EP #143: Milton Dental Town with Dr. Eric San Diego and Dr. Reid Donakey

Ever been to a dentist and left with more than just a sparkling smile? That's exactly the kind of experience Dr. Eric San Diego and Dr. Reid Donakey aim to provide at Dental Town Milton. Celebrating their two-year anniversary, these dentists join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast to share how they transformed a pediatric-centric clinic into a full-service dental haven for the entire family. Their journey is not just about teeth; it's about building a community-centered practice where conservative treatment is the norm and education on preventative care is paramount. 

With personal anecdotes weaving through their professional philosophies, Dr. San Diego and Dr. Donakey discuss the evolution of their practice and the misconceptions they're determined to debunk, such as the dreaded dental discomfort. They also emphasize the artistry involved in their work — it's not just about health; it's about crafting beautiful smiles. Tune in for a conversation that's as much about the heart as it is about oral health, where we bridge professional expertise with the care of our local community.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacey Poehler.

Speaker 2 0:14

Hey everybody, I am excited to be chatting today with two of our local dentists from Dental Town Milton. We have Dr Eric Sandiego and Dr Reid Donaghy. Welcome, guys.

Speaker 3 0:24

Thanks so much for having us, stacey, we really appreciate it.

Speaker 4 0:27

We're excited to chat for a minute.

Speaker 2 0:29

Yeah, yeah for sure. So why don't you guys start off by telling us about Milton, Dental Town?

Speaker 3 0:35

Yeah, well, back in 2006 was when Dental Town was established with our founder, dr Hanson, at our Johns Creek location, with our founder, dr Hanson, at our Johns Creek location. Initially it was just pediatric practice but over the course of time, just through the amazing work that he did and the phenomenal environment that he created for patients, parents started wanting to be treated at.

Speaker 3 0:59

Dentaltown as well, and that really opened up a lot of doors as far as expanding the practice and treating adults and offering orthodontics and oral surgery as well, and we've been blessed to have opened the Milton location two years ago now. I just celebrated our two-year anniversary. More than anything else, we're a small group business that really pride ourselves on conservative treatment and meeting all of our patients' oral health needs.

Speaker 2 1:36

Awesome, awesome. Dr Eric, how long have you been at the practice now? You've been there for two years, correct?

Speaker 3 1:43

Two years, yes, since 2022.

Speaker 2 1:47

Okay, and Dr Reed, how about you? When did you join the practice?

Speaker 4 1:50

So I came on about a year ago, this last June.

Speaker 2 1:54

Okay, and why don't you guys tell me a little bit about your background and kind of why you got into dentistry?

Speaker 4 2:02

Yeah. So my idea with dentistry was I was trying to find a career where I could be a little more hands-on. I knew that I didn't want to be behind a desk all day and I didn't want to be on a phone all day, um, so I wanted to find something. Preferably in the healthcare field was what I was interested in.

Speaker 4 2:16

I really enjoyed my science classes and and interacting with people, um. But I also wanted it to be very hands-on, um, and some of my favorite classes in high school were actually my art classes. So I really enjoyed the artistic element of dentistry and where you're fixing a front tooth and trying to match another front tooth. But I also enjoyed the health care aspect of trying to help people have the best quality of oral health that they can possibly have, and I did try to help educate and prevent things from happening. So dentistry just kind of met all of my needs and wants out of a career and it all came together in one place and it's something that I feel blessed and privileged to be able to do every single day.

Speaker 2 2:54

Awesome.

Speaker 3 2:57

For me, what drew me to dentistry was the ability to have a personal relationship with people. That's something that from a young age, I always enjoyed being with people, listening to people and really growing a relationship with them, and I find that dentistry affords that, especially in the location that we're at. Everything is just so tight-knit in the Milton community. I love hearing about our patients' experiences, their lives, but, like Dr Reed said, that paired with the ability to offer a great service to people's health that will benefit them for a lifetime to come. You know we start at the pediatric age and see them all the way through the geriatric age at Dentaltown, so that's really neat to be able to have a positive effect on people's lives.

Speaker 2 3:53

Awesome, awesome. Are there any myths or misconceptions out there that you guys want to address about dentistry or about your practice and what you offer?

Speaker 4 4:04

Yeah, I think the two big ones. The first is that dentistry doesn't always hurt.

Speaker 4 4:09

The biggest fear of going to the dentist is feeling uncomfortable and feeling things that hurt, pain is a real fear, and it's a real thing, and so dentistry doesn't always have to hurt, and so that's probably a big thing. And then the second thing is most, most often, if you wait until it hurts to bring it, to come in to get it checked, usually it's it's at a point that you're that isn't as good, so, um, it's usually better to get things checked out before they start to hurt. Um, lots of times we deal with situations where, where things will start out, um, not too bad and um and we'll get it'll get to the point where people say, hey, it's not hurting.

Speaker 4 4:49

Let's just wait. Let's just wait. But once it gets to the point where it is hurting, that's usually a point where there's other problems involved.

Speaker 2 4:56

Yeah, that makes sense, yeah.

Speaker 3 4:59

I think a big misconception and fear that people have is not being able to relate to their provider, not being listened to or heard and their concerns and we see it every single day.

Speaker 3 5:15

Patients come in they say, hey, I had such terrible experience at such-and-such place and through that bad experience they lost a lot of confidence in their providers's ability to treat them well, to treat them respectfully and some people think that's how every single dentist out there is, which is an unfortunate thing, and we try to really fight back against that and provide an exceptional experience, not only on our side as providers, but also in any interaction that they have with our front office staff, our assistants, our wonderful hygienists, just top to bottom, making it really comfortable experience for them to be able to open up and have the kind of conversations that will lead to us discussing the best thing for their health.

