ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Through the Public Building Commission, the city of Hillsboro purchased the entire lot on the west side of Washington Street from the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church. McPherson Dental Care LLC, in turn, has purchased about half of the property with the intent of building an office and offering complete dental services. It will be situated in the area where Vogt’s IGA previously was located.
If plans proceed as envisioned, residents of the Hillsboro area will have an additional option for dental care by next spring.
It was announced at the Dec. 5 meeting of the Hillsboro City Council that McPherson Dental Care LLC has purchased property at the corner of Grand Avenue and Washington Street with the intent of building an office and offering complete dental services to the community.
“We are very excited to come over there,” Brian Kynaston, fellow doctor and full business partner with Jon Julian at the McPherson location, said last week.
“It’s an emotional type of decision,” he said. “We are very thankful for the patients we have already from Hillsboro, and we wanted to expand and to grow.”
Through the Public Building Commission, the city of Hillsboro purchased the entire lot on the west side of Washington Street from the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.
The McPherson group, in turn, has purchased about half of the property for its office and parking. It will be situated in the area where Vogt’s IGA previously was located.
Kynaston said the building will be between 2,400 and 2,500 square feet.
“The building is going to have five offitories, with another one to build with,” Kynaston said. “So it will be built equipped for five, but there will be room for a sixth.”
Kynaston said ground will be broken in the next week or two.
“We hope to be fully going between the first of April and the first of May,” he said.
The Hillsboro office will be staffed with two full-time hygienists and will have at least one doctor on site four days a week, according to Kynaston.
“Dr. Julian teaches hundreds and hundreds of doctors every year how to do implants,” he said. “We teach hundreds of doctors each year how to use laser with the implant or any type of surgery we do-and also in the hygiene department.
“Our goal is to bring doctors here, teach them, and then also for them to go to Hillsboro. For example, I will be going there every Tuesday and Thursday.”
Kynaston said the Hillsboro office will provide the full range of services currently available at the McPherson location.
“If people ever get the opportunity to come over to our office, we believe in technology and staying up with technology,” Kynaston said.
“We use hard- and soft-tissue lasers to be able to clean teeth and to remove decay without anesthetic,” he said. “We’ll do root canals, implants, orthodontics, take out wisdom teeth, do dentures-every facet of dentistry will be incorporated over there.
“We in our practice here in McPherson refer very little out. So we plan to offer the exact same thing to the Hillsboro community.”
Kynaston said he is pleased to be able to offer patients conscious sedation dentistry, where the patient receives a pill that puts him or her asleep during appropriate dental procedures.
Kynaston said he and the staff believe in taking their services beyond the office when situations require it.
“Here in McPherson I go to the hospital to treat patients who are are medically compromised-where it’s not very safe in the dental office because of their compromised medically or mentally,” he said.
“I’ve already worked with the hospital there in Hillsboro to be able to go there and perform the same (services), and be able to help with the older population or the mentally retarded population.”
Kynaston said he and Julian have always had a heart for small towns. A current staff member who used to work in Hillsboro suggested they check out the opportunities in her home town.
“Myself and Dr. Julian have both been interested in providing great dental care and building relationships with people, especially in small towns.
“We had an opportunity to meet with (Mayor) Delores (Dalke), and things just grew and grew.”
Although a Utah native who moved to central Kansas with his wife some 12 years ago, Kynaston said he is no stranger to Hillsboro.
“I officiate (high school) varsity basketball and I know Hillsboro very well,” he said. “I enjoy the people. I get to go over there a couple times of year to officiate.”
Although the Hillsboro office will operate under the umbrella of McPherson Dental Care LLC, it will be given a name-still to be determined-that reflects the community it intends to serve.
“I think it needs to have a name that represents the town we are in,” Kynaston said. “We want Hillsboro to embrace it, we want the town to feel ownership with it. That’s what our goal is.
“No matter what the name is, we’re going to do everything we can to provide that kind of ownership.”
Dalke said it’s hard to quantify the value of the new dental office in Hillsboro.
“I don’t know if it’s possible to place a value on it for what it can do for the future of Hillsboro,” she said. “Because of the kind of dental office it is and what they do-as far as Dr. Julian even being a teacher of other dentists-their reputation will be such a draw to our community.
“It will bring people into Hillsboro for this purpose, and then hopefully they’ll do other things while they’re here.”
“I think it’s almost invaluable, it’s so big,” she added.
