Four Years in the MakingFour Years in the MakingFour Years in the Making
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Dr. Creighton echoes his mentor’s philosophy. “We’re both faculty and we take that job as our number one core job. The lure of the potential income pulls talented dentists away from academics and into private practice, but Dr. Bernat and I put together something to assist with recruiting and retaining faculty,” he said.
Their program succeeded in attracting fresh and talented dentists to UPD and, as it grew, the practice’s reputation for excellence created a greater demand for services than what they could accommodate. In 1995, the doctors opened a satellite clinic in the Southtowns area of Buffalo that draws children locally and from as far as four hours away. Since then, they have established half a dozen UPD sites throughout western New York, including a practice at the School of Dental Medicine. Today, it’s not uncommon for hundreds of patients to be seen daily at many UPD clinics in Buffalo.

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Community Outreach
Late in 2010, Drs. Bernat and Creighton received a request from local elementary schools to become the dental home for and offer its quality dental care to more children. That provided the catalyst to remodel two strategically located buildings into dental practices, something they had long considered but put off due to the scope of the projects.
At the start of 2011, Roseann McAnulty was hired as University Pediatric Dentistry’s chief operating officer. Her background in medical administration and possession of strong organizational skills served her well for her first task: overseeing the construction of the new facilities.
Patterson Dental Territory Representative Molly Knibloe has worked with Drs. Bernat and Creighton for 20 years. Partnering with Roseann on the remodels took a lot of stress off the doctors, she says, and enabled the projects to be completed on time. “She held people accountable and got things done,” Knibloe said.
Knibloe brought Patterson Dental Equipment Specialist John Cambria on board to assist with equipment and technology selection, and McAnulty joined the Patterson crew and the developer for combined weekly meetings that also included the architect and contractors.
Dr. Creighton attended the start-up meetings on behalf of himself and Dr. Bernat, and laid the groundwork for the projects: Start with the remodel of a facility on Maple Road, to open mid-March, and then move on to a remodel of a building near the newly developing Buffalo medical corridor, located on Main Street, to open mid-May. After the teams had a clear understanding of the doctors’ vision, McAnulty co-led the meetings and even kept a “playbook” to keep everyone on schedule.
An old church on Maple Road was chosen as the site for the first new practice primarily because of its location on a busy intersection. Coincidentally, an emergency room physician from the community occupies the other half of the building and opened a medical pediatric urgent care center earlier in the year. The two businesses became natural complements to one another, and a source of referrals for both. “I think that the dental practice and pediatric urgent care create a new synergy for a once-tired site,” Cambria said. The former church, however, had undergone several remodels in its past, with each remodel consisting of a building being added on to the existing building, which resulted in three separate buildings being attached to each other. This would present a challenge on any remodel, and certainly presented unique challenges to the Patterson crew and contractors, who used creative means to properly wire and plumb the space for a total of 14 chairs and outfit it for 10 operatories.
Practicing Compassion

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