It’s a story so sweet it will give you a toothache.
Not only is Dr. Rebecca Szymczak-Evans returning to her hometown of Glenville to open up a family dentistry practice, she’s opening it right next to her father’s practicealong with her husband, Dr. Don Evans, whom she met their first day of school at the University of Buffalo School of Dentistry.
We met the first day of dental school at our orientation at University of Buffalo we went through dental school together,` said Rebecca. They studied together through their residency at Ellis Hospital and graduated together last Thursday, June 18.
Don said their relationship originally revolved around studying.
`That’s what we were very good at doing and it evolved from there ` we spent a lot of time when we weren’t married studying together and getting what we needed to get done for dental school, and now its just a logical progression,` said Don. `We’re very good at getting things done together.`
Rebecca said she and her husband leaned on each other throughout their residency at Ellis. Having the same educational background made it that much easier to share ideas, she said.
`That allowed us to bounce different treatment options off of each other, and it’s kind of like you always have a second pair of eyes who can read a graph or give their approach to a treatment plan,` she said.
Don added this is particularly helpful with those late-night or early-morning emergencies. `When you have a phone call with a 10-year-old who knocked his tooth out, you can wake up the other person and say, ‘What do you think?’`
Rebecca and Don were the only two students to graduate this year from Ellis Hospital’s Dental Residency Program, which means that one of them was always on call. They alternated nights.
`As far as being a couple, one of us is always on call, which means that neither of us can go out to a movie and we can’t go out and have a glass of wine together because one of you is always on call,` Rebecca said.
Don added that there are probably some movies that have come and gone through the theaters without their knowing, but it’s a career choice that they made.
`I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I think I made the right decision and it’s a hurdle that we needed to jump through in order to get where we wanted to be,` said Don of the past year.
Their new practice, which is set to open Aug. 25, will be in the same building as Rebecca’s father’s practice in Glenville.
`We’re all going to be in the same location ` [my father is] going to continue practicing as he always has, and we’re going to start our own practice and recruit our own patients,` said Rebecca.
She said she has always known she wanted to return to the area. She went to Burnt Hills High School and has always loved the community. `Having my dad as a dentist, I was fortunate enough to have met a number of dentists in the community. It’s been a wonderful experience to have known them growing up and now to interact with them on a one-on-one basis,` Rebecca said.
`I think he was very excited for his oldest daughter to go into dental school and graduate and become a dentist in the community,` said Don of his father-in-law.
Rebecca said she knows her father has been looking forward to this.
`Once I married another dentist as well, our whole approach to this has been that we’re a family that’s going to provide care for families in the community,` Rebecca said. `That’s something that’s very close to our hearts.`
Szymczak and Evans Family Dentistry is located at 461 Saratoga Road in Glenville. For information, call 399-6939 or visit www.sandefamilydental.com.“