Speaker 2 6:07

Yeah, so kind of thinking about how you got to Dentaltown. I'm sure there were some struggles and things that you had to overcome along the way. Would one of you maybe walk us through some of those things and you know how you figured out that Dundall Town was the right place for you?

Speaker 3 6:32

Absolutely.

Speaker 3 6:33

In my personal experience, I worked for another practice beforehand, which shall remain unnamed, but just right out of school, went into that practice, had full of dreams, full of aspirations, and just didn't turn out to be the environment that I had set out to be a part of.

Speaker 3 6:54

There was a lot of things happening with the owner and with her choice to run her practice in the way that she did. That really went against my personal beliefs and how I thought that we should be treating patients and that just led to me, you know, searching for other options and fortunately I found Dentaltown and what stood out to me from the beginning was their core values, which is the acronym PEARL, the P is personal progress, e for engagement, a for accountability, R for responsibility and L for love and compassion an L for love and compassion and just as a whole, those core values that Dentaltown holds really brought me back into why I wanted to do dentistry. It really gave me confidence that this is an ethical organization that I could feel confident putting my name on and being a part of. So it was an easy choice, once I found Dentaltown, to be able to leave that previous employment where I had those issues and become part of the Dentaltown family.

Speaker 4 8:10

Going along with what Eric was saying, I think a big draw to joining the Dentaltown team is I mean, it's really hard to find a dental home as a dentist, to find a place where you feel comfortable, where you feel like your style of dentistry matches those around you and that you feel like you're in line with the other individuals. And I feel like a big draw to Dentaltown is that the practice is filled with practitioners and dentists that are conservative treatment planners, who have the patient's concerns first and are about helping the patient reach whatever dental goals they have, and so being able to meet a group of dentists who are doing the right things for the right purposes was something that was really attractive.

Speaker 4 8:51

To be able to join something in that way was something really appealing and I feel like that's something that really set them apart, to make me, and I just want to be a part of that.

Speaker 2 9:03

And I know I'm one of those people who's bopped around to a lot of different dentists in the area and I found you guys right when you opened and I've been there now for two years I think. And one thing that was a very happy surprise was that, even though there's so many locations and you feel like, oh, this is going to be like a franchise or corporate dentistry, it's not that at all. It's very patient centered and you know when you go there that you're going to see one of the two of you. It's not like a revolving door of you know different dentists in and out, and I think you know having the doctor ownership is really kind of what makes a difference for you guys versus some of these other really massive corporately owned dental places out there. Yeah, so what would be, you know, on a day you're not working? What would be something that you would do for fun? What do you enjoy doing in your time off?

Speaker 3 10:07

I love getting outdoors Anything and everything outdoors Me and my family. I have three kids all under six. Oh, wow. But we love to get outside we love to go camping hiking.

Speaker 2 10:26

We even go with Dr.

Speaker 3 10:26

Reed's family. We're in love with everything that Georgia has to offer, and something that I do on the side. I just love to cook, love to bake. Everybody at the office will tell you that on their birthdays they get a special treat baked by me, whatever they want oh they're always like doc, you gotta open up a bakery next door but that's where I am, where I'm at?

Speaker 4 10:55

I definitely. Yeah, I agree, going camping with the san diegos is always fun. So kids actually. So I have three kids who are also six and under and their ages match up pretty well, and so our kids playing together is always a good time and being able to get outside and camp and go to the parks. I do love running and biking and swimming. My wife and I are training for an Ironman this fall, so that'll be a fun thing to do together and kind of a bonding experience, and her dad and possibly my brother are hoping to do it with us, and so we like being active, high energy people who love to find ways to drain our energy and then just spending time with the kids is always time well spent.

Speaker 2 11:34

That's great. That's great. Anything else that you guys want to share about Dentaltown that you haven't had a chance to tell us?

Speaker 4 11:43

I mean nothing off the top of my head. We're just a group of people who, kind of like you, we want to know what your goals are and, as far as your oral health goes, we want to help you meet those goals.

Speaker 2 11:53

Awesome.

Speaker 3 11:54

I think more than anything at our location in Milton we have that small hometown feel. Than anything at our location in Milton we have that small hometown feel. Like you've noticed in your own visits. It's just a very welcoming environment both for patients and for employees. So love to see everybody here and take care of their needs.

Speaker 2 12:15

Awesome, awesome, and can you share where folks can find you? We know you're located right near the Baby Publix, that's right. Yeah, that's kind of like the local landmark.

Speaker 3 12:28

Our direction is 980 Birmingham Road, suite 506. And you can find us online, so our website is dentaltownsmilescom.

Speaker 4 12:40

You can also Google Milton Dental Town and it'll pull up there.

Speaker 1 12:43

We also have our.

Speaker 4 12:44

Instagram handle, which is dentaltowndds on Instagram, and then we have a Facebook as well. The Facebook and Instagram are shared between all the offices, but you'll see our faces on there a lot too.

Speaker 2 12:57

Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for you. Thank you, eric, for joining me today. It was so great getting to know you guys in Dentaltown a little bit better.

Speaker 3 13:04

Thanks so much, Stacey. Thank you.

Speaker 1 13:08

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast Milton and More. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Miltoncom. That's GNP Miltoncom, or call 470-664-4930.