If you’re a longtime customer of Creative Dental at 3739 Grand Blvd. in Brookfield, you might have come to associate it with Dr. Gerald Gardner, the original owner and founder. The dental clinic’s new owner, Dr. Leah Fax, said she wants to honor his legacy and extend the practice’s reputation within the Brookfield community.
“Dr. Gerald Gardner was the owner of Creative Dental for many years. He has been part of the Brookfield community for a long time. He opened this practice back in 2012,” Fax told the Landmark. “He was gearing up to retire this time last year. He and I got connected through my husband, who worked with his son’s girlfriend, and I purchased the practice in April.”
Fax said Gardner still “pops in here and there” to visit the clinic but is mostly retired at this point. She said the opportunity to purchase Creative Dental from Gardner came along at just the right time.
“I moved to LaGrange Park last summer, and I really wanted to be close to my community. Being four minutes from where I live, we plan to raise a family and be part of this community for a long time. It’s something I’ve always wanted, to have a private practice that is family-owned and part of the community,” she said.
Fax said she has been practicing dentistry for six years, with most of that time spent in Wisconsin.
“I did all my education up at Marquette [University] in Milwaukee, undergrad and dental school. I really wanted to go into the health care field most of my life. I love dentistry because you can mix that direct patient interaction with being your own practitioner and being able to run your practice the way you want,” she said. “In a lot of health care, you aren’t able to have that much autonomy anymore, and I like that I can customize my patient experience.”
She added that she hopes to sustain Creative Dental as a locally owned practice in the face of a changing dental industry.
“A lot of dentistry is going more toward corporate or private equity ownership,” Fax said. “I think to be the single dentist and the owner of the practice is a little bit more rare nowadays. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of payoff when you can see what you build, taking care of the community and the patients.”
Fax, who is the practice’s sole dentist alongside a small staff of registered dental hygienists and dental and administrative assistants, said she and Gardner share many values, which played a role in his entrusting the practice to her.
“He’s got a great sense of humor. He’s very generous and kind. He really got to know all of his patients on an individual level over the decade that he knew them,” she said. “People, in a way, are struggling with him being gone because he knew them so well. He was looking for somebody who could have that personal touch with his patients and get to know them on that level.”
She said a “majority” of Gardner’s patients are remaining with Creative Dental through the transition of ownership and starting their patient-doctor relationship with her.
“The patients have all been wonderful. They’ve been very welcoming to me, and we’re trying to continue their care and keep their dental home as much the same as possible,” she said. “I’m excited to continue Dr. Gardner’s legacy but also make it my own. I’m my own individual and have my own treatment philosophy. I’m excited to see the practice grow, too. We have a great team right now, but I’m wanting to be able to provide more care and have more providers here over time.”
Creative Dental is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays and from noon to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. To book an appointment, you can visit the practice’s website at creativedentalbrookfield.com.
