Dental Clinic

Forty years ago, this full-service dental clinic served thousands of patients from all across Florida. With its in-house denture lab, the clinic could make dentures quickly and less expensive than other clinics. In its heyday, there were three locations across the state including one in Tampa and another in Gainesville. Seven dentists operated out of this location. In the 1970s, they even had their own plane to travel from office to office.

The large main room was for exams, cleanings, fillings, and extractions. Patients were seated next to one another with no partition and little privacy. Down a narrow hallway are other small rooms that were used for x-ray, surgery, as well as the denture lab. One room was full of broken equipment that the dentists used for parts to keep other equipment working. The chairs were constantly busy and both surgery rooms remained in use all day.

When the original owners retired, each of the three clinics were sold to different dentists. Over the years, as one dentist would retire, another would buy him out and resume the business. By the 1990s, the clinic was seeing less and less patients and business was becoming tough. After one partner retired, the remaining dentist decided to close one Friday afternoon and never reopen, leaving nearly everything behind. Several years ago, the entire block was purchased by a developer who planned to renovate the buildings into apartments and office space. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition and the dental clinic remains abandoned.

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