brentwood and Charleswood. And of course, many long term patients that can hopefully find me again on google.
Starting over in a new office sounds like a lot of work. But this is not your first round at the rodeo as they say, why now? You’re not a spring chicken with 25 yrs experience in the industry.
No, definitely not a spring chicken. I kinda wished I was a little younger though. Over the years, I have been involved in ownership of 4 practices so far, this will be the fifth. It is my passion to develop great working environments and very functional clinic spaces that patients can be comfortable and feel it is their “dental home”.
Staff too, it is my goal to make the workplace a fulfilling and rewarding place, a place to grow someone’s career and to see improvements over practice time and see the results of their work in the tenacity of a long term relationship with patients.
Why now? Well, why not. I saw the new Uxborough development near the Calgary Foothills Hospital and Calgary Cancer Centre, looked like a good place to start a new practice to serve the surrounding community and be closer to home.
What will you be offering at Uxbridge Dental Care? Can you give us some highlights?
For the most part it will be general dentistry for families. White fillings, crowns and bridges, some cosmetic dentistry such as bleaching and veneers, dental hygiene, dentures, a little of orthodontics, both braces and invisalign, some dental surgeries, like implants, wisdom teeth and gum surgeries, root canals, and the all important children’s dentistry!
I think I probably forgot a few things, but I cover most of it in my years as a general dentist. I think the only thing I don’t do is the work of a tooth fairy. That’s the stuff of legends and work reserved for the best of the best.
Uxbridge Dental Care will be a family dentistry type clinic, a dental home for patients that are looking for good place to trust and be well looked after.
“Dental Home”, you talk about that rather frequently. You refer to it like a place to belong and stay a while. I get the idea. What’s that got to do with dentistry?
Actually, a dental home has everything to do with dentistry. A general dentist is one of those professionals that you can probably follow people as patients for a long time. I routinely see 3-4 generations of families. Sometimes, and more lately, right from when they first came in as children, to bringing their own children to come into the office for their first visits. It is truly a rewarding experience and keeps me committed to the patients.
And, to see the seniors progress past their retirement and ensure they are well looked after them in their twilight years.
So it is important, family dentistry is part of creating a dental home for people of all ages so they can always trust and feel confident in their smile and function well.
We will have to do an interview about all those things you talked about one day. Maybe talk about children’s dentistry and also senior dentistry, and maybe other things in between.
I look forward to that.