New dentists choose small town (Lewistown, Montana) over fast pace of California

Doctors David and Sunnshine Welton have packed a lot of living into the past 14 months.

In just a little over one year, both young professionals have graduated from dental school, had their first child, moved to Montana, started their own dental practice and bought a new house. Somehow, in between the packing and unpacking, introductions and orientations, paperwork and property closings, late night feedings and diaper changes, Lewistown’s two newest dentists have still found the time to slow down, get to know their patients and give them their best in quality, personalized, family dental care.

by DAVID MURRAY
News-Argus Staff Writer

The Weltons arrived in Central Montana June 24, after graduating from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Dental School. They are now transitioning into ownership of the established practice of Dr. Raymond White. Dr. White, who is retiring, will continue to treat his orthodontic patients for the next year and a half to two years, but has already turned over his general dentistry practice to the Weltons.

David and Sunnshine said they chose to come to Lewistown because it’s a community that offers both the lifestyle they want to lead and an opportunity to perform the type of dentistry they wish to practice.

“We wanted to go somewhere more rural,” David said. “A smaller community where we could offer honest, solid dentistry. A lot of the dentistry being offered in larger urban areas is becoming more and more cosmetic and commercialized. We weren’t interested in that kind of practice.”

“We’re more interested in health care and prevention of disease,” explained Sunnshine. “We wanted to go to a place where we could make a bigger difference – have a bigger impact. Taking care of what people need as opposed to just cosmetic procedures that people want. Probably more importantly, we wanted a place that is good to raise kids in.”

As they spoke, the couple’s young son, Mason, slept peacefully cradled in Sunnshine’s arms.

“This was half a business decision, but even more so, a quality of life decision – both for Mason and to be close to what we like to do,” David added. “We wanted to live some place close to hiking, fishing and camping – where we could slow down and take some of the stress out of our lives.”

Given the Welton’s recent schedule, its no wonder reducing some of life’s pressures would be important to them.

The newest addition to the Welton family was born June 12. Just 12 days later, David, Sunnshine, little Mason and the family’s two dogs all arrived in Lewistown.

“They didn’t have any rentals here, so we lived in a hotel for a long time,” Sunnshine recalled. “Then we made a friend who actually has an apartment under his house, so we’ve stayed the last few days with him. We just purchased a small house – a little two-bedroom place – one of the cheaper houses in town.”

“It’s not cheaper – it’s more affordable,” David reminded his wife with a smile.

The search for a more relaxed pace has not, however, dampened the Welton’s determination to put into practice the type of socially conscious dentistry they believe in.

“There’s this shift in California where general dentists refer everything to specialists and then concentrate on cosmetics,” David lamented. “We believe that any general dentist should be able to perform good cosmetic dentistry along with anything else they feel comfortable with. If you are trained and proficient at what you do, general dentistry can definitely cover those other disciplines.”

David’s own training includes a year working at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in San Francisco, an experience that allowed him to gain knowledge in more complicated surgical procedures.

“I received extra training with endodontics (root canals), periodontics (gum surgeries) and prosthodontics (dentures),” he explained. “My experience with medically compromised patients was a big advantage of the hospital training. In the future, I think our practice will include more on the surgical end of things. The types of procedures patients in the past may have had to travel to bigger towns to receive. Molar root canals, surgical extractions, gum surgery, implants and implant restorations, whether it’s with dentures or crowns. At some point, we may even go and visit patients at their nursing homes, at least to do screenings and to see if somebody actually needs anything.”

For the next few months, Sunnshine plans to only work part time, assisting with the paperwork, so she can focus the larger part of her energies on Mason. Once he’s a little older, Sunnshine intends to begin accepting her own patients.

“I have pediatrics dentist training and I like to work with kids,” she said. “I also did a lot of community work in San Francisco and plan to do community service outreach here. We plan to establish a true family practice, seeing patients of all ages and all dental needs. Also, we accept all insurances.”

Both David and Sunnshine made it a point to emphasize that their decision to start a practice in Lewistown was a deliberate choice.

“We wanted to go someplace where we could practice the way that we like to at the pace that we want to,” David said.

“If we don’t work as much or make as much money living here, I don’t care,” Sunnshine added. “I just want to be someplace where I’m comfortable.”

http://www.lewistownnews.com/news2.html