Soon, local dentist William Platt will be putting in his last fillings and placing his last crowns at Evergreen Family Dental, after decades of treating patients their entire lives, and then some of their own kids into adulthood.
“I feel good about all the years I practiced,” he says. “And I think it's the one job where I could work so hard and actually enjoyed it because it was hard work. I started my practice from nothing. It was just me,” he remembers.
After graduating from Wooster High and then zoology at UNR, he made the decision to go study in San Francisco. Originally he had hopes of becoming a veterinarian, and then a lawyer, but after talking to one of his brother's friends who was a lawyer, he got a suggestion of becoming a dentist instead and from that moment he went for it.
After graduating with honors from the University of Pacific Dental School in San Francisco, he returned to Reno, set with his career choice.
Starting a dentist’s office from scratch, he initially did everything on his own, from answering calls, to scheduling patients and even keeping the books.
Looking back at all the years he's practiced he says is happy with the work he has done and is starting to look forward to retirement.
He looks forward to exploring new places with his wife and close friends and to getting to do more of his hobbies, like float-tube fly fishing.
Most of his and his wife's close friends are actually people that started off as patients.
“That's probably our closest group of friends is from patient's originally in the office,” he said.
He has patients that he started seeing as children and now he sees their adult children. Making himself accessible throughout the years is the reason he feels he has had such loyal patients. He recalls coming into the office after hours and on weekends to see a patient when needed.
Reflecting on what he will miss the most he says is the interactions he has with patients that come in needing help and him being able to figure out the best way to alleviate their challenges.
“I liked figuring when patients came in with toothaches or problems, you know, figuring it out and, and helping them out, get them out of pain and, and usually we get a good result and they're happy and I'm happy,” he said.
As a strategy to ease into retirement, he started cutting back, only working a couple days per week. Now, he says he’s ready, and thankful for everyone who came to sit in his dentist’s chair and trust him.