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“I am very active in the community, and this has
helped me to establish such great relationships
with everyone who comes into the office.”
– Dr. Howard Cunningham
By Ian Drew
According to Dr. Howard Cunningham
of Fort Lauderdale he is an anomaly in his
profession – one of the few dentists to
actually have enjoyed nearly every minute
of dental school.
“I went to NYU for my Bachelor of Arts
degree but then switched to go to dental
school out at Stonybrook [of the State
University of New York],” says the New
York-born dentist. “It was the perfect
antithesis to the rigidly structured ways of
many of the bigger dental schools. It was such
a small and casual atmosphere that it was also
ultimately more conducive to learning.”
Dr. Cunningham has extended the
atmosphere of his schooling throughout his
dental career. Most recently, he has brought
it to his private dental practice.
Cunningham purchased the 30-year-old
Oakland Park Dental offices at 2020 East
Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale
in June of 1999. He quickly set to work
refurnishing and remodeling the offices to
create an environment that reflected his
professional credo.
“This is a friendly environment where
we like what we do and don’t treat our
patients as customers. We consider them like
friends and many of them are. I am very
active in the community and this has helped
me to establish such great relationships with
everyone who comes into the office,”
Cunningham says.
The other part of this “we” equation is
Dr. David Warner, the latest edition to the
Oakland Park Dental team. The Indiana-bred
dentist joined the staff as a second dentist in
April. Like Cunningham, he also lives in the
local community and participates in many of
its social functions, including the Wednesday
Mixers Bowling League and the Oakland
Park Chamber of Commerce.
“I just bought a home with my partner
in Wilton Manors,” Warner says. “It is so nice
to live and work in the same area and to work
all day with people you know and love within
the community. It makes just coming to work
a truly comfortable and warm experience.”
The office maintains its personable
environment by remaining a small, private
entity in a growing dental landscape of
HMOs. They say this allows them to spend
more time with patients and also allows them
to perform a wide variety of dental services
with the utmost attention to detail.
The dental office offers all standard
dental services including, but not limited to,
crown and bridge work, root canals, bonding,
veneers, and bleaching.
One of the newest and most popular
treatments that the office is currently featuring
is the brand new BriteSmile professional teethwhitening treatment. In one hour, the
procedure whitens teeth up to nine shades
whiter and has completely no side effects for
patients. Cunningham claims the results are
much better than any other whitening
procedure and it is painlessly accomplished
by using ultra-violet blasts of light.
As far as more typically painful
procedures that dentists in general are known
for, Cunningham claims that his own personal
connection with his patients assures that any
pain is kept to a minimum.
He says, “I always say that you are not
treating teeth but you are treating the person
attached to them. We treat people as people
to alleviate any anxiety they may have.”
Cunningham lives in Fort Lauderdale
with his partner of 13 years, Steve Vinast.
After moving here in 1992, Cunningham
brought his skills acquired through a chief
residency at Queens General Hospital and
his own private practices to the Dental Team.
He worked at the large Coral Springs dental
office until branching out on his own with
Oakland Park Dental. He helped establish the
familial environment from the get-go by
bringing several staff members from the
Dental Team with him.
Currently on the staff are administrative
staff members Trish Sibel and Brad
Abercrombie, dental assistants Diane Kelly
and Kelley Kudzia, and hygenists Toby
Quintana, Alvira Tahal and Linette Fuller.
The staff shares with Cunningham his
desire to make patients actually enjoy their
experience at the dentist. Cunningham says
that this is one of the main reasons he enjoys
dentistry as opposed to other medical
contexts.
He elaborates, “There is this creative
element to dentistry that I have always loved.
I am able to fix people right away by taking
something and making it look and feel better.
It truly gives me joy to help people in this
way.”
Oakland Park Dental can be reached at
954.566.9812 or just by stopping in.
www.ExpressGayNews.com November 19th, 2001
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