Drs. Hart, Lunday open dental office
FROM STAFF REPORTS Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

The dental practice has been a work in progress for Dr. James Hart, Jr. and Dr. Terence Lunday. The partners' dream started over two years ago with researching the panhandle of Florida. Santa Rosa County, being one of the fastest growing counties in the state, seemed to be the perfect location for a new dental practice. Both doctors grew up in Santa Rosa County and reside here with their families.

The vision was to construct a state of the art dental practice for both comprehensive dentistry and for cosmetic dentistry.

"I wanted to design a practice that was both comforting to patients and would provide the latest technology and equipment available in the dental industry," stated Dr. James Hart, Jr. who has been practicing for over 15 years.

He always planned on practicing in the panhandle of Florida and purchased his first practice in Pensacola, Gulf Coast Family Dentistry. He currently spends three days each week in the Pensacola office and the other two in Navarre.

"The Navarre area is home to a large amount of military personnel and we felt the need to give back to them by being providers for the dental plans offered to active duty and retired veterans," said Dr. Terence Lunday, partner in Parkway Dental. "Our industry, as a whole, is changing the structure of accepting and filing most dental insurance claims. We choose several insurance companies that seemed to insure The Northwest Florida community."

Parkway Dental will file dental claims for most insurance companies and is presently a participating provider for United Concordia, Delta Dental, and GEHA.

When ground broke for construction of the new 3,600-foot office, neighbors in the Harvest Village Complex at 7552 Navarre Parkway were curious. One such neighbor was Dr. Chad Callahan of Shehee and Callahan Family Orthodontics.

"We try to assist our patients with locations throughout the two county area and utilize our Navarre office only one day each week. We approached Dr. Hart and Dr. Lunday with availability of using our office the other four days each week," stated Callahan.

The relationship started with Parkway Dental leasing space while construction began. The last four months, suite 13, has been the home to both practices.

Now the practices are moved to suite 60 and are open for patients.

"We were so excited the day we moved" commented Natalie Akin, Office Manager.

"I for one have apprehension sitting in a dental chair. I had a bad experience as a child and understand patient fears. I knew the superior quality of work both doctors provided and I knew how great they were with patients. Now we have a practice that reflects the same atmosphere as the service we provide," she said.

Currently, Parkway Dental is taking new patients and provides comprehensive services such as root canal therapy, crowns, bridges, and dentures. Their cosmetic services such as the popular ZOOM(r) whitening system and veneers give our patients immediate satisfaction. Shehee and Callahan Family Orthodontics sees patients once a week. For more information, please don't hesitate to call 850- 939-5266 or stop by 7552 Navarre Parkway suite 60, in Navarre.