Click here to enlarge imageStory by Dr. Joe Blaes • Photography by Kurt Freund Images
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This month we are featuring Dr. Kevin M. Morgester, a 1992 graduate of Southern Illinois University School of Dentistry. His office is representative of the majority of dental offices in this country. Dr. Morgester returned to St. Louis to begin his dental career as an associate. For two and a half years, he worked in a high volume, managed care office and in a solo practitioner's general practice. Neither practice would lead to a partnership but they allowed him to make some money and gain some speed while he looked for a practice to buy. Those practices were a learning experience that helped him decide how he would practice dentistry in the future. He was able to develop his own philosophy and vision based on his experiences and his value system. In January of 1995, he purchased the practice of Dr. Philip Messina, who was to become an associate and phase out of the practice in three years. However, due to Parkinson's disease, Dr. Messina was able to practice for only three months.
What seemed a disaster at first turned into a blessing for both dentists. Dr. Messina was physically able to stay in the practice to introduce Dr. Morgester to his patients. He would talk to everyone, glad hand, kiss babies, and do whatever it took to help Kevin with the transition. Dr. Messina enjoyed hobnobbing with the patients because dentistry no longer got in the way. What started out as a business ended as a friendship. Dr. Messina died in 2004, and his patients still talk about him today.