Guest blog by Dr. Steve Regan, Summit Dental Group
Honestly, I have never gave being a dentist any consideration at all until I was late into my college career — even though I was born into a family full of dentists, including my father, as well as several physicians. Growing up, I knew I wanted to do something in the medical field, however I could never put my finger on anything that really grabbed my curiosity.
One very important factor in my career choice, and something I was always sure of deep down was that I wanted to be able to develop real and lasting relationships with my patients. I had not been exposed to many fields of medicine that offered ongoing patient interaction for the long haul that would lead to any sort of significant relationships built over time.
However, I saw how absolutely everyone in the town that I grew up in knew my dad, and I mean EVERYBODY. This caught my attention as I gave my future profession some serious thought and, ultimately, it was the deciding factor that led me to dental school. I was certain that I would genuinely enjoy getting to meet new people in my practice, watching them grow up and move on to new phases in their lives, and still be able to see each other from year to year.
A stroke of good luck brought Dr. Rich Presser and I together. We met on the first day of class and hung out as great friends pretty much every day through four years of dental school. We would often talk about going into practice together once we graduated. It all came together in 2006 when we founded Summit Dental Group, going strong and growing our practice ever since. We’ve also added two other homegrown dentists as owners in the process, Dr. Rob Chenoweth and Dr. Aaron Light.
Inclusive Services and State-of-the-Art Facilities
At Summit Dental Group, we have cultivated a warm and family-like hospitality that prioritizes our patients’ comfort and well-being, ensuring that their dental experience is both pleasant and stress-free. We listen to each patient concern and use gentle and efficient cleaning techniques as we prioritize professional family dentistry.
We provide complete dental care services to families throughout our community, from 18 months old to adults of all ages. These dental services include restorative treatments (fillings/crowns), root canals, gum disease treatments, whitening procedures, conservative orthodontic treatment (Invisalign), implants, and prosthetic care with bridges, dentures and partials.
As a group, we’re rather unique in our community due to having seven dentists in our practice with four different practice locations. This includes a practice that specializes in sleep breathing abnormalities, temporomandibular jaw (TMJ) or joint pain complications and rehabilitation, as well as myofunctional therapy treatments and tongue releases to assist newborns with nursing issues. For more details on what we do and where, be sure to check out our website.
We are grateful for our practice’s substantial growth in the past years, from a small single office with two dentists to having four locations including two brand new state-of-the-art buildings.
From a practice standpoint, it makes us proud of what we’ve accomplished and that is why we believe in giving back to the community that has supported us throughout the years. We are constantly supporting our local community through donations to assist sports teams, band members, show choir performances, and so on. We’ve had numerous high school and college students spend time in our office shadowing our daily operations, and many have gone on to pursue careers in the field.
Summit Dental Group continues to move forward at a steady pace. Keep an eye out for our new location on Lima Road near Carroll High School. We should be moving into that location in early 2024. One of our current dental practices is located off Dupont Road next to Dupont Hospital, but this office will be transferred to the new Lima Road location upon completion. We also have a dental office on Illinois Road in southwest Fort Wayne, as well as our TMJ and Sleep Therapy Centre on the same road. Our furthest location is a dental practice in Huntington which was originally started by my father over 60 years ago.
As a dentist, what has been most rewarding to me is the impact that I have been able to have on a personal level with my patients. Anytime that I am able to help a patient that is suffering in pain, and put a smile back on their face, is a great success. Whenever I can take a person that lacks confidence in themselves due to an issue with their smile, and I can help give them the self-confidence that they deserve, that is the biggest win. Anytime that I can put a patient at ease from being extremely fearful of visiting the dentist, and help them overcome this fear — these moments of growth and improvement make everything worthwhile.
Dr. Regan is one of the four owners of Summit Dental Group. He hails from Huntington, Indiana, where he graduated from Huntington North High School. Afterwards, he attended Indiana University in Bloomington where he earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. From there, Dr. Regan went on to complete his dental training at Indiana University and then began working in the Fort Wayne area providing dental care to underserved adolescents in the surrounding community before starting his own practice in 2004.
The Regan family is blessed with three children: Phoenix, Halle, and Hudson, plus a Labradoodle named Stella and a new Labrador puppy named Ruby.
Note: It also looks like the family business will continue as Phoenix is currently studying to become a dentist at Indiana University as well!
