If you've travelled along the east side of Market Street in the last few months, you might have noticed a sign advertising a new dental business coming to Mudgee.
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Intrigued as to what it was all about, the Mudgee Guardian went and had a chat with the owners of Mudgee Dental Boutique which opened at the beginning of July.
Haley Roberts was born in Mudgee and grew up in Rylstone and has spent the last two decades in the dental industry. Beginning her career in Bathurst and working in Newcastle and Gulgong.
Haley runs Mudgee Dental Boutique with her husband Ben Roberts and the business employs 5 staff including herself, Dr Othilia Tan, Dr Tom Nguyen and dental assistants Bree Lomas and Kayla McPhee.
The aim with Mudgee Dental, Haley explained, is to take the edge off the traditional dental experience. Something Haley felt was overly clinical and unwelcoming.
"I guess the atmosphere that they [customers] come in to, that was one thing that I wanted, to just have a bubbly, happy, friendly atmosphere. That was my main goal. If people come in, walk straight in and see happy, bubbly, inviting, confident people. I think it makes their confidence so much better," Haley said.
Haley hopes to expand the scope of the business to include a travelling specialist from somewhere like Sydney, saving many a long trip for specialised dental care.
"We've got a lot of older generation farmers that hate driving to Sydney if they need a specialists or anything like that, they just put it off because going to Sydney is so daunting to them. So they just don't go. So I'd love to bring a specialist here so people don't have to travel," Haley said.
Dental checks should be generally every six months, but many adults find themselves putting is aside and eventually put if off long enough they become embarrassed to go for fear of judgement.
"People have got to start somewhere. I mean, when I was a child I hated brushing my teeth... My mom was on to me constantly about brushing your teeth," Haley said.
"It wasn't until I got my braces on at 18 [years old] that I was... I wasn't looking after my teeth. I've got fillings and all that sort of stuff that could have been prevented. People can come in and we can show them pamphlets to show them the best way to look after their teeth for the six month period.
"If they just take that one step to come in here to know that it's not that bad. We have to show that we we do care, we're not going to judge, we're not going to do any of that and then we can get them on the right track."
