Wood Creek Dental celebrates ten years

LANDRUM — Landrum has been good to Dr. Levi Hunt. He opened a dental practice on Rutherford Street ten years ago this month.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Wood Creek Dental Office Manager, Kim Wohnig, said. “There were only six of us when he first opened.”

Hunt opened Wood Creek ten years ago in the current location where it now stands next to the BI-LO Grocery.  He started out working with his sister, Dr. Katie Bridges and four employees.

Since then Hunt’s brother, Dr. Philip Hunt has come on board, along with Dr. Katie McDaniel, Dr. Allison Caldwell and Dr. Neely Todd. In the last ten years, they have fitted out all six of the original operatory rooms (the room where the dentist sees patients) and added on to the building. Hunt has also bought a practice in Inman he named Meadow Creek Family Dentistry.

Both Hunt and his sister got their start from their father, Dr. Dale Hunt, who practices in Greenville. Hunt said he worked with his father for a few years before opening his own practice in Landrum. He said his father taught him a lot about dentistry, but the most important thing was to take care of his patients.

“My philosophy is patients first,” Hunt said. “If you grow too big, your patients become nothing but numbers.”

Hunt said being a privately owned practice gives him the ability to offer better patient care. “If I need to refer someone to a specialist outside the practice I can,” he said. “I don’t have to keep everything in house. I can put the patient’s needs above the practice.”

Hunt doesn’t have to refer patients very often, however. With the growing practice he and his co-workers are not only able to cover all types of dentistry from cleanings to orthodontistry, they are constantly seeking out continuing education training and supporting each other with new ideas and approaches.

“We’re dental dorks. We like to share knowledge and new ideas,” Hunt said. “It keeps it exciting. I like coming to work.”

On July 27th the Wood Creek staff celebrated their tenth anniversary with a big family picnic, complete with barbeque, and slides and bounce houses for the kids. Hunt and his wife, Lindsay, live in Greer with their daughters, Grace Addison and Taylor Cate.