100 years of Dental services to the northern suburbs of Sydney
In 1909 Dr. Percy Charlton, set up his Dental practice in “Grandview”, the 2 storey Victorian sandstone house still standing on the left side of Pymble Hill.
Dr. Charlton played cricked for Manly and Australia. On leaving Pymble he traveled to the USA and obtained a Doctor of Dentistry degree at North Western University, Chicago. When he returned to Sydney he was appointed as the first superintendant of the United Dental Hospital in 1932.
After World War 1 another Dentist, Mr. White whose daughter “Bobby” was born on the kitchen table of Grandview joined Dr.Charlton’s Dental practice. When Dr.Charlton left for the USA , Mr. White remained in Pymble. In 1917 he built “Greycliffe” a two storey white house on the corner of Pymble Avenue and Avon Road. He lived and moved his Dental practice there until after the Second World War. His technician for much of that time was Fred Pymble.
After the war Mr White was joined by John Arnold, who married Bobby and took over the practice moving it to Post Office Street Pymble. Ian Noble joined John Arnold in the Post Office Street premises. Ian Noble was in the army in the Second World War while John Arnold had been in the air force. Lyall Hann, a Dental technician who had been in the air force with John Arnold was also part of the Post Office Street practice
To cope with the rapid population growth in the 1960’s and 1970’s John Arnold and Ian Noble were joined by John Bennett, Peter Hyde and Brett Dorney. The expansion in the number of dentists required the practice to move to a purpose built dental practice in the newly constructed Petersen’s Building on the Pacific Highway Pymble
John Bennett had been in England since graduation, Peter Hyde had worked in the Sydney CBD and Brett Dorney had completed 2 years of service in the air force before joining the Pymble practice. Other Dentists to be part of the practice in this era were, Dick Trail, John Ball and Steve Massey.
In 1989 the practice moved to our present location in Bridge Street Pymble. Tim Freeman, who had been a patient of Peter Hyde while a school boy, joined the practice in 1990. Tim had extensive post graduate orthodontic education before joining the Pymble practice.
Since 1989 all the Dental units have been replaced and new x-ray and other diagnostic equipment installed. Many of the staff were part of the move in 1989 and remain as loyal and valuable employees. Kate Ross has been with the practice for 24 years while Jan Keevers has been with us for 20 years
In 2000 Peter Hyde, Brett Dorney and Jan Keevers were volunteers for the Olympics and Paralympics. Brett was the Deputy Director of Dental Services for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics. He was also part of the medical services for the 2003 Rugby World Cup held in Sydney.
All Dentists currently working in this practice have a continuing involvement with graduate and undergraduate education. Peter Hyde has a staff specialist appointment at Westmead Hospital. There has always been a focus on continuing education to provide the best services to our patients.
New Dentists at the Pymble practice, Megan Phillips and Andrea Leonard have added recent graduate knowledge to our Dental team which now also includes Amy Collinge as our hygienist and oral health educator.